Red Lion

While we often go out in this area on a Friday, for some reason The Red Lion was a new visit quite recently. It’s a Sam Smith’s pub, so there’s the limited range of drinks under that banner. It has a much wider selection that other Sam Smith’s places I’ve been to and actually is very spacious inside. The upstairs seating area & second bar are quite nice for the location. A nice Friday shout!

Decent Sam Smith pub, prices are higher than other local Sam Smith pubs. The location is good, lots of stuff around this area. The staff was decent, and there was plenty of seating available.

Stopped in here while looking for a leisurely pint in a traditional English pub, and we were not disappointed. We came in on a Saturday evening, and it was lively but not crowded. The place continues to unfurl from two rooms and a bar downstairs to another huge floor upstairs. Rich wood paneling, leather seats, beautiful décor and a big fireplace let us know that we had found the right spot.
The Red Lion is a Sam Smiths pub, and I went with the Old Brewery Bitter, which was pleasantly malty and flavorful, but only mildly bitter. It was a great match for the cold December day. There isn’t a single television to be seen, making the focus entirely on the conversation. I’ll be stopping in the next time I’m in the area.

An above average priced old worldly pub located in Soho, just off Carnaby Street. The one bar person was reasonably polite and the surroundings are OK but nothing special. The toilets were blocked at 4.30 in the afternoon so would hate to imagine what they were like on a busy evening (if the place does get busy!) Beer tasted good which is always a winner!

My neighborhood pub. Always have friends here and if not, the barkeeps know my name. Find Sam Smith beers and a warm setting to enjoy with co-​workers and friends. Like to unwind upstairs where there is even more seating. Especially crowded on Thursday but you can’t go wrong here.

We were looking for a quick pint after a trip to check out the dance shoes and retro-​styled frocks at Revival. The internet made The Old Coffee House sound promising, but after trudging down the narrow sidewalks of Beak St., we found the place rammed with people watching football. We should’ve known that the Red Lion was a better option, right outside Kingly Court!
The Red Lion is a Sam Smiths pub. (For any visiting Yanks who are reading this, pubs in Britain are traditionally associated with a brewery and mostly serve their beers; by contrast, a «Free House» is an unaffiliated pub.) I was happy with their Extra Stout, while J enjoyed the darker of the bitters on tap.
The place is made up of two cozy rooms downstairs, and one upstairs, each of which has a traditional wooden bar with low shelves above for glasses, all of them blissfully free of flatscreens.
On the late Saturday afternoon we were there, it was full enough that no room had empty seats, but not so packed that we couldn’t walk around. After only a short while of sipping while leaning against the wall, an older couple finished up and we were able to nab their table.
It was exactly the relaxed pint that we were looking for. (Towards the end, we were distracted by what appeared to be a tense lovers’ quarrel near the door of the room, but that’s hardly the fault of the venue.)
By the time we headed out, we passed through a sizable crowd drinking out front. Kingly Street is relatively quiet and charming in decent weather, and this provides a good overflow valve to keep the interior of the pub from getting too crammed.

The Red Lion is pretty basic as all Sam Smith pubs are but that is exactly it’s appeal.
Unadulterated, un gastrofied, un rennovated. it’s just a straight forward pub, how it should be and all the better for it. I bet it looked the same 40 years ago. Good crowd of after work regulars from around the area and good prices too.
Tiny serving area and can get pretty crowded but just stay with it. The bar staff are efficient and do a good job of pouring the beers as fast as they can.
The crowd spills out onto the once scruffy alley of Kingly St. which but has been rennovated with new paving that hints at ‘destination promenade’ vs ‘seedy back street’. Great improvement but I also worry the street may become too nice as I see establishments closing down and new more upmarket places opening… A bit of Soho edge and funk can be a good thing so please, Red Lion, stay as you are and resist the temptation to change.

