Picture of Bree Louise, NW1 2HH

Historical version 12 of Bree Louise, NW1 2HH (view current version)

  • 69 Cobourg Street, NW1 2HH (streetmap) (osm) (gmap) (bingmap) (streetview)
  • 11:30am–11:30pm Mon–Fri; 11:30am–midnight Sat; noon–midnight Sun

Nice little pub round the side of Euston Station, in the Good Beer Guide. Also handy for the curry places on Drummond Street. Located on the corner of Cobourg Street and Euston Street. Bench/table seating, where smoking is permitted, can be found outside on the pavement; this is pleasant enough, as these streets are not busy ones.

We've now visited on several occasions; it tends to be fairly quiet on weekend afternoons and totally packed on Friday evenings. However, it's rather more hidden away than, say, the Doric Arch, so possibly a better bet at peak times. On a Saturday afternoon in April 2008, [redcountess]? noted that there were a number of well-behaved children in attendance, so it seems to be child-friendly too (though we don't know if there's a curfew). Also on this visit, we noted that the bad smells (sour milk etc) which have been noted on previous visits seem to have been sorted out.

They have four or five handpumps, and they also offer a number of other ales on gravity dispense. Beers we have seen here (not all at once, obviously) include Spitfire, Old Speckled Hen, Bass, Hobgoblin, London Pride (£2.80 as of September 2007), Doom Bar, Adnams Explorer, Abbot Ale, Deuchars IPA, Cornish Mutiny, Landlord, Harveys, Adnams Stout, Wyre Piddle (£3 as of April 2008), and Hook Norton Hooky Bitter (£3 as of April 2008). The beers are well-kept.

One of the great things about the Bree Louise is that CAMRA members get 50p off every pint; this is an ongoing offer, and the discount has even increased over time, from 40p to 50p in early 2008. (Prices above are given before discount.)

People uninterested in real ale may be pleased to know that a sign advertises "lager served in frozen glasses".

Food is served noon-3pm and 5pm-9pm Monday to Friday, and noon-5pm Saturday and Sunday. They are very keen on pies, which are all £8 and come with "double cream buttered mash potato", seasonal vegetables, and gravy. The eight choices include beef and Guinness, minted lamb, and chicken and broccoli. The pies are not made on the premises, but provided by The Pie Room, a London-wide company that supplies ready-made pies to a number of pubs.

The rest of the menu (photos: front, back) is also fairly standard pub food; burgers (£7-7:50), fish and chips (£7), sausage and mash (£7), steak (£10). Vegetarians are not well catered for; only one of the pies ("all English three cheese") is vegetarian, and the only other choices are pasta with broccoli and pesto (£7), caesar salad (£6), and ploughman's with cheddar or stilton (£7). No mention is made of whether the cheese in these dishes is confirmed to be vegetarian.

In September 2007, Kake's "prime beef Tex-Mex burger" with bacon (£7.50) (photo) was of average quality overall; although the bacon was thick and the quantity of burger (two patties) generous, the burgers were rather underseasoned and the advertised "Hot!!"ness was entirely absent. Neither the accompanying chips nor the enclosing bun were interesting enough to rescue it from averageness. Still, it was ample, and it was edible.

In April 2008, [redcountess]?'s roast beef lunch was pleasant enough, although the gravy was overly peppery. We also shared a very generous portion of chips, which were hot, crispy, fairly thin, and good (also pre-salted).

See also:

Last visited by Kake and [redcountess]?, 19 April 2008. Opening hours taken from the 2008 Good Beer Guide. Food times and prices taken from menu in pub, 9 September 2007.
OS X co-ord: 529441 OS Y co-ord: 182565 (Latitude: 51.526662 Longitude: -0.133856)
This is version 12 (as of 2008-04-20 18:08:20). View current version. List all versions.