French House

Pub Heritage Group have recently carried out a regrading of Real Heritage Pubs - click here for full details

Greater London Central - London

Two star - A pub interior of outstanding national historic interest

Listed Status: Not listed

49 Dean Street
London, Soho
W1D 5BG

Tel: (020) 7437 2477

Email: frenchhousereservations@gmail.com

Website http://frenchhousesoho.com/

Lunchtime Meals: Yes

Evening Meals: Yes

Nearby Station: London Charing Cross

Station Distance: 700m

Public Transport: Near Railway Station (London Charing Cross)

View on: Whatpub

The inter-war fittings in the small, single bar are all very much of a piece with narrow, elongated panels featuring in the wall panelling, a counter (with doors for access to the beer engines in former days), and sash windows.

This tiny single-room pub in the heart of Soho is a real institution with a long and strong French connection. It also has a good restaurant upstairs. It was taken over by the Francophone Belgian Victor Berlemont in 1914 (see framed cuttings and pictures in the bar) when it was called the York Minster, although by the 1920s it had acquired the nickname ‘the French Pub’. It was rebuilt in 1937 to designs of architect Alfred W Blomfield. Later, there was some wartime bomb damage and partial refitting afterwards which created the pub we see today. The present name appeared in 1981 to celebrate the French ties. There is a dumb waiter in the middle of the bar-back. As might be expected wine easily outsells beer, the latter being only sold in half-pint measures. Breton cider is popular and it is claimed that more Ricard is sold here than at any other UK outlet.