The Red Lion is a Soho classic. Tucked away on Kingly St, mere metres from the bustling tourist hell on Carnaby Street, the pub is nestled nicely with the other bars and drinking spots along the street, making it a lovely place to be in the warmer months. Everyone stands outside anyway, so you might as well be paying significantly less for your beers with the Sam Smiths prices… right? In the colder half of the year you’ll find yourself in a typical Sam Smiths pub — all wooden, no music, but all the charm.
My favourite is just round the corner, The Jon Snow, but the Red Lion is held with great affection by me.

The only thing I remember about this place was that I had a lot of British ale beers and got really drunk lol. The ambience of the pub was quite a great British one with all the locals indeed.
Cheers!!!

Should have known I was going to have a bad date when the guy suggested The Slug and Lettuce, but thanks to Unilocalers I convinced him to go to the Red Lion instead. Great authentic front room and loved the organic lager they had on tap.
The great part is that there is so much seating: front room, back room, and a whole top floor. It had a good crowd – just lots of friends hanging out and enjoying their beers. Exactly what a pub should be…

The Red Lion is awesome. Met a friend here once and have been coming here ever since. Not sure what the deal is, but they’ve only got a few different beers on tap — I think it’s related to some ale house? Whatever the case may be, the beers they do have on tap are de-​lish. Chuggably so, in fact, that I’ve never been able to say no to «just one more.»
The weird thing about this place tho is that it’s constructed kind of like someone’s house — perhaps it was a private residence at one time — cuz there’s a front bar, a back bar, and an upstairs. And if you’re meeting someone there you can be sure that they won’t be waiting in the same room that you are and there will be confusion.
But once you find your friend, all is well. And then you drink beer. Delicious, delicious beer.

The Red Lion is another pub of the Sam Smith’s chain. Located in Soho in Kingly Street, which is basically a back alley for the rather more infamous Carnaby Street, The Red Lion has a really interesting quality. In many respects it feels forgotten, tucked away as it is, a hidden gem among so many overpriced and uninspiring joints in Soho, an odd combination of veiled commerce and banality punctuated by occasional shows of sincerity.
As usual, the low price of beer is not unnoticed, but, as usual, there are very few indications of why we are so fortunate. The atmosphere is thickly authentic. I prefer to sit in the narrow, still front bar where I often read after work over my £1.86 pint of bitter. Across the room from me an old man who looks like a character from a Tom Waits song writes in a tattered notebook, presumably in French, in keeping with the thin French volumes he has stacked beside his empty pint glass.
In the larger back room every day is not quite so like Sunday. Groups of friends tend to congregate here before moving on or moving up for a more involved night of boozing.
Perhaps I’ll join them one day. For the present I’m quite content in my solitude.

It is so hard to recommend pubs in Soho. They are a dime a dozen, and many don’t have much to distinguish them — they serve the purpose of getting you drunk and making you forget your day of toiling away for your Soho employers; and that you have to do it all again tomorrow.
Still, a couple of things set the Red Lion apart. One is that the drinks are especially cheap. Almost Weatherspoons cheap. Also, the bar upstairs is unexpected and helps to spread everyone out when it gets too busy. A friend of mine had his birthday drinks upstairs here one Saturday night, and we managed to take over the whole place. It is handy that there is a bar upstairs too, so you don’t need to keep on running down to get a drink.

In my opinion, if all other pubs in Soho fail you, The Red Lion is one of the only places you should be.
The pub is layered with heavy wood and a gorgeous little bar. There is always plenty of seating upstairs and down but it *can* get slightly busier on a Friday or Saturday night so make sure you get down early.
This place is great for groups, it has a great atmosphere for a good night out and is a stone’s throw away from central London’s clubs, should you wish to venture out afterwards. If you get a little drunk and just fancy heading home, Oxford Street tube is just a 5 – 10 minute walk away, perfect!
I love The Red Lion, it’s got such a friendly vibe to it, I’d recommend it every single time…