The Butchers Hook & Cleaver, EC1 — Restaurant in London

🚇 Barbican 🍺 £7.35 Asahi ❤️ A Stunning Smithfield Public House.

Located just a stones throw away from Smithfield Market is The Butchers Hook & Cleaver. The nearest Tube is Barbican which is a few minutes walk away.

Formerly a branch of The Midland Bank and a wholesale meat supply shop, this @fullers pub opened its doors in 1999. This area is an historic part of London’s history, opposite the pub is where William Wallace who was hung, drawn, and quartered in 1305.

The decor here is simply stunning, I would even go as far to say it’s grand. There is a spiral staircase leading up to a large dining area which provides a lovely view of St Bartholomew's hospital. On the ground floor, diners are catered for on the left hand-side and drinkers to the right. At the core of the main bar area is a beautiful granite topped servery. Everywhere you look there is elegance, the woodwork, etched glass, murals, chandeliers, this is a beautiful pub.

The beer selection was good and included cask ales. I opted for an Asahi, my pint was excellent and a tad expensive. I was feeling a bit peckish on this Friday lunchtime and ordered a club sandwich, I really enjoyed my sarnie, it really hit the spot. There is a main food menu available full of pub-grub classics, Fish & Chips costs £18.95.

The atmosphere here was convivial on this Friday lunchtime, there was a steady stream of local workers and visitors to the area streaming in. The service here was first class, the chap who served us was welcoming and pleasant, my food came out in no time at all.

The calibre of pubs in and around Smithfield Market is outstanding, the @butchershookandcleaver is no exception, this is a top tier boozer. I would encourage anyone to have a crawl around here, you won’t be disappointed.

ℹ️ Info correct on...

The worst experience ever! I left the Butchers Hook & Cleaver with my team (5 of us from a minority ethnic background) a short while ago, after seating unattended for over 20 mins, after the person behind the bar told us we could sit down for an hour and a half before the next guests who booked the table arrived. After waiting for a while, we had to get our own menus and when we signalled to the waiter that we were ready to order, he simply shook his head to say no and murmured something, simply avoiding eye contact from that moment on. My colleague stood up and went to the counter to query if we were going to be attended to, unfortunately she was then made aware at that point that we should have ordered at the counter because we had not booked a table in advance, whereas we could see the waiter go up to different tables to get their orders and there were no signs indicating that orders had to be placed at the counter. I complained about the treatment to a new person behind the counter and the fact that at this point we had been left unattended for 30 mins but he looked totally unbothered, with no intention whatsoever to take our orders! Very disappointing! We ended up leaving the place to go to another pub, and we will never return to The Butcher's Hook & Cleaver, as we clearly were not wanted in this...

14/06/2024: Popped in for a bite to eat lunchtime as this Fuller's pub Butcher's Hook & Cleaver was convenient before we took a jaunt round Clerkenwell and Little Italy and had one last lingering look at Smithfields Market before it goes! We love this part of London and have many happy memories here. We returned for an early dinner and ordered a chicken breast burger and fries and a Caesar salad with chicken for an extra £4 and a side of chips. Let's say the chicken was wanting to say the least. The extra chips was only ordered because my husband had originally wanted another dish that came without so we thought we'd order a side between us. But they didn't have what he wanted and we forgot, and were not reminded, about the extra chips! Hey ho. Along with a bottle of white Pino Grigio the bill came to £70.45. Fine except they tried to charge a 12.5% service charge...for a pub! ...for a bogstandard meal in the bar area! ...where you had to get up and go to the other end of the bar to fetch glasses of water yourself!! Outrageous. We asked for it to be removed. According to the revised bill it shouldn't have been charged in any case for a party of...