The Holy Tavern — Restaurant in London

🚇 Farringdon 🍺 £6.30 The Lager ❤️ One of most intimate pubs in London. . The Holy Tavern (formerly The Jerusalem Tavern) is just a short walk from Farringdon Station and is located In quiet side street at the southern end of Clerkenwell. . This Georgian building dates back to 1720 and has seen many uses over the years. The beautiful ground floor frontage dates back to 1810 but this pub actually started life as a pub in the mid 90’s. . This has to be one of the most intimate pubs in London with its snug and cosy seating arrangements. As mentioned earlier this pub was created in the mid 90’s and the thought and attention to detail to the design means you would think that your surroundings were hundreds of years old not twenty five. The floor is stripped wood and the walls are panelled and painted green, at the front of the pub there are tiles on the wall depicting the seasons of the year. The seating is a mixture of rustic pews, tables and chairs with some additional seating outside dotted around large old barrels. The bar area is compact and petite and has beer taps on and behind it. . The beer choice here was all new to me, the very helpful member of staff helped me navigate through the options and I ended up have a lager called - yes, you’ve guessed it “The Lager”. Its brewed by Anspach & Hobday who are based in Croydon, it was a really nice pint and little over six quid. This pub was previously run by Suffolk based St Peter’s Brewery who ended their twenty five year lease back in February, the brewery still supplies the pub and the beers are well celebrated. There is no food available at present. . I visited on a Friday afternoon, there was a tube strike on that day and this must have impacted the pub because it was fairly quiet. This is a popular haunt of locals, office workers and tourists alike, so choose a good time to visit. To enhance your experience here why not pop along for candlelit Tuesdays or the occasional visit from Morris Dancers. This pub isn’t open on weekends. . The @theholytavern has long been on the radar and it didn’t disappoint. The building is beautiful and very inviting, the layout of this pub makes for a engaging pub experience and the beer is great and diverse. A quality Clerkenwell boozer this, which definitely gets my blessing. . 📊 Information correct on...

I’ve been coming on and off to this pub since the 90’s, when it was called the Jerusalem Tavern. A relative of mine had an office a few doors down and he introduced me to it one day after work. For much of the last 30 years I’d say it was one of best, if not the best pub in London. The fact it has a faux interior is irrelevant, the magic of how we imagine an 18th century pub was there. It’s inevitable when a place like this changes hands some of that magic is going to get lost, the people that created it had an extraordinary understanding and sensitivity to what was needed, a simple sophisticated space with otherworldly charm, superb beer, great snacks and great staff. Bit by bit since being reborn as The Holy Tavern things have slipped. It’s still a good place to hang out, but only because they haven’t done a big refit. The staff aren’t invested, you can see the love isn’t there in the upkeep and it’s ridiculously expensive, £22.50 for two pints and two snacks. I took my brothers for their first legal pints there a couple of years ago, and it was wonderful and memorable, not quite what it “was” but still great, increasingly I’ve had to make excuses to myself for the establishment as it slowly sinks and becomes just another pub. It’s tragic when these things happen, but nothing lasts forever. Last night was probably my last visit, it happened to be with the uncle who took me there all those years ago. For a pint near Farringdon station it’s still a good option and the interior in winter is lovely, especially if you don’t remember it “back in the day”, other than that I’d recommend heading a bit further North to the...

Incredibly rude man behind the bar. We came in the evening on the 2nd of Jan and I asked if they were serving food. A reasonable question given it’s the day after a bank holiday there may be different kitchen hours. And I was told with a sarcastic attitude “I wouldn’t have the menus out if I wasn’t serving food…” which is just uncalled for.

My girlfriend then asked for a lager, which again we got the sarcastic response: “that’s not going to get you anywhere here love, we have multiple lagers…” again - uncalled for and unhelpful, just recommend one instead of giving attitude.

Then once the food arrived, we were carefully taking the food from the tray and the guy insulted my girlfriend again saying “you could have just taken the tray…”

The only reason this is two stars and not one is the food was great and prepared quickly and the pints were from a good brewer (albeit expensive).

It costs nothing to have good manners and no one deserves to be treated this rudely especially paying customers who did nothing to warrant this.

We came with two friends who were visiting the UK for the first time and this leaves a horrible impression on UK hospitality and you...