The Bree Louise

Unpretentious pub with a nice selection of ales. They had a good deal for sambuca-​esque shots (which poured as actual American full shots and not this British half-​shot business) for 1 pound, which was nice. I had a plum porter here, which was quite good. The place was super popular and people were having a great time. I just wish they would make the inside more cozy– changing the harsh lighting a bit, which made the whole thing quite sobering.

Visited here last month and was pleasantly pleased with the selection of ciders on tap, I am not really an ale drinker but if you are this place will cater to your needs even better than to mine. I had an hour to kill before catching a train home, which is just enough time for a quick pint and chat with a friend. I like to find somewhere in central London that does so well at serving things I like to drink, I strongly suspect if any of my committee meetings end early in the future I will be in here trying new ciders, I might even venture towards the food menu next time too.

First, the good news.
Stopped in here on a Wednesday night in November at about 8pm and it was absolutely rammed. Why? Because it’s bloody fantastic. As someone who loves not only a good real ale but also a real cider, the selection here is a dream. I had to look again on their website to see just how many taps they offer — the answer is 17 ales and 11 ciders. (They also serve Heineken if you’re a bit of a bore).
Also had a Pork/​Apple & Cider pie — the absolute best pub pie I’ve had in England to date — and only £6! (Usually £8 but there’s a special pie Monday-​Thursday). Half the price of the chains and twice as good! They also have a Steak/​Ale, Steak/​Kidney, Steak/​Mushroom/​Red Wine, Minted Lamb, Chicken/​Mushroom/​White Wine, Chicken/​Ham/​Leek and English 3 cheese.
The bad news?
The bloody cross-​rail project is slated to go right over the top of the pub, forcing them to close. I’m hoping this isn’t going to be so (or at the very least they reopen elsewhere), but I want to make one more stop in this November just in case.
PS — This pub would also be Dr. John Watson’s «local» if you lived in BBC Sherlock land — the next block over is North Gower Street — if you stop at #187 it might look a bit familiar ;)

Very busy, noisy, lots of choice in beers and ciders, hard to get a seat but it forces people together with opportunities to chat! I think the service and prices where Ok. An OK stopover if waiting for a Euston train. The pie and chips looked good but I didn’t sample … had an appointment later for a Drummond Street curry!

Cozy neighbourhood boozer is welcoming, bustling, and popular with the locals.
What seems like a typical pub gives way to something with a bit more. Craft beers, a good selection of ciders, and a knowledgeable and friendly staff happy to let you sample a taste before they pour you a pint. Food was pretty good too and portions were large and hearty –just like the beer! Overall an agreeable hangout.

Brew Louise is a great pub. Real ales will love this pub. It is pretty basic and a big shabby but I go for the ale. Good selection.

Bree-​bree-​bree-​Louise
Your pies will bring me to my knees
Your pints and chips set me at ease
You’re a proper local, and that’s my steez.
Bree-​bree-​bree-​Louise
Don’t ever change
please, please, please!

Being a Northerner, I’d fully prepared myself to pay a lot for beer in London but I was pleasantly surprised by the prices at the Bree Louise!
It’s located close to Euston on a residential street and was on our way back to the station.
It has a very traditional décor but attracts a mix of old and young. A modern touch is the TV screens with the beer and food menus around the pub.
It has a decent amount of cask ales and offers CAMRA discount on both the ales and pies.
But despite our visit being on Thursday and the pub being quite a decent size, it was busy and we had to squeeze on the end on someone else’s table.
One of the beers I had was awful but the others I had were OK.
All in all, a decent pub with decent prices. Probably not your first port of call in London, but ideal if you’re near Euston and are after a pint.

Um these people are awesome! The food is the bomb and these are the best chips I’ve had! Don’t even get me started in the brews I could talk all day!

The Bree Louise is a strange one. It was recommended by a friend as a cheaper alternative to the Euston Tap next to Euston station. As I was stranded in London due to the recent storms it was a good excuse to check it out for one beer.
It’s on a small side street on the west side of the station. There are 2 – 3 small tables outside but when you enter it’s a bright lit and buzzing atmosphere with the characteristic musty malty smell of busy pubs that greets you. On that night it clearly was particularly busy.
Whilst it’s got the look of an old man’s boozer with the wooden bar, dirty old red carpet etc… The crowd couldn’t be more eclectic. All age groups and social classes are represented and mingling about. The bar itself looks like a macro CAMRA beer festival. A few ales on tap and some visible casks. Food options are limited to pies and although I didn’t eat there, my table-neighbour’s smelled rather nice and enticing.
I had only one pint of a mild but on this occasion I wasn’t fussed. And I thought £4 for a less-​than-​average mild was a bit stiff when for the same price or less you get crafty numbers at the Euston Tap. But it may have been a bad pick so I’ll give it another go at the next opportunity.

