Dog and Duck, Soho: what to order and when to go
A tiny, tiled Victorian pub on the corner of Bateman and Frith Streets, with a licence going back to 1734 and a pie worth the squeeze.
By Only Soho Editorial
The Dog and Duck is at 18 Bateman Street, on the corner with Frith Street. It is small, Grade II listed and Victorian, and it is one of those Soho doors where the building does half the work. Look up before you go in: the glazed brick upper floors carry a stone carving of a dog and a duck, and there is a mosaic of the same pair.
A little history
The pub has been licensed since at least 1734, according to CAMRA, and the original is said to have stood on the site of the Duke of Monmouth's home. That 18th-century pub was demolished in 1897 and replaced by the building you drink in now, designed by architect Francis Chambers for Cannon Brewery and built as a hotel. It was Grade II listed in 1989.
The name possibly comes from the old "sport" of setting dogs on pinioned ducks, which CAMRA notes without much affection. Bateman Street, incidentally, was once Queen Street, renamed after Viscount Bateman of the Monmouth Estate, as the Historical Marker Database records.
The pub is on CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors, rated two-star, and counts as one of Britain's Real Heritage Pubs. The inventory text, quoted by the CAMRA London Pubs Group, calls it a gorgeous small and very popular Soho pub.
What to see inside
- Victorian tilework framing two big advertising mirrors, one for Virginia cigarettes and one for Brighton seltzer water, signed S Trenner and Son.
- The long, narrow room, with front and back bars divided by the staircase to the upper floors.
- Etched glass and decorative mosaics, which SquareMeal singles out.
Upstairs there is a small dining room, named after George Orwell. Londonist and SquareMeal both repeat the pub lore that Orwell had a celebratory absinthe here when Animal Farm was picked by the American Book of the Month Club. Treat it as a good story rather than a certainty. The pub's own site also names John Constable and Dante Gabriel Rossetti among its drinkers, and CAMRA mentions two reported ghosts.
What to order
Nicholson's, who run it, pitch the place as perfect pints and unbeatable pies, and that is the right brief. Start with the house Nicholson's Pale Ale, brewed for the pub by St Austell in Cornwall and regularly on the bar. The rest of the cask range changes, and there is a wine list and a selection of craft gins too.
For food, go for a pie. Reviewers on Tripadvisor praise the steak pie and the chicken and mushroom, and mention mash and a tureen of gravy alongside. Fish and chips and a chicken schnitzel also turn up in write-ups, and there are vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. The menu is concise, and opinion on the pub is mixed, so go for the room and the pint first and treat the pie as the bonus.
When to go
It is tiny and, in CAMRA's words, packed at busy times. Saturday evenings are busy. A Sunday afternoon has been described as cosy. If you want a seat, go early in the day, at opening or soon after, and take the weekday afternoon over the weekend rush.
Hours vary between sources, so check before you go. Typically it is open from around noon until eleven, later on Fridays and Saturdays, with Sunday closing at about half ten. One practical note: the gents' is down stairs, and reviewers call it a challenge. There is no step-free information to share.
Prices and booking
No current menu prices are published in the places we can point you to. Listings put it in the affordable bracket, and Restaurantguru gives an average bill of about £20 to £30 a head, which is only a guide. For the bar, walk in. For a table to eat, call 020 7494 0697, or use the Nicholson's booking page. The nearest tube is Tottenham Court Road.
One place for after
Swift, 12 Old Compton Street. It is a two-level cocktail bar about a three-minute walk away. Upstairs is walk-in only; downstairs is reservations only, so book if you want the lower room. It opens at three and runs until midnight Monday to Saturday, and it was ranked number 76 on the World's 50 Best Bars extended list in 2023. Swift's own site has the details. Go after the pie, take a seat upstairs, and order a cocktail from the list.
