O'Neill's Carnaby Street is the Soho flagship of a chain Morten Andersen knows well, and it earns its keep on two counts: it shows the sport, and it puts a band on most nights of the week.
The pub sits at 37-38 Great Marlborough Street, a few steps off Carnaby Street and a short walk from Oxford Circus. It is one of several O'Neill's across central London, the Irish-themed brand from Mitchells & Butlers, and the Soho site leans harder into live music than most of its siblings.
The fit-out is the familiar O'Neill's mix of dark wood, mismatched pictures and a long bar, spread over more room than the Soho streets outside would suggest. Screens carry the football through the week and widen to boxing, rugby, GAA and the NFL when those seasons arrive, as the venue's own sport page sets out. The live music most evenings is the part that separates it from a pure screening room.
To drink, the test is the same as at any pub under this flag: a properly kept pint of Guinness, poured in two stages and given time to settle. Carnaby Street passes it, and backs it with the usual lagers, ciders and a short cocktail list for the after-work crowd. The kitchen runs wings, burgers and an Irish breakfast. Budget £6.50 to £7.50 a pint in this postcode.
This is a Soho pub doing Soho trade, which means it fills fast and loud at weekends. Anyone after a quieter, older London house should consult our London bar guide. For the full field of screens-and-pints venues, our roundup of the best sports bars in London places Carnaby Street among the central options, where its live music gives it an edge after the final whistle.
What to order leans Irish, as the flag demands. A settled pint of Guinness runs around £7 in this postcode, a plate of wings about £9, and the full Irish breakfast £13, which the kitchen keeps serving well past noon for the slow starters. The cocktail list is short but does its job for the after-work table.
Who it is for is the Soho crowd that wants sport and a song in the same night without choosing between them. After-work drinkers, tourists drifting off Carnaby Street and groups out for the live music all fill it through the weekend. For a quieter, older London house with the same care over the cellar, the side streets nearby hold better and quieter options.
The room is bigger than the narrow Soho frontage lets on, with the dark wood and clutter the brand favours and screens angled so the football reaches the back. The bands set up where the after-work tables thin out, turning a watching room into a singing one as the night runs on. It is a familiar formula, executed with more conviction than most of its siblings.
Best time to go is a weekend evening when a fixture rolls into a live set, or a big rugby or boxing night when the room locks onto the screens. Avoid the Friday after-work crush if a seat matters, because Soho claims this pub early. Midweek, with a match on, it is far easier going.
O'Neill's Carnaby Street is not pretending to reinvent the Irish pub. It keeps the Guinness right, the screens busy and the music live, three nights out of three, in one of the busiest corners of the West End. For a Soho sports-and-song night, it remains a dependable call.
Sources: O'Neill's Carnaby Street official page; Tripadvisor (2026 reviews); DesignMyNight (Great Marlborough Street).
