Ben Crouch's Tavern, Fitzrovia  

Named after a notorious bodysnatcher and boxer, Ben Crouch's Tavern makes a valiant attempt to live up to the full Hammer horror of its namesake's legend. The pub's gloomy Gothick interior is more in keeping with a film set than your average public house - dark-stained wood panelling, dingy nooks and crannies, ironwork, gargoyles and cabinets displaying mysterious objects. To add to the entertainment, Boris Karloff and other horror legends appear on the TV screens behind the bar, (although the big screen usually screens Sky Sports News) and you can get "seven deadly sins" cocktails in test tubes. More mundanely, there's a couple of real ales on the hand pumps, a pretty standard range of other beers and lagers on tap, an average wine list and pub grub. It's all very reasonably priced for the area and is a handy refuelling stop for tourists and shoppers during the day. By night (especially at weekends), it's not, as one one might expect a gloomy gathering place for Goths, but a meeting place for fresh-faced young things, who gather here for a cheap(ish) top-up before heading for the pricier bars and clubs that abound in these parts.

reviewed:
18/2/2008

pub features:(click on an icon to see an explanation)

1 TV screen

ATM on premises

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