There are two types of pubs that tend to be my favorite: the polished up traditional-​but-​edgy ones that cater to the young and hip, and the ones that are small, old, laid out in some nonsensical way, and that smell like it’s rained indoors fairly recently and someone poured beer on it to try to get it to dry. The décor and atmosphere of the Bree Louise falls into the second category, but I so love it, anyways. The beer selection is fantastic — lots of great ales on tap and constantly rotating. The outdoor area is lovely on nice days, though difficult to get a table so you’ll be sharing sidewalk space most of the time. It’s conveniently located to Euston, the British Library, and all sorts of stuff, but it’s still off the beaten path enough to avoid a Wetherspoons-​esque crowd. Mostly locals or people who work nearby. A great pub.

Been to this pub a few times with people from work and found it OK.
However, went there recently and ordered a pint of Redemption which I’ve had several times before and liked. Unfortunately the pint tasted really odd, so I asked them to change it after I had paid for it.
Two of the staff ganged up and told me in no uncertain terms that the beer was good without even tasting it. I left it on the bar and walked out, probably never to return again.
There’s stacks of choice in the area so why should I have to put up with poor beer and even worse customer service. FAIL!

Went here on a visit with my girlfriend as her grandparents used to own this pub in the 80s. It’s now a nice little booser serving a good selection of real ales I counted 13 and ciders (9). Staff seamed friendly enough and serve tasters in shot glasses to make sure you like the beer before getting a pint. Can’t comment on the food because I didn’t try it prices ok for a pub right next to a central station (around £4 a pint)
Would probably go here with a group of my lads for a few session beers

As far as quality boozers serving food in the vicinity of Euston, there’s not much competition. So wailing on a real ale pub serving fresh, home made food (probably for miles) feels a little harsh, like doing a Simon Cowell routine after a kid’s carol service. But, in the interests of integrity…
The Bree Louise sits on one of those windblown residential side streets that exist adjacent to every hub train station is the Western world, where the patina of train grime is smeared across the windows like a derisory smear of margarine on a First Great Western ham sandwich.
Despite the unwelcoming approach and the initial, unstructured look, the overly bright, overly heated single room isn’t the sort of itinerant boozer of last resort, filled with dealers, hooligans and the odd poor sod who missed the 5:15 to Leighton Buzzard. It’s actually much better (or worse) than that. The Bree Louise is one of those ‘proper’ pubs. The kind of pubs where men have beards, toilets are ‘functional’ and it’s acceptable to order a half of NoseSplitter or Noggin’s Best before comparing fisherman’s knit or World of Warcraft anecdotes with your closest (male) friends. For the Bree Louise is a CAMRA pub…
Now don’t get me wrong, I love a real ale as much as the next man, but there’s something about the nerdier than thou that can emanate from the REAL ale drinker that winds me up. It’s the same sort of aggressive apologist behaviour that attaches itself to train spotters, obscure indie music fans and Evertonians. A ‘get the digs in now, but we know we’re right’, folded arms attitude that makes for a very closed shop.
Thankfully, as well as ‘Award Winning’ ales, ciders and perrys (and a couple of lagers), they also serve a range of ‘Award Winning’ pies (and obviously feature as an ‘Award Winning’ pub in a guide book somewhere, given the number of confused tourists wandering through…)
Less thankfully, the pies we had were fairly sloppily constructed, with that deeply unappealing pub habit of slopping an inch or so of pre-​prepared casserole into the bottom of an earthenware bowl before covering it with a frozen puff pastry shell and reheating to order. The cider sauce was far too thin, if well enough flavoured but there were just four small sad beige chunks of pork floating around in it, several inches below the carapace, like turds trapped under a swimming pool cover.
I suppose for £8 a pop, it’s difficult to complain too vociferously about the food, but it didn’t do it for me at all. The pub is recommended if you genuinely have missed the 5:15 to Leighton Buzzard and can’t face the Weatherspoons*, or need to regale chums with your latest live roleplaying anecdotes over a pint of Old Badger, less so for anything else.
* Let me make this absolutely clear. The Bree Louise is a HUGE improvement over the Weatherspo’Neill-style sticky floored hellholes you normally find near stations. It’s just that isn’t saying much…

