The Princess Louise, Holborn, London

Great pub, gorgeous setting, but soooo busy at night! It’s lovely if you can get a table, so I recommend getting there early and setting up camp.

If you’re interested in pub history and architecture then this place is for you. Try to avoid during lunchtime Monday to Friday as the braying suits (I know, I was one of them) spill out on to the pavement, and getting served becomes less a challenge and more of an ordeal. Inside, marvel at the beautiful Victorian architecture and dream of days gone by. Handy for the British Museum and Sir John Soanes’ House.

Lovely and quiet on a Sunday afternoon: a perfect place to meet friends, and (for a girl who still needs convincing about beer from time to time) their Alpine Ale is very nice.

I love the decor!

Looking really spesh since the refurb! A great choice it you want a cheap pint in style, or treat a foreign visitor to a classic British boozer - plenty of places to sit for a central London watering hole, too.

A solid, reliable Sam Smiths with a very unique interior. Depending on how moody you’re feeling or how big a group you’re trying to accommodate, the Princess Louise is either gorgeous or horrendously laid out. As it’s an old gin palace, it’s chopped up into lots of different section, which can make it a bit tricky to navigate. If you go at quieter times, you can get an entire area to just you and your friends, which is really lovely. If you go with when the after work crowd has filed in, it’s hard to get a table, but harder to move around and find where a table is.
But if you do like Sam Smiths pubs, you should really see this place at least once. Preferably at an off-peak time when you can appreciate the beauty of its interior. It’s rare to get such a cheap drink in such a lovely setting.

Love it!

Fulham would not normally be my destination of choice, but this is a decent, clean and 'cheap’ places

Good food. Interesting atmosphere. I like to come here. Not for heart patients though…

Beaultiful interior !

not a bad pub very nice decor,
bar staff are pleasant, very comfy pub

Visited this pub for the first time on one of the rare sunny days last summer and was very glad I did. As other people have said, the interior is stunning - a real old London boozer, with little snugs, lots of brass and cheap drinks. Staff were friendly and there seemed to be genuine locals propping up the bar. There is a real fire, which wasn’t lit, but added to the atmosphere. Toilets downstairs are clean. Called back that evening on my way back to the station for another drink and enjoyed it just as much. Hope to return next month, hopefully the fire will be lit!

was very busy
service not that good - slow but may have been because it was busy

beautiful refurb.
full credit to mr smith for this.

Couldn’t agree more with other reviewers. This is a wonderfully traditional old-fashioned english pub. Great for a romantic drink by the fire. Staff are very friendly. It can be a wonderful place to escape to, but unfortunately it can get quite busy and over-crowded in the evenings.

This is a lovely traditional London boozer, with all the original and completely gorgeous tiling still intact.

This is a Sam Smiths pub which means lots of really good beer at rock-bottom prices for London - in other places this could mean it was over-run with the kind of clientele that seeks cheap booze but this is not the case here - the people who drink here are generally really nice. The staff are all well trained and happy to help with any questions you may have, particularly good if you are a tourist - and with the British Museum just a short walk away this is a good thing. I imagine there are a lot of people who travel home to their own countries and talk about the lovely pub they visited called the Princess Louise!

Sam Smiths pubs can always be relied on for quality cheap beer in a ole english pub type setting. I love the decor in this place - lots of dark wood and pretty stained glass. Not usually too busy, except perhaps the friday after work drink crowd. Nice bar snacks too.This is no exception, with its quirky booths around the bar giving you and you mates some privacy on a friday night. Steer clear of the wine though - overpriced and not very nice at all! also great location, just 2 mins walk from Holborn station. A breath of fresh air from the other trendy wine bars round this area. Worth checking out if you are in the area and thirsty!

Fantastic place.

The upstairs bar was a real find, it’s usually quiet (even at traditionally busy times) and I’ve always been happy with the service.

I love you Samual Smith….........

I worked here for a few weeks about 5 years ago. The landlord at the time was kind of a maniac, but the pub itself is fantastic.
As others have said, the interior is beautiful. Victorian furnishings, a fireplace, huge mirrors. It’s arguably the most attractive pub in London.
Their German wheat beer is delicious.
After about 5pm it gets very crowded.

I definitely recommend a visit.

In general you cant go wrong with Samuel Smiths pubs but this one is extra special. Its recently been restored and looks absolutely stunning. You feel like you’ve walked into a piece of 1900’s london. Drinks very reasonably priced as always. These pubs are such a breath of fresh air.

This is not a pub for people wanting their usual lager, they have their own brewery and the drinks are very different. No brand spirits, but they have a famous German wheat beer, which is nice.
Prices are below average for London and the place is packed all year around, all day. During Christmas this is a nice place for Christmas parties.
They have an upstairs for you to book.

Food is nice and I really appreciate the attention paid to it. You can eat upstairs where it is really nice and quiet. All set up there!

The Princess Louise is an absolutely stunning pub a great way to start an evening (or even finish it).

The drinks are very cheap, though some people may not appreciate not being able to buy Fosters etc. The beers available though are marvellous and great fun if you’re up for a little experimentation. Very good for all ages, though not necessarily viewed as cool.

If ever five stars were deserved it would be here. When foreign people in my office ask me what i mean by a “proper boozer” i take them across the road to the Princess Louise.

