The Lamb Tavern, Leadenhall, EC3

This is a Young's house situated in the middle of the splendid Leadenhall Market, and with the usual ales on offer. The special I had was OK. It's a fair bit less intimate than the nearby Jam Pot, with its high ceiling and, presumably modern, addition of a mezzanine floor. It was pretty crowded when I dropped in at 2.15 on a Wednesday, and the noise level was very high with a number of office workers still hard at it in the pub with their raised voices echoing off the high ceiling. The pub still retains what looks like some original etched and cut glass from the Victorian era, plus I spotted the excellent W B Simpson tiled mural of Wren showing the plans for the Monument to a lady in a carriage. This pub has a somewhat unusual feature of an iron spiral staircase leading from the ground floor bar up to the mezzanine bar. I'm not sure why it's considered necessary as it takes up space in the ground floor bar, when there is a separate staircase up to the mezzanine floor at the side of the pub. But not to worry – it's just an oddity. As a pub, it's a bit too loud and noisy for my taste. I certainly don't think that it's a bad pub, and OK for a pint if you're in the area and don't mind Young's ales, but I doubt whether I shall go out of my way to visit again.

The Lamb Tavern is a bit of London history having been in the heart of Leadenhall Market since 1780. It’s not the place for a quiet pint, but the type of place in the City where you expect to stand (either inside the wood panelled ground floor bar our outside in the market itself) cheek by jowl with City workers, in this case mainly the insurance trade due to its proximity to Lloyds. It has two other floors which house the eating areas, accessed by a metal spiral staircase. It’s a Youngs house with Youngs Ordinary and Special always on and then a guest which was CW Bombadier during my last visit, and I have always found the Youngs to be well kept. The service may not be the best in the world and it is always crowded, but it’s well worth a visit , just for the location alone. And like all city pubs in this area of London, it is not open at the weekend.