Morten Andersen has watched a lot of football within a hundred yards of Leicester Square, most of it badly. The Three Lanterns is the room that gets the basics right, and the screen sizes do most of the persuading.
The bar stands at 5 Lisle Street, on the Chinatown edge of Leicester Square, two minutes from both the Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus tube exits. It runs under the Social Pub and Kitchen group and spreads across two floors, both fitted with 4K Ultra HD screens. CAMRA's pub listing records a four-metre screen as the centrepiece of the main room (CAMRA), which is the sort of statement wall that turns a goal into an event.
The layout splits the crowd in a useful way. The ground floor carries the marquee fixture on the big screen, while the lower floor takes the second game and the overflow. On a double-header weekend that separation keeps two sets of supporters from talking over each other, which is rarer in this part of town than it should be.
The drinks list runs craft beer, lager and cocktails rather than a deep cask range, and the kitchen keeps to the sports-bar canon. Burgers, wings and loaded fries arrive fast and land in the £12 to £15 bracket, with pints around £6.50 to £7 given the postcode. None of it is the reason to come, but none of it lets the side down on a busy matchday.
Who it is for is the West End match crowd that wants a screen between a show and a late train. Tourists staying around Leicester Square, office groups after a Friday fixture, and football followers killing time before kickoff all suit the room. For the full field of screens-and-pints venues, our roundup of the best sports bars in London sets the Three Lanterns against its central rivals.
Best time to go is an early weekend kickoff, when the four-metre screen carries a full house and the lower floor takes the second match. A Saturday lunchtime Premier League slot is the room at its loudest and best. Avoid arriving five minutes before a major final without a booking, because a venue this central fills fast and the good sightlines go first.
The room is plainer than the address suggests, and that is no bad thing. There is no theme beyond the sport, no gimmick competing for the wall space, just two floors angled at the screens and a bar that keeps pints moving on a full house. Lisle Street is a quieter run than the Leicester Square frontage a few doors away, which means the crowd here is closer to football regulars than to passing tourists.
Sightlines are the whole pitch of the place, so where you stand matters. The ground-floor big screen is the prize on a marquee fixture, but it fills first and the angles at the back tighten once the room is three deep. The lower floor is the smarter play for a second game or a group that wants a table, and the staff route the overflow there without much fuss. Booking ahead for a final is the difference between a seat and a scrum.
The Three Lanterns is a working sports bar in a postcode that mostly trades on its address. It earns its place on screen size and sightlines rather than charm, and on a big matchday that is the trade most supporters will happily take. For a wider tour of the capital, start with our London bar guide.
Sources: Social Pub and Kitchen official page; CAMRA pub listing; DesignMyNight (5 Lisle Street).
