Ye Olde Cock Tavern in City of London, Westminster

Decent food and a nice interior, sadly let down by rude and patronising staff, particularly one lady serving last Saturday evening. No interest in being friendly or welcoming at all. If the responses from the owner here are anything to go by they don’t seem to be interested in improving their customer service. Lots of other nice places locally to go, which is exactly what we did the next evening…

Fantastic location, typical old English pub, excellent food and variety of excellent beers. Advised.

We came here a couple of nights ago and we were really pleased by the experience. We got there at 20:45 but apparently the kitchen closes at the time… fortunately the staff understood the problem and made us order anyway. The food was amazing and we were able to try for the first time the beef pie. Also the fried chicken was incredible. The beers were also really good!

Italians in London, if you want to eat a wonderful dish I absolutely recommend this place with honest prices. The dish in the photo is called: STEAK & ALE PIE and costs only £14.95 you will definitely be satisfied.. You can choose whether to have it with a side of puree or chips, and it is a "cake" with meat cooked in beer inside. It's really amazing, trust me

Despite the bar being severely understaffed, the lads were incredibly welcoming, friendly and attentive. How two members of staff are supposed to man a big London pub on a Saturday lunchtime is beyond me. But they were great. Hats off to them both! Food was great too. The guys at Greene King definitely need to give their staff a bit of a break and have more behind the bar!

Great pub with excellent beer selections & variety of menu options. Comfortable & friendly staff.

Great pub. Stopped for food and drink whilst sightseeing; great team, good sandwich, even better beer. Thanks guys!

Excellent pub with a lot of history and character. Also hosts debating clubs on some Monday evenings, open to the general public.

Super friendly staff, who make decent drinks, and the food is good too! Worth a visit to this old traditional pub.

A place worth knowing, better to avoid on weekends.

Love the ambiance. Food was great. Most of the staff was nice. Felt that one waitress was a bit rude for no reason, maybe she had a bad day. Otherwise everything was good.

Great Food, Great Beer & Great Service!!

I don't know why this place doesn't have higher ratings. Our experience was amazing. I love the atmosphere, all the quotes on the wall, the staff andwas friendly. In all honesty, this was probably our favorite bar we went to in London. We didn't have any food, just a couple drinks. My only disappointment was that they didn't have any merchandise to buy. We were both hoping to get a T-shirt to take back to the US with us. I would have loved to buy Cock Tavern beer glasses too.

Great service, bloke behind the bar was a good bloke. good beer and food 👍🏽

Lovely pub. All staff friendly, place warm, food good , prices good , drinks good. We enjoyed our couple of hours there and will be back.

Nick at the Bar was Fantastic Great selection Historic and overall a must see and stop

A brilliant pub with great staff, drinks and atmosphere.

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed. It looks great from the outside but the interior felt cold and uninviting with very loud rock music initially blasting out. The selection of beer is good but it would have been good to have a few more typical British dishes on the menu such as a Ploughman’s lunch - also we didn’t see the Specials until after we’d ordered - maybe a blackboard behind the bar would be useful? The cheese toastie was off the menu so I had a chicken and ham sandwich instead but the bread didn’t taste fresh. Friends were eating the pies which they said were good but expensive. The toilets were clean but toilet paper and a working lock missing from one. The young woman behind the bar was very pleasant and helpful.

We came from Birmingham to see some of the oldest and finest pubs in London/ UK and here we are having the time of our lives due to being looked after by the good staff at ye olde cock tavern. Staff invited us in gave us a tour of the place and made us feel like we belonged here, due to being a weekday it’s quiet enough to enjoy a pint with your thought or chat to the more than friendly faces behind the bar, big shout out to nick and Wes for looking after us! Love the gaff !

It's become some what if a regular haunt when we're in fleet street. Good pint of Guinness and reasonable choice of wines

This is a great little pub which is perfect for both a quick lunch with friends, or a relaxed afternoon when you don't have to rush back to work. The staff are great, really friendly, and the food is good. I usually have a pie but this time I tried the fishcakes and they were delicious. I book a table when I eat there and it's a very easy process. I certainly recommend Ye Olde Cock Tavern.

A beautiful historic pub with attentive and quick service, great food (good portions, too!) and fairly priced drinks! Added to my list of best London pubs!

Lovely little bar. Had a pleasant lunch here on a walk through the city

Such a brilliant atmosphere. The bartender was really kind in explaining historical facts about the pub. Such a welcoming environment with great food and great service! Highly recommended!!

