The Art Nouveau wedge-shaped pub by Blackfriars Bridge — Grade II* listed, beer-drinking monks in marble all the way up.
The Blackfriar sits on a triangular plot by Blackfriars Bridge, in a wedge-shaped building remodelled in 1905 by architect H. Fuller-Clark and sculptor Henry Poole into the most ornate Arts and Crafts / Art Nouveau pub interior in London. Historic England has the building listed as Grade II* (one of only a handful of pub interiors at that level); Pevsner's Buildings of England calls it "the most extravagant Edwardian pub interior surviving in central London." The pub almost did not survive — a 1960s demolition plan was beaten back by John Betjeman's preservation campaign.
The right visitor wants a Nicholson's pub with serious historic interior credentials and seven cask lines on the bar. The wrong visitor wants craft beer obsession or a quiet table after 18:00 on a weekday — the location selects for City after-work, and the room fills accordingly. Time Out London calls it "London's most beautiful pub interior, no qualifier needed."
Two interconnected rooms: the front bar under a low marble ceiling with the famous monk friezes by Poole — Monks at the Cellar, Friars Singing, Saturday Afternoon, all in carved alabaster and bronze — and a back "Side Room" beneath a barrel-vaulted mosaic ceiling that The Guardian's heritage-pubs feature describes as "feeling like a chapel for serious drinkers." The detailing repays close looking: every panel, lamp, and inscription is original to 1905.
Order a Nicholson's Pale Ale (£6.40) — the pub-chain's house ale, brewed by St Austell, on every Nicholson's bar in London. The cask line typically runs seven beers, with Doom Bar, Timothy Taylor's Landlord, and rotating guests. Pints land £5.80–7.20. The pub does a respectable fish and chips at £9 and a sharing platter at £14; the kitchen is Nicholson's-standard pub food, not the reason to come.
Skip looking for a craft-keg lineup — the bar is a heritage cask pub, and the keg lines are mainstream lagers. The wine list is functional. The point of the room is the room.
Tuesday through Thursday between 17:00 and 19:30 is when the bar reads as City after-work — lawyers from the nearby chambers, finance from the City, the occasional tourist who has read the right guidebook. Weekends are calmer: Saturday lunch and Sunday afternoon are the easiest times to get a seat in the Side Room and look at the ceiling.