Lemon Tree

It's easy, but not recommended, to miss the Lemon Tree just off Chandos Place and next to the stage door of ENO at the Coliseum. It's a small pub, with a first floor "secret lounge" providing some more room, dating back to around 1737, and Lemon Tree Yard adjacent used to be a lot larger with a successful coaching business into the 20th century. It is thought that lemons were first brought into Britain in the fifteenth century and the pub name very probably originates from the fruit being introduced into the then nearby Covent Garden market. The pub is an old favourite with stagehands and orchestra, as well as opera-goers and locals. Five real ale handpumps; three 1/3 pints are also served. This is a successful wet-led pub reported by its operator as a "business is based on standing customers drinking craft beer and craft gin and the results are very consistent". The Lemon Tree site has been noted by Westminster Council as an unlisted building of merit.