Quiet in the afternoon, busy just after work before quieting down again. Good selection of beers on tap, nice food (although we only had some small plates) and of note, Nick, the publican, came over to say hello and was super friendly. Overall a great experience in a nice pub.

Lovely refreshing pint as part of the 007 Shadow of Spectre experience.

Nice atmosphere, food was good, staff friendly. Prices were reasonable for the area.

We chose this place to meet an old friend who had flown in from a different country, after not seeing them for a year. The website advertised closing at 11, they chucked us out shortly after ten, not giving time to finish the round we recently bought, and not having a single shred of apology. The bar woman was rude. Also at one point there was a large boisterous dog in the middle of the pub floor, and the same bar woman and the dog owner were yelling and laughing antagonising the dog, making it bark loudly and aggressively for longer than is acceptable. Not a pleasant atmosphere at all, a shame as the pub could be really nice and the food was decent.

Great beers, charming location, nice attention and - it's only 1pm but still - spotless toilets! Definitely recommend.

The food here is amazing! I ordered the mix grill and with a generous portion size, was very satisfied. There was a bit of a wait as allergies were involved but Caroline was very assuring that the kitchen staff were there to take every precaution, plus the views outside made the wait enjoyable. This would definitely be our local if we were from here, one very happy tourist! Thank you, Caroline!

Lovely pub, fantastic service and atmosphere. I visited with family and had a lovely evening. Advise to pre-book for meals. 😊

This ancient pub is in the Greene King chain so as expected there there was a good choice of beer. The pub, which is larger than it looks from outside, is full of character and has a cosy atmosphere - traditional but well maintained premises. It was late afternoon so we didn't eat there but the menu looked OK for a regular pub, definitely a good spot to pop into for a couple of beers on a warm afternoon (or a nice NZ sauvignon in the case of my wife).

Awful Doris behind the bar thinks she is Tyson Fury. Apparently the manager. I only asked for the football. Disgusting attitude and personality. Angry and violent but she bring it to the workplace. Black hair.

The outside is breathtaking....!! Inside is nice with a fantastic small mezzanine at the back. Worth a visit

Fantastic day out for the Irving Stage Company which included a visit to this wonderful Green King pub. Great atmosphere, lovely food and amazing service. Thank you!!

Lovely group trip from Bury St Edmunds. From the home of GK to the city it was a marvellous experience. Thank-you to all the staff especially Alice for her service!

Amazing pub, lots of us came before the theatre and Alice was phenomenal. Had a great time and would come again

Great food and service! Special mention to Alice our waitress. Loved the historical venue. What a find!!

Arrogant and rude staff , when we asked for a manager to resolve the issue the two bartenders replied that they were both managers and could not assist with a minor misunderstanding about the company's own promotions. Also the sanitary level seems to be low as while pouring the 0% Guinness the lady bartender has put the whole can in the glass upside down and the can was drowning in the drink while it was pouring ....

Awful service. We came on 3 August at 16:40 and had a code from Beaverton brewery to get 2 for 1 Neckoil. The staff at the bar refused to give us free beer and told us to go somewhere else and never come back again. Very rude and unprofessional. Definitely avoid this pub!

Love old looking pubs, had some lunch while gaving a walk about. Staff very nice, friendly & talkative. Food good and will go back when in London again.

The mac and cheese (with garlic bread) and the delicious ales and ciders were phenomenal. For fans of Charles Dickens, fantastic food and drinks, a warm welcoming atmosphere, and rich London history, we highly recommend this excellent tavern! The bar and restaurant team are also awesome! Thank you!

London’s narrowest pub frontage … so we almost missed it. But what lovely grub - in our case, two inhaled fish and chips - and very friendly service. Just a little imagination here harks back to the hey day of British journalism and smokey booze fuelled information gathering. We’ll be back.

Brilliant. Great pie and pint on our first night in London, and friendly service. Thanks from Australia

Fantastic place to sit in and have a bite to eat and a drink. This is a small reminder of what London used to be like, or my idea of what London should be like! It's a long dark, cosy pub. The food was excellent and along with the drinks, not expensive. The barmen, one Welsh, one Nigerian, were brilliant. We had a good laugh with them. The toilets are in the basement, watch the stairs! as with all stairs in England, they are steep and quite narrow. Its well worth a visit, I can highly recommend eating and drinking here.

Had just finished a treasure hunt with “Hidden City”, and needed to find somewhere quick to watch the England Switzerland game! Not an easy task as there was nine of us. “No problem” said the bar staff, we have room upstairs and you’re welcome! So ordered our drinks and comfortably watched our way in to the semi finals! Good result all round!

