St James's · Westminster
The Red Lion
A perfect miniature Victorian gin palace, mirrors and all.
- Address2 Duke of York Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6JP
- Phone020 7324 1654
- Websiteredlionmayfair.co.uk
- OwnershipPart of Fuller's
About The Red Lion
One of London's smallest and finest Victorian pub interiors, its etched mirrors and mahogany fittings barely touched since an 1870s makeover.
First licensed in 1788, the Red Lion got its defining look in 1871-72, when architect W.H. Rawlings redesigned the frontage and interior in the full flush of Victorian gin-palace excess: superlative etched and cut mirrors by Walter Gibbs and Sons, polished mahogany, and ornamental ceilings, all packed into a genuinely tiny footprint. It once held four separate rooms, a division still traceable in its original external doorways. Standing metres from Jermyn Street's shirtmakers and barbers, it remains one of St James's most complete period pub interiors.
On tap
Fuller's cask ales served at a bar built for standing room, not sprawl.
Food
A short, simple pub food menu; this is a pub for drinking first.
More pubs in St James's
- The Golden LionA former theatre pub with masks carved into its facade.
- The Two ChairmenNamed for the sedan-chair carriers of old Westminster.