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location:
address:
2 St. John's Square, EC1M 4DE
phone:
0871 984 2806*
* calls cost 10p/minute, click here for more about 0871 numbers.
nearest stations:
Farringdon 
(220m) - zone 1
Barbican
(430m) - zone 1
City Thameslink
(640m)
Chancery Lane
(660m) - zone 1
St Paul's
(940m) - zone 1
how to find it:
Farringdon: turn left out of the station and head up Cowcross Street. When you get to a little alleyway on the left, turn left up the alleyway, just as the road bears right (by the Hope), and carry on up through St. John's gate. Admire the view and go through the arch, you'll see the pub on your left. Barbican: turn left out of the station up Aldersgate Street and head for the lights. Turn left at the traffic lights, walk along Clerkenwell Road, cross the junction with St. John Street and next left you'll see the square, with the pub on the right hand side.
click for directions to The Bear from wherever you areclick here for a larger map
nearby attraction(s):
Museum of London (680m)
Barbican Centre (720m)
Sadler's Wells Theatre (830m)
Previously, we were impressed by this place's take on the bar thing, offering glamourous bar-type décor with a singular lack of pretension - making it as relaxed and affable as many a pub. We sometimes feel "bar culture" is often far too up its own fundament for it to be comfortable for the majority of punters - but everything here was cool. Now we feel that the Bear has steadily dropped its bar intentions and is reverting to conventional pub. Don't get us wrong, it hasn't come over all real ale, beards and cardigans - they're not in evidence here - but the pool table upstairs and the pints quaffed by punters in preference to shooters and cocktails indicates to us a change of heart. It's decent enough, the location is handy and you can sit outside without choking on fumes from Clerkenwell Road (although you can get get a whiff from cars parking in the bays next to the pub). But the charisma that the Bear had previously appears to have faded somewhat.
6/4/2006
outdoor seating
pool table
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