Edgar Wallace
40 Essex StreetLondon
WC2R 3JF
See more about this pub on WhatPub, CAMRA's national pub guide.
Just off Fleet Street near the Royal Courts of Justice, the barristers' chambers in the Temple and the Aldwych, this is a real gem of a one room pub, with an additional drinking and eating room upstairs. The ceiling is packed with the landlord's collection of beer mats, and the walls and back bar - and more! - can only be described as a mecca of advertising signs for beers, sherry, port, cigarettes, tobacco and cigars of the past. There is also a shelf of Edgar Wallace crime novels, pub guides and other books will make you want to linger.
The choice of cask ales, sourced nationally, may be more limited post-pandemic but two to three should be available. Good value pub grub is served at weekday lunchtimes. It's a "quiet" pub with no music; laptops, mobiles and so on are not allowed. Please note that, in this legal area, it does not open at all at weekends.