The George

A Grade II listed corner pub on Great Portland Street, its Italianate facade rebuilt in 1878 by Bird & Walters, the ground floor still carrying original glasswork, panelling and painted tiles. Musicians from the nearby Queen's Hall were once summoned back mid-interval by handbell, having got stuck at the bar long enough for the conductor Sir Henry Wood to nickname it the Gluepot, a name the upstairs bar now carries. The George closed for four years before reopening in November 2021 under publican Dominic Jacobs and chef James Knappett, in partnership with JKS Restaurants, who rebuilt the first floor as a private dining suite while keeping the ground-floor bar recognisably a London pub.

Upstairs runs a chain of connected rooms: the Dining Room's long table beneath a Victorian fireplace and chandelier, a smaller Private Dining Room, the green-walled Green Room with its own hearth, the panelled Snug, and the Gluepot itself. Each takes private hire individually or the whole first floor can be booked together. Downstairs, the pub's mahogany bar and chequerboard floor are available for a full-venue buyout.

The food is pub cooking taken more seriously than the format usually allows - a Beef Wellington, beer-battered fish and chips, a black pudding scotch egg - alongside cask ales, an extensive wine list and a seasonal cocktail programme. Sunday afternoons and match days keep the ground floor busy; the rooms upstairs stay separate enough for a private party regardless of what's on downstairs.