RIP: Hogs Head (ex Old King Lud)

"What is the point of triangulating yourself the centre of some of London’s finest heritage - Fleet Street, once the great home of great newspapers; Blackfriars Bridge, handy for hanging Italian ex-politicians and the majesty which is St. Paul’s cathedral - and then choosing to drink in a semi-basement Hogshead? All right it is adequately - or well, if you are into the Hog’s Head style - furnished with a mix of tables, stools and soft areas and supplies the necessary fuel. Deuchars and Pride are nice offerings and the signs - if not the experienced reality on this visit - say table service is available. Yet another sign (is someone having a gentle joke here?) offers Krug at £105 a bottle. Its location makes it a good meeting place and it can get busy at commuter times. If you are the sort of person who snaps down the window-blind as your plane soars over the Alps, the better to concentrate on your in-flight meal and plastic-bottled plonk then you will feel at home in this state-of-the-art mediocrity. But you really should get out more."