The Toucan, Soho, London

I loved this place – esp with mates
in the cosy bar downstairs in winter.
This is where Jimi Hendrix played his
first London gig.

Cosy little place with great Guinness. It’s a great place for the craic. Toilet leaves a lot to be desired though.

Great Guinness, as everyone else has rightly pointed out. You will pay through the nose for the pleasure of drinking the best pint of it available in London though. If that's what flicks your switch, then dive in and enjoy.

Downstairs in the winter is great, no windows, and a real sense of escape from the real world upstairs at street level.

The food is stuff from a cardboard box, warmed up in a microwave, and some of the staff aren't interested in giving you the time of day if Suggs in in the bar, I guess the £4+ he pays for his pint is better than mine.

Still a great pub, just a shame about the price.

6 Guinness taps on the ground floor bar and another 6 downstairs.... There isn't a bar in Ireland that has this many Guinness taps and oh my but the Guinness is like midnight nectar.....

Top spot, great music on the ipod/CDs behind the bar and the owner is happy to take requests. Prepare yourself for sing songs, random dancing sessions etc. Great atmosphere and probably the best pint of the black stuff in London.

The Toucan is a nice friendly pub that has a good selection of food and drinks.

Guinness afficionados will know that for the last few years, all the Guinness you buy is brewed in Dublin. They’re very careful to say “in Dublin”, since St James’s Gate, the current brewery for Guinness, is about to be closed down and used for housing or shopping or something, and the brewing of the black stuff will be taken to a big purpose-built metal shed somewhere in the outskirts.

However, because The Toucan gets through so much of the stuff, it’s always very fresh. And herein lies the secret why Guinness from The Toucan tastes better than any other Guinness you’ll ever drink anywhere else in London.

The pub’s tiny. So you’ll probably end up either perched next to the casks of Guinness which are piled up in the pub itself (see what I mean about then going through loads); or you’ll be outside, drinking the black stuff* from a plastic glass which’ll be freezing your hand off.

I didn’t know it did food before reading the other reviews. It does sell Irish crisps, though - the Tayto brand, which, fact fans, were the first crisps ever to work out how to flavour their crisps in more than one flavour.

I’ve been many times, but only once have managed to sit inside. Most of the time it’s full. Which is because it’s very good at pouring Guinness.

I’d recommend it. If you like Guinness. If you don’t - I’d go somewhere else, in all honesty.

• It’s actually dark brown. Hold it up to the light.

As soon as my friend said this place served the best pint of guiness in London I had to put his word to the test so 1 phone call and a tube ride later we were cramped up at the bar (which oddly added to the atmosphere rather than annoyed me) awaiting two pints of the black stuff. I haven’t tasted all the guiness in londn but i would be very surprised if there is better around. Its as close as you’ll get to the proper irish stuff.

Charming Irish pub that’s a million miles better than the plastic paddy Irish chains such as O’Neill’s. Its walls are adorned with a lot of old Guinness ads and other Irish paraphernalia.

The upstairs is quite small but there is a larger seating area downstairs.

The Toucan is a little Soho legend. Just off Soho Square, this very small pub is spread across two floors (ground and basement) and er…the street outside. It’s not the smoking ban that has driven the drinkers of the Toucan out onto the street - its the fact that it seats about 40 and yet any night from Wednesday onwards it usually has about 200 people trying to get a drink.

But don’t let that put you off - it’s a great place for a very good pint of guiness and has a very nice relaxed atmosphere to it.

As has already been written - its probably at its best on a quiet afternoon or early week night when you can just sit and enjoy the atmosphere of the place, but its good fun at any time.

Price is pretty much your usual Soho. The food when I’ve had it has been fine both taste and price - pretty simple stuff though.

The toilets are not the best…but the decor and the fact that this is a real irish pub not a theme one make up for the little issues.

You will not be suprised to know that the Toucan serves a rather good pint of Guiness, the famous Irish drink has its regalia all over the place. In many ways the Guiness would have a lot to live up to with so much expectation, luckily there are no problems.

the Toucan is not a place enjoyed at busy hours, rush hour and weekends tend to simply lead the masses on to the streets near Soho square. The beauty of the Toucan is its intimacy and there are few better places to have a drink alone or with AN Other during the day or on a quiet tuesday evening.

The Toucan may well be a bit shabby, the toilets vile, occasionally some silly tourists come in order cokes, wine and half a Guiness for the Dad to stare at and take pictures. The ancient stereo invariably spends a good few hours skipping about before anyone realises and a few potty mouthed celebrities often prop up the bar. None of this should detract from a very charming little place, very small but with a heart as wide as the Thames. One of very few oasis in Soho.

Having already reviewed the nearby Nellie Dean, it seemed only fair to give the Toucan a little airplay.

Like the Nellie, the Toucan is tiny. If you were flat-hunting and walked into the Toucan with the words “and here’s the living room” echoing in your ears, you and yours would exeunt flat stage centre, pausing only to hoof the teenage letting agent in the gonads. Barely room to swing a hamster.

And, much like the Nellie, the Toucan’s a summer boozer. If you’re lucky enough to wander in and find a stool to perch yourself on, fine, but it’s busiest in the warm weather when the patrons can all spill out onto Carlisle Street and the neighbouring Soho Square.

It’s very much an Irish pub: good draught Guinness, Harp on tap if that’s your thing, and - last time I was there - plenty of lunches based around stew and colcannon. You know the sort of thing.

Nice pub for summer. A bit sardine-tin for the rest of the year.