The Coal Hole

This agreeable character was once the Savoy’s old coal cellar, but punters now come here to fuel up on cask-conditioned ales from the nation’s microbreweries & big boys – anything from Jaipur IPA or Thornbridge Kipling to Fuller’s London Pride. Head for the attractive dining room in the bleak midwinter where salmon en croûte, porterhouse steak with dauphinoise potatoes, chicken in cider pie & sticky toffee pud provide the central ’eating. The mostly sub-£20 wine list reads like a greatest-hits compilation, & if dining is not exactly of the ‘fine’ variety, the interior certainly is – high-baronial bluster rubs shoulders with art nouveau, leaded stained glass, bacchanalian friezes & a handsome oak bar. Musical maestros Gilbert & Sullivan often patronised the place – although business suits now outnumber HMS Pinafore dresses.