Old China Hand
Opening hours:
Wed - Thur: 5pm - 12am
Fri - Sat: 5pm - 1:30am
Address: 8 Tysoe St, London EC1R 4RQ
Time Out's N°1 pub in Clerkenwell
With the modern Asian twist of this minimalist pub, you wouldn’t expect this place to meet all of the criteria of a traditional pub: two dart boards, amazing choice of beers on tap, crisps at the bar, sturdy wooden stools, and a friendly landlady. There will be no doubt that you’ve found the best pub in Clerkenwell!
Step outside of the chaos of Clerkenwell, and enter into the zen filled Old China Hand, a classic pub with an Asian influence. Here, the landlady makes sure that all of the products are only from independent businesses based in the UK. She takes great care in picking the best beers and whiskies from an ever evolving list of breweries and distilleries. You’ll never get burnt out on the beer list, since it changes every two weeks! Prefer a glass of wine? Try an English or Welsh wine, which depending on the week you’ve had, you can enjoy by the bottle or by the glass.
When Chinese idioms & Cockney rhyming slang team up
The name “Old China Hand” is a reference to the landlady’s past and present. Having spent most of her life in China, she embraced the Chinese nickname for expats “Old China Hands”. Funnily enough, “Old China” also happens to be part of the Cockney rhyming slang for mate (“Old China Plate”), perfectly tying her new life in London to her old life in Hong Kong.