What an awesome old tavern! Gotta love a place like this.

Oh, I loved this place! I had my first Eton Mess here...cherries and elderberry sauce, perfect cream, and huge crunchy bites of meringue! I was in HEAVEN! Fantastic location. Gorgeous facade and such a charming place inside! We were across from the bar in a cozy corner. Chatted with a lovely bunch of chaps next table. A must visit next time I'm in London!

Bartenders extremely nice, great bar food and atmosphere

Great evening at a private party for a friend's 30'th Birthday. Alice was great on the bar and looked after us well 💗

Chicken and bacon sandwich was rough

Two fellas behind the bar were awesome, great attitude and friendly as you’d expect. Food was top notch, steak pie is killer. Please start selling merch! I’ll be back to get a shirt when they are in!

Good prices for great food! Got two steak sandwiches with fries and two alcoholic drinks for under £20, food was good quality and steak cooked to order

Lovely old world pub. Friendly staff. Downstairs toilets are not for those with a weak heart! Would come here again.

Great historic pub 👍 👌 loves it

Great atmosphere, great food, very friendly staff-even brought my wife a glass of Prosecco as it was her birthday. Will definitely come here again when in London

Good food and drinks served by friendly staff. A nice comfortable pub

Eight years ago, my husband and I discovered this place and loved the food. This time, we brought our children, and they enjoyed it just as much as we did. The service was alright; the staff was friendly but very busy. I had a meat pie, which was very flavorful with a flaky pastry. The chips were not too greasy and well-seasoned. Overall, it was a pleasant experience for the whole family.

Good selection of beers. Seemed quiet, possible due to that it was late afternoon on a Saturday. Nice decor though.

Fish’n’Chips obviously. And couple pints of Abbot. Delicious! Great place.

Popped in with a couple of friends from outta town. Showing them a few olde English pubs. Served by two very welcoming ladies. Absolutely fantastic service.

Strong 4/5. Love the aesthetic of the bookshelf wallpaper, the fish and chips is delicious, cocktails - parfait!

A part of a large chain but the manager runs his own kitchen, for the better. A good choice down by st Paul's.

We have been here every time we come to London. The selection of beer, ipa is good. The kids love the games upstairs. The service is brill. The staff are really friendly.

Fish and chip's Ultra generous and excellent...

Popped in for a couple of drinks on a boys day out. Made to feel very welcome and attentive to us all. Great pub, great service with a smile.

Nice atmosphere, good food and pints. The staff was very nice.

The French lady who served us is in the wrong job. She would be better suited to a call centre (I used to work in one lol). She slammed the tables next to us, overcharged for a glass of prosecco when I could've had a mini bottle and barked loudly at us. Obnoxious supercilious woman who let her colleagues down (they were sound). We have been in loads of pubs over the weekend and everyone was welcoming and friendly; we were shocked to be greeted with such hostility.

Me and my partner went to this pub recently . when we arrived I went to order a drink and received a dirty look as the bartender did not know this was on the tap and was confused. Then when trying to pay for our pints I tried to use my greene king student discount card but it was declined , taken off me and was told ‘I have the right to take this off you and ask you to leave’ even though i have used this in many greene kings prior. My student beans ID was also not accepted at first due to not having signal. Overall the bartender serving us had a terrible attitude and requires further training .

Nice range of beers to choose from.

Another very nice old London pub with tasteful décor throughout. Clean toilets. From Wikipedia... Originally built before the 17th century, it was rebuilt, including the interior on the other side of the road in the 1880s when a branch of the Bank of England was built where it stood. Shortly before the destruction in 1886, the dining room was captured in a lithograph by Philip Norman. However, in the 1990s a fire broke out and destroyed many of the original ornaments, and the building has since gone through a restoration using photographs.

Too bad they don't serve beer before 12 (this applies to all of London), they will never get 5 stars from me because of this…. The pub is beautiful!

Fantastic pub . Nick the landlord an absolute gentleman. I have frequented a lot of London pubs. This is one of the best.

