Crown & Two Chairmen

It’s a nice pub and we watched some football here. Theres quite a bit of seating and it’s in a really great location.

The Crown & 2 Chairman is a nice enough pub in the middle of Soho with a reasonable array of craft beers and a few cocktails to boot. The downstairs is small with high tables and bar stools and also a side alcove with dining tables. Upstairs is much larger with long benches and tables along with its own bar (not serving mid week). Currently plenty of TVs showing the Euros and friendly staff serving drinks. I saw a few people with food and wasn’t overly keen on trying it for myself (typical pub grub). Good meeting place for a post work pint but nothing about it has the wow factor!

The food was OK but one staff member was incredibly rude and completely killed in for me.

This is my go to pub in Soho. The vibe is relaxed and friendly. The staff are helpful and it’s a good central location without feeling too crazy. Unless you are here for post work Friday drinks, when its the usual west end chaos. I’ve eaten here but this score is more for the pub as it wasn’t recently. I’ve hosted a party in a reserved part of the upstairs bar and they couldn’t have been nicer. That’s why I come back… so I’m biased but hey.

Très beau pub typiquement british. Le service est effectué par des jeunes super sympas par contre le fish and chips est pas terrible. Ok le poisson est très bon quoique gras mais a t on vu un F&C sans huile? Par contre les frites sont sèches. On s’en fout on passé un bon moment dans ce superbe pub

You know that smell of dirty mop water? This is what the entire pub smells of. It’s not a bad pub otherwise, but the smell completely put us off ordering food here.

Just… ugh.
This review is based on a Friday night experience. Maybe it’s nicer on a non-​Friday. I don’t know and I’m unlikely to make the effort to find out. We stopped in because a member of our little group had good memories of the place. Oof.
Packed. Probably dangerously so. Rather obnoxious people. (Hint: calling me «love» when you don’t know me is both belittling and doesn’t give you permission to shove me out of the way so you can order first).
We ended up taking our drinks outside. At 8pm we were told we had to perch precariously on the pavement rather than touch a toe on the street. Fine — council rules. But then shortly thereafter we were told to go around the front side and only within a tiiiiiny barrier which was clearly not wide enough to hold all the spill-​out clientele.
The outside staff were nice. The inside staff seemed oblivious to things. Overall, I think they were very likely over capacity and need to reign that in a bit. Mostly just a gross experience.

Popular enough that it’s mostly rammed with people.
I particularly like this pub for one thing — the fun pub quiz held on Mondays — in the upstairs area. Make sure you reserve a table in advance though!

Good looking pub with decent beer/​cider selection and cool staff right in the heart of Soho, which is rightly usually rammed at 5.30.

This is a cool pub, it’s not touristy, they have some interesting beers and there is a good crowd. A lot of media types and people that work in the area hang put here and you might see me here too.

Very friendly, helpful staff.
Delicious food of fantastic quality.
Great atmosphere.

The Crown & Two Chairmen is a Soho pub with a surprisingly good range of exotic beer. On tap there are the usual lagers (e.g. Grolsch), dependable ales (e.g. Doom Bar) and more specialist stuff too: Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn Lager and Brew Dog. Tucked away in the fridges at the back are more exotic beers still: US beers from Flying Dog and sweet ‘n strong Belgian beer Triple Karmeleit. Considering its prime Soho location on Dean Street I’m impressed and pleasantly surprised by the boldness of its beer range. Service is friendly, quick and knowledgeable too.
I didn’t have a chance to try the food, but I’d return for the beer alone.

After having a nummy dinner around the corner at Busaba (see review) my friend introduced me to his work local.
Entering in the «Tradis» doors was like stepping into a scene out of Star Trek where there had been a rip in the space time continuum and different eras of time are sharing, nah, coexisting in a given moment in time! Ok, perhaps not as dramatic as that but there was a distinct feel of cross generation attraction to the place.
There were people dressed to the nines that looked like they had stop in for one before heading off to a Mods party, and others who had quiff’s that would rival any Rocker! And at the other end of the scale, to my left were Gekko pressed yuppies. Me being a people watcher this was a real time of indulgence — inhaling all the sites, sounds and flavours.
I must say that is was a very loud pub, but in their defence it was a Friday night, but still, I had to get rather close to my friend to hear what he was saying, not that I was complaining but that’s a different story — haha!
We were stood by one of the side door and one little minus point was that I did come away smelling like an ash tray. People were permitted to smoke right in the door way which meant smoke was blowing straight back in — not cool.
All in all it had a very retro and trendy buzz and although it looks like quite a traditional pub, it really was something that slipped out of a time warp (cue music?) A good selection of ales although it did cost £6.35 for a pint and a half. Hmmm!

Perfect pub for Soho drinkies if you aren’t in the mood for cocktails. It has a great range of couches, booths and high tables. The staff are lovely — and pretty cute– and more importantly, really know what they are talking about. They let you taste the wine /​beer to make sure you are happy, and enjoy a good bit of banter. The music is good, atmosphere brilliant and everyone else in there seemed to be a contended as me. If I could change one thing, it would be to make the toilets bigger — even Barbie would have issues

If and when you can’t get in at the Dog & Duck, you can pop down here. There’s a bit more space, and the ales are good & well-​kept. Doom bar, often here. Space to sit. Nice folks Stupid prices, but it’s Dean St.

