The Round House, Covent Garden

Covent Garden's Friendly Pub Gem Shines

Stepping into The Round House in Covent Garden feels akin to finding the heart of London in wooden flooring and frothy pint glasses. As you enter, a rhythmic hum of chatter, clinking glasses, and perhaps an ode to Adele or a kind of sweeping ballad, welcomes you to a story of tradition and comfort. This affair promises more familiar warmth than cutting-edge cuisine, something that ebbs around you from the convivial doors to the gleaming taps – where a pint of Fuller’s Pride seems as obligatory as air. One gamine regular in a pale hoodie might recite hallowed secrets of the perfect pour, while Jonathan, a constellation in bartender form, guides novices through their spirit-laden galaxies with whiskey samples and sudden starlit laughing fits.

Wandering deeper into this glimmering landscape, you discover corners thriving with tales both old and refreshingly new. It's where locals’ energetic banter meets tourist curiosity amidst cocktails and hamburgers. Be cautious not to surprise yourself at the bar though; patience sporadically requires summons at peak hours, and proportions can prompt a swift reach into one's pocket. But anxious grumbles and the faint smell of overripe beer bristle away against a creed of courteous staff even when performances need fine-tuning. Through fleeting seconds, what emerges is less grandeur and more gathering; no evening crescendos save perhaps the high notes gazed upon when raising that third shot for £17 right against an unfamiliar pressed toast and trusted friends. The haze might never completely lift, but a bridge of nostalgia, lightly bohemian yet resonant with tradition, charms a return journey back soon enough. — Clarissa Cuisinier