Generally i like a little music on my night outs, and you wont find that here, but all for good reason - it doesn’t need any modern fancy nonsense, just good old fashioned interiors with relaxed drinkers and low priced beer.

The Sam Smiths Stout seemed a more than adequate replacement to me usual Guinness and when i next move back to London i will be sure to pop to Holborn.

The other reviewers have said it all, really: the interior is amazing. Although the screened areas are new replacements, the whole effect is interesting (lots of nooks and crannies) and impressive. I wish other pub owners would take such care of their pubs. It’s a fascinating journey back into the social and class divisions of Victorian London!

The downside is that the choice of real ales, while good in itself, is Sam Smiths, Sam Smiths or Sam Smiths. The prices are amazing though - less than £2 a pint in Central London has to be a real money-saving winner.

It’s also less than 5 minutes walk from Holborn tube.

This splendid Victorian pub has one of the most amazing interiors in London, (if not the country) have benefited from a £1 million refit. Built in 1872, the original Italianate façade hides a High Victorian refit of 1892 by the architect Arthur Chitty, on which no expense was spared. It is a grade II* listed building and features prominently on the National Inventory of Pub Interiors.

The decoration is formidable: etched mirrors line the walls, surrounded by polychromatic tiling, elaborate terracotta friezes, patterned ceilings, marble pillars with gilt capitals, tiled floors (mosaics in the corridors) and stained and painted glass.

The decorative scheme continues into the lavatories: (well, the Gents’ at least) - there are decorative tiles on the floor and walls, with a heavy marble urinal surround. (Only the Philharmonic in Liverpool is more impressive.)

Although the interior has always been impressive, the screens were removed in the 1960s to simplify the layout. But owners Sam Smiths have gone for a full restoration, reinserting all the privacy screens around the bar according to the original scheme. The screens – all of which are copies of the originals – have polished wood and etched and cut glass patterns.

The result is to spilt in the bar into 9 different spaces, around the enormous central servery: Effectively, this splits the pub into two halves, so if you are meeting someone, specify left or right hand side! There is a long narrow space at the front (accessed from either side corridor), three screened ‘snugs’ on each side of the bar, and rooms either side at the rear.

Although this impedes circulation, and makes it a real maze, it does make it more intimate. If you manage to bag a snug with some mates, you have your own private drinking space for the evening.

As others have said, the drinks on offer – even the soft drinks – all come from the Sam Smiths range. For the beer, this means decent real ale at low prices (less than £2 a pint). Service is OK, but be warned – it can get feverishly busy just after work, although during the week it tends to calm down by 9pm.

Overall, this is a pub worth making a special trip to see.

One of the most beautiful pubs in London, the Princess Louise has reopened its doors after being closed for more than a year.

Classically Victorian, with beautiful stained glass and heavy gilt decorations on the walls and ceiling, the interior is very impressive.
New compartments that limit the space but highlight the period feel mean that you must get there early to have a decent space during rush hours.

If not for the beer, this pub is worth a visit just for the décor, although in this case the ale does not disappoint!

This pub is fab. I’m a fan of Sam Smiths and this might be my favourite Sam Smiths pub (though it would be a tough call between this and The Angel). It’s one of the only places in Holborn that I actually enjoy drinking. The rest of the area is a bit pointless to me. (If someone can tell me of other places in the area that would be great!)

I get lost in here. And that’s fun. I like that there are a million doos and little seating areas and it feels like you’re in your own special bit of the pub. This is fun. It doesn’t get too busy in here. Nor is it too empty. It’s actually just right. Like the Goldilocks of pubs.

They’ve got a log fire at the back and in winter that’s pretty lovely. Couple with a glass of red, it becomes the perfect place to have a snuggly chat.

I don’t know what the pub looked like before they did it up, but I like it now and if I’m ever in the area, it’s the first place I’ll go.

The Princess Louise is simply the best looking pub in London, it stands tall as one of the great Kings of pubs.

It was a beautiful drinking hole before its recent refurbishment, but after a nightmarish wait that appeared to go on for years she opened up to a whole new glory. Even the grade C listed toilets survived, and by some miracle the smell has been removed.

The new sectioned off areas give the impression of stepping back into a Victorian gin palace, the emphasis being on ‘palace’ not some scruffy gin joint where you’d find Bill Sykes in the corner and Nancy wretching up another song me dears.

The landlord is a big, friendly landlord stereotype and the staff are all efficient and amiable. The drinking fare is Sam Smith’s and that sits just fine with me; cheap and exceptional. Being so close to Holborn station ‘the Louise’ (as we like to call it) has a wonderful location and with her new booths it may just be a perfect venue for a date (pre-sophisticated dinner of course, ying and yang like).

A failure to visit and enjoy this place is a failure to visit London itself.

This is a wonderful pub.

It’s a Sam Smith’s so standard Sam Smith’s branded drinks and snacks at standard Sam Smith’s prices.

Inside it is real old fashioned, like. There is an awful lot of ornate woodwork and a few fireplaces and gilt mirrors and that sort of stuff. Lovely olde worlde stuff.

What makes this a particularly nice watering hole is the partitions that are up across the whole pub making into a bit of a maze when trying to find your friends, and then like a private area when you have found them.

With a location on High Holborn, this makes The Princess Louise, a right royal escape from the madess of Oxford Street and co.