London Pubs Group

Campaign for Real Ale

Campaign for Real Ale

Lamb

94 Lambs Conduit St
Bloomsbury
WC1N 3LZ

This pub is not only a grade II listed building, it is also a One Star pub on the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) National Inventory with an interior of special national historic interest, and the description is as follows: “Housed in a Georgian building, this Young’s pub has long been popular with real ale drinkers. Outside, things to note are the magnificent, swirly cast-iron lamp bracket and the two-tone green tiling which probably dates from the Edwardian era. Inside, the pub is now a single space but would once have been divided up into several small compartments. The most famous feature at the Lamb is the double range of snob screens set on either side of the counter. The three-sided bar counter is late-Victorian or Edwardian. On right is a small snug area with etched glass, some of it clearly reused – most obviously the panel stating ‘Saloon’ – which would originally have been in a door. At the rear left is a sunken area with some simple wall panelling. Upstairs the Theatre Bar only has modern work. Other old fittings are the matchboard panelled ceiling and some slender columns with foliage capitals supporting the upper floors. Don’t miss the polyphon, the Victorian mechanical equivalent of a juke box in the right-hand part – a donation to the pub’s charity will allow you to hear it play. History nearby: Turning left and left again out of the pub you will find a stone plaque on the site of a former lost water supply declaring ‘Lams Conduit the Property of the City of London this Pump is Erected for the Benefit of the Publick’.”

The listing description is as follows: “Public house. First mentioned in 1731 but front of building probably mid or late-Georgian or later. Yellow stock brick, slate roof. 4 storeys and cellars. 4 windows wide with splayed angle at north end bearing parish boundary marker dated 1831. Upper storeys Georgian, ground-storey in form of pub front basically Victorian but with Edwardian faience tiling added in two shades of green. Painted fascia with the legends 'The Lamb' and 'Wine and Spirit Establishment'. Good hanging iron lamp bracket with lantern attached at first-floor level. Rear much extended. INTERIOR of pub with match-board walls and ceiling. One main area with fixed seating round perimeter and U-shaped bar in centre retaining snob screens with moveable glass panels and engaged with 4 thin cast-iron columns having palmette capitals. 2 similar columns behind front help support upper portions of front. Staircase at rear of building part of 1958 refurbishment of public house, when partitions formerly dividing the front area into two private bars were removed. The lobby partitions were inserted at this time. What remains is an exceptional piece of `Victoriana', where the real late C19 interior was enhanced by the restoration. Some snob screens are original, others part of this restoration. Partitioned area at rear of right-hand bar with late C19 partitions; this was originally the pub's office.”

The WhatPub link is here: WhatPub/Lamb

The Pub Heritage Group link is here: PHG/Lamb

The Lamb featured on the Evening Crawl of Bloomsbury and Holborn on 4 August 2003, the Evening Crawl of Bloomsbury and Holborn on 16 April 2008, and the Snobs' Night Out on the Tiles: Evening Crawl of Bloomsbury and Holborn on 15 April 2015.