Scrumptastic ciders.
I quite enjoyed The Bree Louise as it’s nice to be able to order more than the usual trio (strongbow/​magners/​bulmers) but not be stuck with something far too sweet.
I stopped in here last week for a bite to eat and a pint. The décor is old, and not in the best shape. If you’re looking for suave and sophisticated go somewhere else. It was a Friday evening so most people were suited up until about 7pm when there was a noticeable shift in clientele (many suits could be seen staggering out/​into the door). The few students around seemed to be there for the evening.
I tried a few of the ciders (don’t ask me to remember the names!) and their wild boar burger. The burger was nice, but the bun was slightly over toasted.
Food wise, it’s pubgrub. Cider wise, it’s definitely worth a gander.

For a celebrated real ale pub I found their selection a bit boring. Despite such a large selection there wasn’t one that I’d not tried before elsewhere.
As for the food… The pies are a bit of alright. But yesterday I thought I’d try the bangers & mash instead.
It took quite a while to arrive at my table. I had to go and remind them of my order.
And when it came it was quite a disappointment (especially in comparison to the bangers & mash at the Snooty Fox, which I’d had a few weeks ago, and which was excellent, particularly the venison gravy). The sausages were okay, though nothing to write home about. The mashed potato was quite stodgy. The gravy was very average — my mum does better. And there were no peas or any other vegetable with it. I know it’s called «bangers & mash» but every other place I’ve had this dish gave us peas as well.
Disappointing.

Very disappointing experience.
I went here on a fairly quiet day in late October for lunch with two friends. I was very hopeful when I saw the wonderful selection of beer behind the counter. If you simply want a beer and some crisps, this may be a good place to go, because it means you don’t have to eat the food or deal with the lousy service.
My two friends, being Brits, ordered fried eggs and chips and ham. First, the order was wrong and they didn’t receive the ham. Then when my friends pointed out that the fried eggs were supposed to have runny yolks, the serving staff ARGUED with them that the yolks were supposed to be hard. Even when my friends offered to pay for more eggs with soft yolks, the serving staff refused.
I ordered one of the «famous» pies. A haggis pie. Very disappointing. First it had no crust, either dough or mash. Instead it had root vegetables simply scattered through a very watery haggis filling. It was almost a haggis stew, not a pie. Not what I ordered or expected from a pie.
The décor was also tatty and one too clean.
So, skip it unless you want beer and crisps and don’t mind rude serving staff and a dingy interior.

Like: vast selection of beers and cask ales. PIES. Low-​key atmosphere. Friendly staff.
Dislike: prices of beers and cask ales
Ouch I was thinking this little back street boozer would be a bit more bank balance friendly but £4 for something silly like a Heineken… sheesh. Even the house brew ‘Bree Louise’ is that much. And don’t get me started on how to describe my friend’s face when the price of her gin & tonic was revealed… BUT I know we should be drinking the ales here as that is what it is famed for. I think CAMRA are trying to save this one. And so they should.

WOW, the pies are so good here. I had the apple cider pie and it was the best pie I have ever tasted, of course it was my first authentic English pie I have ever tasted, but I can’t imagine any other pie tasting better than what I had. The beer list is endless and have much ciders. They have a pie special every day for 6 pounds and they do give a 2 pound discount to students. Come for the pies, stay for the beer

This is a very good pub that could be much better. On the upside, they have a great selection of cask ales, keg ales and cask ciders and they offer a nice CAMRA discount, but on the downside some of their (gravity) cask ales are so poorly kept that it’s tough to drink them. Another bonus is that you can get three ¹⁄₃ portions for the price of a pint, so even if one of those three is ass poor you’e still got two others.
The décor is fine though the ventilation could improve; there’s plenty of indoor and outdoor seating; the bar staff are friendly. There is a carpet in this pub; take that as you will. I will never think that having a carpeted drinking esablishment is a good idea.
The range of beers the Bree Louise brings in can be quite good, so I’ll keep coming back.