The Horseshoe is a Clerkenwell pub with a history stretching back to at least 1748, taken over in 2026 by actor Daniel Craig. He co-owns it with Soho House founder Nick Jones, Charlie Carroll - the restaurateur behind Flat Iron and Soho pub The Devonshire - and Justin O’Shea, Craig’s partner in the beer brand Bad Belze. The pub is currently closed, as the new management oversee a hefty renovation of the site.
Pub directories list it as a Courage house through the 1980s and 1990s, and the building itself is modest: a small two-storey corner pub with a taller extension at the back. For the 36 years before the takeover, the same couple ran it as a locals’ pub, best known for the four dartboards in regular use upstairs. It even comes with a resident ghost - Gilbert, a former hangman said to haunt the cellar, for whom Craig has joked about leaving a pint.
Craig grew up in the trade - his parents ran a pub, as did his grandparents in Chester - and the project began with O’Shea, before Carroll, a longtime friend, and Jones came on board. It’s the first pub for both Craig and Jones, and the set-up follows Carroll’s approach at The Devonshire: a drinking pub on the ground floor, with a restaurant upstairs. As Craig puts it, ‘Obviously we’ll spruce it up but we’re going to keep it as a boozer.’
Although details are thin on the ground, it appears that Carroll will oversee the food offering - no surprise following the huge success of Flat Iron and then The Devonshire. You can expect Craig's lager brand Bad Belze to be front and centre on the taps as well, but Craig has said that he has no intention of turning the pub into an upmarket gastropub, so we're expecting The Horseshoe to remain faithful to its boozer heritage. Watch this space for more details.