Old Tea Warehouse

I wouldn’t never have found this place, however, was meeting a friend who works in the area. Ironically, my friend recommended this for exactly the same reasons as an earlier Unilocal reviewer when they mentioned you ‘could sequestor yourself from the inquisitive eyes of colleagues during an extended city lunch’…Ha spot on.
After turning down a side street and then into a small unassuming alley, the bar opens up into a small little beer garden surrounded by the bar and the dining room. There is also a downstairs area with 2 pool tables. We arrived around 1pm and it was fairly quiet, however, after 1:30pm the place was suddenly full of businessmen settling in for a Friday afternoon drinking session.
Being a green king king bar, the standard beers were fairly predictable, however, they did seem to have a small ‘beers of the world’ promotion where i was able to get some craft beers including sierra nevada pale ale and a brew dog punk IPA.
I ordered the smothered chicken with streaky bacon and gruyère cheese and my friend got the fish and chips which had great presentation including pots of mushy peas, tartare sauce and a mini jar of Aspall’s vinegar. The fish was apparently quite good, but my chicken a little overcooked.
This place is far from a fine dining, however, along with the quaint layout of the bar and history of the tea warehouse (apparently can be traced back to 1592), this is not too bad a place to spend your afternoon if your in the area.

Weird layout.
As its name would suggest its an old warehouse. Bare squeaky floor boards in a traditional fashion.
The ale is from Fullers, not surprises then.
One main bar and a (slightly) more formal dinning room at the back, which they also hire out for functions.
A chill out area downstairs with sofas. Heated and covered area for smokers outside.
If you are looking to escape from sport then this is the place to be. No TV’s.
Food is reasonable and kept upto date. The platters were nice.

An unusual place split in to two bars at ground level joined by a tunnel with an overly bright basement lounge and a large patio with large heated umbrellas.
It’s one of those many City haunts that you either know about or you don’t and If you don’t you’re unlikely to find it. Accessed through an old stone arch and set in a courtyard, this really was an old tea warehouse, or at least on the site of one.
The main bars are modern, light and airy, the one reached from the indoor tunnel or by door to the courtyard is also quite arty with painted canvasses on the wall shielding the light fittings.
I first came here years ago with a friend of mine that knew all the places a stone’s throw from the office where you could sequestor yourself from the inquisitive eyes of colleagues during an extended city lunch. It’s still a great pub, modern but comfy. They have four or so real ales on tap, some interesing nibble platters for sharing and everything else you’d expect from a pub. As a bloke I wouldn’t normally comment on the loos, but these were modern, spotlessly clean and very fragrant (in a nice way).
If you are in the city and looking for somewhere where you can have a glass of something and a snack, you could do a lot worse than this place.