The Marian Anderson — Restaurant in London

🚇 Farringdon 🍺 £5.00 Purity Session IPA

The Marian Anderson is located in the heart of Clerkenwell, just south of Exmouth Market. The nearest Tube is Farringdon, it’s a ten minute walk to get here.

This pub was built in 1851 and started life as The Surprise. The Pub’s name pays homage to Marian Anderson who was an American Contralto & Civil rights activist from the 1920's through to the 1960's.

This is a good size pub with three adjoining spaces. The decor is traditional with a few rustic and contemporary touches here and there. The main room as you enter has a parquet floor, traditional seating, a couple of artworks of Marian Anderson plus a fluffy cloud mural ceiling. Just off this room is where the servery is located, it has a solid counter and modern back bar. The last room is a cosy affair complete with fireplace and well lived in sofa.

The beer line up is a decent mix of mainstream beers, London brews and one cask ale from @fivepointsbrew . I decided on a pint of Session IPA by @puritybrewingco . This was my first try of this beer and very nice it was too, five quid a pint was good value. For all you Guinness fans out there, Guinness is sold here at £4 a pint all day, every day. If you are in need of sustenance, you’re in luck, the food menu is a choice of classic pub fayre and Dominican dishes by @bocachicaldn . Fish & Chips with a Dominican twist costs £14.90.

I arrived just after opening to meet one of London’s finest Pub connoisseurs Mr @booze_house_tales . I was kindly invited along to be part of one of his Podcasts discussing why I have a love of pubs, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience indeed.(link in bio) During the podcast the pub started filling up with a nice local crowd. The service was great, the team here are super friendly and welcoming.

@themarianandersonpub suffers from being a little tucked away from both Exmouth Market and Farringdon station. But do yourself a favour and pay it a visit, there’s a warm welcome, very reasonably priced beer and a nice environment to spend time in, what more does a pub goer need.

ℹ️ Info correct on...

Was asked to leave because I didn't want a drink in a group of 5.

Went here on a Tuesday night to watch the second half of a Champions League game with 4 of my friends.

The pub was nearly empty with 6-7 other people watching the game and plenty of empty tables.

As we were sitting down on one of the tables, the waitress/owner came to us to ask us if we are ordering a drink - we responded that we will, once we have a chance to leave our stuff and get to the bar.

4 of my friends went to get a drink but I decided I'd have enough to drink that night so asked for one of them to get me tap water.

While 2 of my friends were still ordering at the bar, the waitress came to me and asked me what I'm having again - mind you, we had been in the pub for about 2 minutes at the time.

I said I'm not having a drink, to which she rudely asked if I will be sitting at THEIR pub watching THEIR TV (emphasis for her tone) and not order a drink.

I was pretty shocked as 4 of my friends were having drinks but I said yes, is that a problem and would you like me to leave?

The waitress then rudely asked me to leave THEIR pub if I am not having a drink. My friends and I were all speechless and a few of the other people at the pub were equally confused.

So I left and waited for my friends to finish their drinks and leave.

I've been to hundreds of pubs and had never experienced anything like this.

Safe to say I will never be returning so I guess the waitress/owner got what they...

An unlikely bright, intriguing, hall bar. A theatre lobbyesque / meeting house converted corner bar, with a unique style & interesting quirkiness. A beautiful decorative sign is painted over the corner lobby entrance which leads into a long meeting hall with bench & low seating over an original parquet floor before a 20th-century wood fireplace. A seperate, smaller hall room presents before a modern, student bar styled bar with a good selection on draught (£5 pint). There's glimpses of a music hall past from the weathered wood floor to patches of decoratively papered ceiling mixing into the theatrical painted starry, cloudy night sky ceiling theatre curtains & beautiful original artwork dedicated to the namesake, singer whose voice perhaps once graced these entertainment rooms. There's a young artist vibe of groups & couples of those studying or teaching arts & design, perhaps from proximity to City Uni & Urdang. Classic 70's tunes set a subtle backdrop in this different, unique blend clearly comfortable & successful in its identity & confident in its honour of...