The Grand Union

The Grand Union is definitely a student scene and can get very busy during the evening thanks to it being open so late all the time. During the week they offer deals like the Sunday – Friday Happy Hour from 17:00 – 20:00 (or Thursdays from 21:30 – 22:30) where selected drinks cost £3.50 or have £3.50 knocked off the price. Then there’s the Monday – Friday £5 pizza deal (from 12:00 – 15:00 and Monday – Wednesday from 18:00 – 21:00). DJs spin sets every Friday and Saturday night which draw in the crowds even faster.

Luckily there’s space to accommodate the raucous thanks to pub’s cool beer garden. It has the reputation of being one of the trendiest in town, mainly because of these nifty Thai-style huts/tree-houses you can hire for you and your mates to crawl into with food and drinks, privately chatting and having a great time in general while the rest of the crowd buzzes around outside. Also in the garden is the massive screen television where they play all the important matches, sometimes even movies. A great place to hang out with friends in the sunshine drinks in hand and, when the day begins to cool, head over to the large circular fire pit and warm your hands on it.

There is, however, a potential downside to The Grand Union and it appears on their food menu. It’s perfect if all you want is some comfort food – a burger or a pizza or just a snack. But that’s it. They seem to specialise in burgers with nearly thirty different types on the menu. However, these gourmet burgers have global influences, making most of them far from the usual beef, a bit of cheese and some salad chucked on for good measure. There’s the fiery Piri Piri burger; a smoked chilli patty; a Four Cheese option; and the seriously fierce Fired Earth with jalapenos, spicy sauce, peppered cheese and chilli powder as examples from the mighty burger menu.

Other than the apparent lack of culinary choice, The Grand Union supplies everything else and more that the summer in London begs for: quality cocktails and other drinks to be taken out the huge open space out back and enjoyed in quirky foreign tree houses.

Opening Times: Monday – Wednesday: 12:00 – 23:00, Thursday: 12:00 – 24:00, Friday – Saturday: 12:00 – 01:00, Sunday: 12:00 – 23:00