Booked a reservation for a 6:30pm table; arrived a little early and waited for a friend to arrive. At around 6:37pm we approached a member of staff to ask about our seats, to which she screamed across that she could not hear us, which was quite abrupt and unexpected. We found the table that we had reserved and someone was already sat there so we explained to them that we had the table booked and he respectfully left the table. Moments later, the same angry staff member then approached the table again in a raised voice screaming that the table was reserved for someone else. I explained it was the table I had booked and she then angrily explained how booking processes worked, she was loud, angry, patronizing and completely off putting. Needless to say our appetites disappeared. The bar was busy enough but honestly not as busy to warrant such a hostile attitude towards 3 customers. It is an historic pub, but I really doubt it has stayed open as long as it has if this is the usual behaviour of its staff. This particular staff member needs a refresh on the basics of hospitality.

Excellent beer, very good food, and nice local atmosphere. Price is average for London. Just a good place to relax.

Michael was especially friendly and accommodating.

We had a great time here. Michael, the bartender, took great care of us and was so attentive to our larger group’s needs. He was very accommodating with space and for whatever we needed. Highly recommend when on Fleet Street!

Cracking pub. My fish (in the fish and chips) was materially over-battered. Service and Guinness was good.

Was introduced by a work colleague. An amazing place. The duck main dish is excellent and there's a decent selection on real ales on offer incl some that aren't Green King brands.

Met Jack and nick who really looked after me during my visit. Great to see the wide selection of alcohol free in the fridge. Enjoyed a lovely lucky saint! Many thanks again

Greens King drinks great. Competitive prices by London standards. Great smiling friendly bar service. Old, yet modernised. Perfect for a quiet drink - not overcrowded when we went

Not that great. Unwelcoming so didn't stop for a drink. Plenty of other pubs around.

Great historic pub Well, it's worth visiting!

Nice! But the barkeepers aren't too nice in my opinion, I ordered 3 drinks they didn't even bother to help carrying them back at our table... had to walk multiple times. Sadly they didn't accept digital ID's, but that's fair due to policies etc. Otherwise nice ambiente and comfortable chairs.

Enjoyed the casual pub feel. Duck hash dinner was fantastic. Great server. Very relaxed. Great lager and cider on tap. Left very satisfied, would definitely return.

Came for the history, the pint, and fish and chips. This is a very chill place. Lively, but not as crowded as Ye Olde Mitre. Good number of locals and visitors to London. The Fish and Chips was great, and next time I want to try the Steak and Ale pie.

This is our local and we’ve been visiting regularly for 5 years now. Staff are so lovely, especially the manager. Love the pub quiz and beer garden!

My regular post work pub. Love it!

Went here to grab a couple of beers and had a great time the bartender told me about his stories in the British army the rubgy game was on people were cheering have a good ol time just felt like everyone knew each other in there had a wonderful time and beers I never tried before

To reply to the business: Actually, I have been to this pub and found the staff rude and unhelpful. The fact that I cancelled a booking within 24 hours of making it (giving you almost two weeks' notice) is neither here nor there.

This pub is amazing has all the atmosphere of an old English country pub yet with a few modern city twists. The menu has a good selection of different dietary requirements to cater for everyone, but if u speak to the bar staff they will also accommodate any extra special needs. The staff are awesome they are so helpful, happy and always on the go, but will always make sure theirs customers are happy. They even organised a suprise sit down meal for my partners birthday as we were only in London for a few days but made us feel like regulars. If you are ever in Blackfriars area it is a must pop in even if just for a pint, great selection of ale, lagers, ciders and spirits.

Almost a great pub. Amazing architecture and history, friendly staff, great for a drink. The food is reasonably priced, especially for this part of town, and that in itself deserves a commendation. However, our meals were served cold, and when we mentioned, it didn't cause any concerns - I get the feeling this is how it is all the time. And that's a pity, because I think it would have quite good when hot.

Sports on tv Prices ok for area Great London pub

This could be a really terrific pub, as its history and interior are great. But our food - burger and chips, simple enough - were served lukewarm. Honestly could not be bothered to send it back to wait another 20mins or so for food, and the member of staff we spoke to really wasn't fussed whether we got hot or cold food. So don't eat there - just go for a drink, enjoy the atmosphere and move on - as there isn't much care or attention paid to what is coming out of the kitchen. We really like to support pubs as the industry is having such a hard time, but I can't see we'll be back to this one.

Great space and vibes! Staff were friendly and especially Alice who was amazing in helping us get our order in time. She’s a star!

The Sylvan Debate Club meets here every two weeks and has done so since 1868. Anyone who speaks a little English and is curious about this quintessentially London culture will be welcomed with open arms.

Great pub food and great service

Great boozer. The 1st time I had seen or played Shuffleboard, great fun

Stopped for a quick drink. Cute little pub.

Very friendly staff and good atmosphere!