I was here a few years ago and remembered it as a good pub. Brought some friends here tonight and felt ashamed to have brought them there as it was the worst service I've ever experienced in a pub in London. Absolutely dreadful. Will never go back and recommend others to stay away, plenty of other great pubs to go to rather than waste your money here.

I do believe this is the worst in the london "ale house" chains, bringing purportedly good beer to a new low.

CH is part of the "Dick Whittington Ale Trail," a network of so-called cask ale pubs that boast all the same (bad) beers, all the same "classic british" food (for ths same "low, low price!"), the same manufactured "ale house" environs-

-all just more of the same ole same ole bs. Readers from the U.S. will know what I mean when I describe this chain as the Denny's of cask ale houses.

If you're a non-beer-enthusiast tourist who jsut wants to boast that you drank a pint of "cask ale" while in london, then this is the place for you.

Cheap tasting beer, cheaply served. If you care at all about the quality and craft of the beer you drink and the authenticity of where you drink it, steer clear of CH and the "Dick Whittington Ale Trail(s)" altogether.

Of the pubs in this franchise, I'll say that CH is especially bad, as all the fake ale house facade is accompanied by unusally bad service. I would recommend this place only as a joke.

Downstairs is great in here, but the food is TRULY dreadful. My steak last week was burnt,charred and gristly, and the portion of chips was the most measly I've ever seen. Don't waste your time or money, in other words - plenty of far better eating options on the Strand or in Covent Garden.
(If I'd had the option, I'd have selected NO stars for this review)

Had a blinder of a night downstairs at the Coal Hole. It was a big one but I live to tell the story. There were some excellent people there a lot of them Coal Hole regulars but they are all good. Can't wait for the next one.