Best City spots for a winter warmer
When there’s a nip in the air, there’s nothing quite like getting your mitts around a nice, hot glass of mulled wine. In these days of online shopping and alternative Queen’s speeches, not a lot remains of the traditional Dickensian Christmas – so when you see a spot of hot wine infused with spices, you just have to go for it.
Luckily for those of us who work in and around the City, we have plenty of atmospheric pubs and bars in which to enjoy a bone-warmer before heading back home, including pubs that Dickens would have recognised – and indeed, might even have taken a tipple in himself.
From the glorious Lamb in Leadenhall Market to the glitzy Corney & Barrow overlooking the ice-skating rink in Broadgate, grab yourself a glass of the hot stuff and party like it’s 1869.
LAMB TAVERN LEADENHALL MARKET
From tomorrow, this great pub in what is surely the most Christmassy place in the entire City will be dishing up mulled wine for £3.50 a glass, and for those with more European tastes, also “Swedish winter cider”, for a very reasonable £2.40
10-12 Leadenhall Market, EC3V 1LR. Tel: 020 7626 2454
THE VIADUCT TAVERN
Another absolutely classic City pub right on the east side of Holborn Viaduct, they insist that “we are very traditional” and so will be serving up a good old glass of the red stuff, from mid-December.
126 Newgate St, EC1A 7AA. Tel: 020 7600 1863
CORNEY & BARROW, BROADGATE
While people in mittens and woolly hats fall over on the ice-rink below you, keep warm inside with a glass of spiced wine. It’s already on the menu now.
19 Broadgate Circle, EC2M 2QS. Tel: 020 7628 1251
THE PUNCH TAVERN
A staple for those who work on Fleet Street, this old pub is a top venue to sink in for an evening when it’s cold outside. They say that they’ll start with the mulled wine at the beginning of December.
99 Fleet Street, EC4Y 1DE. Tel: 020 7353 6658
GOLDEN FLEECE
It’s perhaps not the cosiest, but for a swift one, you could do worse than the Fleece. Mulled wine is £2.95 for a small glass, and £3.75 for a large one. They have a decent range of Greene King beers, too.
8-9 Queen Street, EC4N 1SP. Tel : 020 7236 1433
YE OLDE WATLING
One of the cosier pubs in the city, this tiny boozer on the corner of Watling Street and Bow Street is one of the best places to take refuge when the weather is grim. They are serving mulled Green Goblin cider, at £2.95 for a glass.
29 Watling Street, EC4M 9BR, Tel: 020 7248 8935
JAMAICA WINE HOUSE
The “Jampot” is a favourite in the summer for a cooling pint, but the site of London’s oldest coffee shop is also a prime spot for a winter warmer. Mulled wine is on the menu from 1 December.
St Michael’s Alley, Cornhill, EC3V 9DS. Tel: 0207 9296972
CORNEY & BARROW, PATERNOSTER SQUARE
The most modern of the Corneys, it might be more of a chilled champagne sort of gaff, but that’s no reason not to enjoy something warmer. They start serving the mulled stuff in December.
10 Paternoster Square, EC4M 7DX. Tel: 020 7618 9520