The once seedy and bohemian streets of Fitzrovia conceal some great pub gems and the Newman Arms has pies in its eyes
Dating back to 1730, The Newman Arms was used by George Orwell as his model for the “Proles” pub in Nineteen Eighty Four and was once, apparently, a brothel.
Which may explain the leery red colour someone has chosen to paint the exterior, a theme that continues inside. The alleyway down the side of the pub has always had the name ‘Murderer’s Alley’ and personally I think whoever chose to paint the pub red should walk up and down the alley. However I am told this ‘post box’ red is true to the pub’s original colour. Hmmm.
East End brewers Truman took the pub over in around 2018 and it just reopened under new management.
The new owners may have committed an error, in my eyes, with that colour but you can’t fault anything else. The interior herringbone brick floor of the cosy main room is still present and correct while downstairs, in the basement, they’ve created a kind of lounge for people to, well, lounge in. All very nice and with board games, too. The exterior has proper brass covered window ledges to prop your pints on, and the range of beers is extensive and well kept and includes Hawkstone
Ah, but it’s upstairs where the pies are putting on a performance. There has always been a pie room upstairs and now it’s presided over by a Frenchman, of all people. I imagine in the 1800s he’d not have lasted long.
Perhaps he is responsible for the rather charming decor and the real tablecloths on the table, something I find absent almost everywhere these days, perhaps down to laundry costs? A real tablecloth makes all the difference.
He informs us with a bit of a Gallic shrug that owing to a missing chef, there is no Murphy’s Bread and the Lamb Belly scrumpets are not available. A shame as I wanted to know what a scrumpet was like.
No matter, I have a half pint of prawns instead, no chef necessary. Very good prawns, so well done whoever bought them. They have their full shell on and their heads too, so you don’t get that many in a half pint glass but actually it was enough. A pot of marie rose sauce and lemon was all they needed and which they got.
S went for chicken liver pate with caramelised onions and sourdough (with proper butter on the side). Very rich, very nice and the sourdough whilst toasted had not become teeth-shatteringly hard as sourdough is wont to do under the grill.
We were drinking one of the Newman Arms specialties, Murphy’s Stout with Cremant – a Black Velvet. It’s usually made with Guinness and champagne.
It was a drink I could get seriously addicted to, and it was good to see Murphys on the menu. I am fed up with the influencer-driven Guinness craze that still infests London.
And so to the pies, there are six on the menu and all looked good. They are apparently all made fresh in house.
My choice is the Shepherd’s Pie made with braised lamb leg. It’s perhaps debatable whether Shepherd’s Pie is really a pie, as it has no pastry, but this is seriously good anyway. The braised meat is packed with flavour and the mash topping is all crispy.
The ‘raw pea salad’ is a bit of a mystery, a spoonful of raw crushed peas basically. Peas do go very well with a Shepherd’s Pie, but the small quantity was rather odd, although rather tasty all the same.
S has the ‘aged beef rib and shin pie’. This comes with mash but he declines as he doesn’t eat potatoes. Yes I think that’s weird, too, still mustn’t judge.
He loves it, I try a bit and it is very good indeed. Murphy’s stout gravy is great and the roasted Hispi cabbage is perfect with the pie. Nice crust on it too, golden and crispy.
So that’s it. A proper pub lunch in a proper pub, so we do what seems right for louche Londoners without proper jobs and have some more pints standing outside in the sunshine, enjoying the Fitzrovian atmosphere.
We felt like new men.
Monday to Saturday 12pm-11pm
Restaurant/pie room open 12pm-3pm & 5pm-9:30pm
23 Rathbone Street, London, W1T 1NG