Owl & Pussycat

The gentrification of trendy Redchurch Street continues as this former east-end boozer returns in a familiar gastropub guise. Fashionably mismatched Chesterfields, stripped tables and antique fittings furnish the lilac-coated main bar, which serves pints of Peroni and Heineken, a selection of four rotating ales, and wines by the glass.

Post-work, the pub can get uncomfortably crowded with designers from nearby agencies and itinerant City boys happy to pay the above-average prices, but ample seating in the well-heated rear terrace provides a useful retreat.

Upstairs, a Victorian-style dining room usually offers a British menu, though currently it is hosting a pop-up steak joint called Flat Iron.