The Old Doctor Butler's Head, London Wall  

When people encounter the Old Doctor Butler's for the first time it's hard not to be taken by the old pub. It's a handsome olde worlde, dark wood pub, situated in a narrow, hard-to-find, alleyway, with a couple of beer barrel tables, in the heart of the City. Nowadays it's surrounded on all sides by unimaginative, modern commercial office buildings, but it's not difficult to imagine what it it have looked like a few decades ago when the adjacent buildings were of similar vintage. And much more recently than that, the interior was once as evocative as the exterior with its dark wood, dingy decoration and gas lighting. But, as is the way with these things, it's been brought up to date, the illumination is now courtesy of electric orange light bulbs, the decor's been spruced up and the interior is no where near as dark and moody as it once was. The clientele, as ever, is cliché City - crowds of dark suited individuals crowding all available space, lunchtimes and early evenings. It's a Shepherd Neame pub so there are no surprises on the beer front - with the usual Spitfire, Bombardier etc on the hand pumps and the usual, limited range of other beers on offer - which is a bit of a two-edged sword in our opinion if you're not in the mood for good bitter, You can try and experience the pub out of busy times, but b warned, if it is quiet, the pub often closes early - and it's never open at weekends. The Old Doctor Butler's Head may have lost a bit of it's atmosphere in recent times, maybe thanks to the health and safety busybodies, nevertheless it's still worth popping in if you're in the area.