Where to drink in Carnaby and Kingly: four doors worth knowing
Two proper pubs, one flatshare cocktail bar and a late-night hideaway: what each Kingly Street door is good for.
By Only Soho Editorial
Kingly Street is pedestrianised and runs between Regent Street and Carnaby Street, which makes it one of the easier places in Soho to carry a drink outside without dodging taxis. Four doors are worth your evening: two pubs with real age on them, and two cocktail bars for later.
The pubs
The Blue Posts, 18 Kingly Street
On the corner of Kingly and Ganton Streets, this is a cosy single-room pub with panelling and handsome windows. CAMRA says it was licensed as the Two Blue Posts in 1728, and that the current building dates from 1892. Greene King, who run it, say the corner has been served since the 1720s. Soho has several pubs called the Blue Posts, so remember it is the Kingly Street one, which CAMRA’s London Drinker described as a busy Greene King pub with a different feel from its Berwick Street namesake.
Good for a traditional pint, or a Sunday roast, just off Carnaby. Order: one of the three cask ales (often two are from Greene King), or the roast on a Sunday. Details are on the CAMRA listing.
The Clachan, 34 Kingly Street
A Nicholson’s pub in a Grade II listed building from 1898, formerly the Bricklayers’ Arms. It was once a local for the firemen of Station No. 13 and for special constables. The draw is a rotating range of real ales and a proper pub meal, which makes it a sensible rest stop in the middle of a shopping afternoon.
Go when you want a seat and a long menu rather than a scene. Order: a real ale from the rotating handpumps, and something hot from the kitchen. Online booking is listed, though one reviewer reported being seated on a Saturday night without a reservation. Background is on Wikipedia.
The cocktail bars
The Little Violet Door, 9 Kingly Street
A flatshare-themed bar and restaurant run by “the flatmates”, with kitchen discos, bottomless brunch and a terrace, according to The Handbook. There is a small seating area outside on Kingly Street. It is the party-minded option of the four, so go on a Thursday to Saturday when it is open from noon until 1am.
Order: the Crimes of Passion cocktail, which the bar renamed Crimes of Fashion for London Fashion Week. More in The Handbook’s Soho bar guide.
Disrepute, 4 Kingly Court
Reached through the passage from Carnaby Street, into Kingly Court, the multicoloured, festoon-lit courtyard with three storeys of restaurants, bars and shops. Disrepute is a sixties-inspired bar, run by Nightcap, where cocktails are presented as short stories. The Handbook says the entrance is so discreet you could miss it. Falstaff gave it 84 points in its 2023 cocktail bar ranking.
It opens at 4pm and is open until 3am most nights, so it is best after 11pm, when everywhere else is putting chairs on tables. It serves no food, so eat first. Order: whichever cocktail reads best as a story. It is a date bar and a late drink bar. See the CAMRA listing for hours.
How to use the list
- Early pint, no fuss: The Blue Posts, 18 Kingly Street.
- Ale and a meal: The Clachan, 34 Kingly Street.
- Cocktails and brunch with a crowd: The Little Violet Door, 9 Kingly Street.
- Late and low-lit: Disrepute, 4 Kingly Court.
Hours change, so check each venue before you set out.
