Old Coffee House

Time Out says

Mon Jul 18 2011

The Old Coffee House is in fact an old pub, with old pub attitudes, drinks and decor: the vintage etched mirror still advertises MB Foster and Truman, Hanbury & Buxton; birds stay stuffed in glass frames; and the menu still consists of pies and jacket potatoes. The layout of the place, though, lies with its 18th-century roots, when such coffeehouses were debating chambers for rational political discussion.

The debate today is carried out between two Sky Sports TV screens at each end of the one-room interior. The racing form is also perused, on the bar beside various handpumps (look out for the Brodie’s ales). A framed display of David Beckham memorabilia contains a signed photo, close-ups of that last-minute free-kick against Greece, and a letter written by him as a teenage apprentice to ‘lee’, explaining how he’d just received his first match fee and bonus, and now had £250 in the bank. Like we said: vintage.