London
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15 Tottenham Street
London W1T 2AJ
+44 (0) 20 7637 0896
The Hope is a small pub that serves traditional pub fare. The upstairs dining room is only open on weekday lunchtimes and the menu consists mainly of sausages. They have real ales including two guest ales a week. They get particularly busy in the summer and in the evenings. They have Sky TV. Catering for private parties of up to 50 guests is available upon request.
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October 23, 2008
If you are as hopelessly devoted to pirates as I am, then there is hope for you... in the shape of The Hope.
I will only agree to watch the football with my fiance if we find a pub where we can sit down comfortably and isn't O'Neils. So last night we were left wandering around the Warren Street area looking into pub windows to find out if any were alternative enough to show the Liverpool game.
Suddenly, a beacon in the distance caught my attention... the jolly roger flying proudly in the wind. Upon further inspection I have found my dream pub. The Hope is a pirate bar. Officially.
The staff all wear shirts with the melifluous phrase 'Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter'. There is an assortment of pirate flags draped lovingly along the walls (including but not limited to Calico Jack's flag, Black Bart's flag, Edward England's flag and Henry Avery's). There is a large selection of rum.
The bar is small but has all original features (very Victorian standing room only sort of pub); original wood plank floor, original upholstery on the seating around the side of the room which looks as though it hasn't been washed in 100 years. But the entire thing looks... piratey. Like you are in a pub on a ship. Even the stairs (narrow and rickity) feel like ship stairs.
This is enough for me to fall deeply and madly in love with the place, but what topped the sundae with a cherry was the addition of the nicest, jolliest staff I have ever encountered in England.
Most pubs in central London have 1-3 bar staff who look like grumpy buggers sucking on lemons. The Hope had about 6 people on staff carving pirate pumpkins when I arrived (which were really impressive: a full skull one and a ship with flag). They were all having a good time and were so friendly and clearly happy it made being around them luminous and magical. I'm not one to wax on poetically about social decorum, but they were really really jolly and by gum t'was infectuous.
The Hope is the kind of place you could walk into on a Tuesday afternoon when you're cat's died and come out of feeling like you've just sailed the high seas with your best mates and buried two chests of treasure. I intend to make it my regular. In fact maybe I'll quit my un-piratey job in TV and try to get work swabbing the deck on the Hope.