One of my favourite pubs in Soho. Cosy, pleasant to sit in, relaxed and busy enough to have a good atmosphere, but not too busy to make you want to gouge your eyes out with a spoon.
The upstairs bar is usually quieter and a good place to reserve an area for a birthday/​big night out.

Four of us stumbled on this pub by chance while walking down Dean Street. It wasn’t even the first pub I was aiming for until someone said, hey here’s a pub!
It was a Sunday evening and the downstairs was packed with people both eating and drinking. Upstairs there were a few tables free so it was perfect to relax and not have to worry about people bumping into you (leave that for a cabaret night that was close by). It was quite dark but not unbearably and as a result, it was cosy as well.
We had calamari and a few orders of nachos. Nothing complicated but we were impressed by the nachos. Drinks were fairly reasonable and the barman was helpful and courteous.
I wouldn’t mind going back in there for a roast as their menu looked pretty good, even for a vegetarian (my friend).

I stopped by here for lunch inbetween two meetings. I was searching for something cheap and quick (a dangerous combination), so I was attracted by the lunch specials.
£3.50 for a fish finger sandwich on lunch special… Not exactly a steal but I suppose it’s good for Soho? I love me some fish finger sandwiches, and this one was served with lime mayo, and wasn’t half bad!
It’s your typical pub, though better than a Wetherspoon’s. And I was also impressed by a good music selection (props on the Bombay Bicycle Club!)

I’ve been to the Crown and Two Chairmen a fair few times. Depending on the night of the week that I visit, the downstairs area can be rammed full of people with barely any standing room, or it can have an upbeat (yet paradoxically downbeat) boozer atmosphere. While nothing particularly stands out about the décor, there’s just something appealingly homey and welcoming about this place, especially given its location in central Soho.
The upstairs area is usually less crowded, with a smaller bar. On my most recent visit, the rugby had just finished playing on the large screen usually used for independent film viewings on Sundays, but it had been left on tuned into BBC for the Red Nose Day dancing. After about twenty minutes of this, the bar staff held an (informal) vote as to whether to turn it off or leave it on. After some drunken slurs of ‘On!’ and ‘Off!’ that ultimately just sounded like ‘Oonff’, an executive decision must have been made and music started playing at a comfortable level in the background. You’ve got to love this about the Crown and Two Chairmen. .. even though patrons’ preferences probably weren’t taken into account at the end of the day, at least it SEEMED like they were.
When I visit, I usually pick up a Fruli from the downstairs bar before heading up to the relative quiet of the upstairs seating area and make trips downstairs as necessarily for more delicious strawberry-​beer goodness because the upstairs bar has a smaller selection of European beers and therefore doesn’t have Fruli on tap. When one of my friends who didn’t realize this tried to order some Fruli pints from the upstairs bar, however, the bar staff phoned downstairs to get someone else to bring some pints up! That’s service.
And speaking of drinks. .. The Crown and Two Chairmen has some really great European options on tap as well as a few more bottled ones. From the exotic to the mundane, this place’s drink selection certainly measures up. With such drinks options, however, one inevitably pays a premium, so the Crown and Two Chairmen probably isn’t the best pub for session drinking.
At the end of the day, this pub’s true selling point is its laid-​back vibe and unpretentious service amidst other local spots tellingly named things like ‘Sunset Strip’.

Central London and Soho in particular has a lot of good bars and pubs. The Crown and 2 Chairmen may not have much of its own character to offer but it is good place to relax nonetheless. I first came with a friend on a Sunday afternoon. We had just finished our first proper bender. We had each had a Purdeys and KFC variety meal for breakfast but still felt absolutely dire and so thought it would be very louche to go for a Bloody Mary. We were feeling a little too sensitive for the French House and so we decided to go to the Crown and 2 Chairmen.
The pub is noticeable due to its position and it is a large pub operating across two floors. The décor across both is typical gastro pub with wooden floors, tables downstairs and comfier seats upstairs where they sometimes show sports. We sat downstairs and ordered our drinks. The Bloody Marys were good, though a little lacking in spice. The bar in general is well-​stocked and they also serve good pub food.
I have since been back a number of times, mostly to watch sport. It is shown upstairs, projected against a wall. The seats are arranged accordingly, and the place feels like a large living room with a friendly atmosphere. They sell a range of bar snacks which are pretty expensive but good if you’re happy spending the money.
The Crown & 2 Chairmen can feel a little bland but is a really pleasant place for lazy drinks or go to watch sport.

I’ve called in here after work with groups of friends who also work in the area as there always seems to be lots of space for sitting and having a rowdy catch up.
There’s a large bar downstairs and upstairs is a smaller and more intimate drinking area with large curved booths that we like to congregate in. It’s not anything to get excited about, just typical pub style maroon leather seats, dark wood tables and paneling and long leather covered benches. All in all The Crown and Two Chairmen is very simple, but it serves the purpose of a meeting point with a relaxed atmosphere. Best of all it’s on a corner so it’s easily found in the winding streets of Soho before we all head off to somewhere better.
It’s not somewhere I’d head to without the suggestion of others as there are many more watering holes in this area that are much nicer. Worst of all the service is often poor so you can be left waiting propped up against the bar even when there’s hardly anyone in. I had a sandwich once that was disappointing, even the chips were really tasteless.
It’s a shame that it’s a bit of let down as in such a prime spot you’d think they’d try and make more out of the place.