Public House Group Lands a British Seafood Kitchen Above a Clerkenwell Pub
The Horses, on Ray Street, is the group's sixth pub and its first built around the British coast: oysters from three counties, Cornish catch of the day, and a first-floor dining room of fewer than a dozen tables.
The Horses has opened on Ray Street in Clerkenwell, the sixth pub from Public House Group, whose earlier sites include the Pelican in Notting Hill and the Bull in Charlbury. The late-Victorian corner building, a wedge with a rounded end, was most recently the Coach; it has been renamed and reworked throughout, with British seafood as the organising idea.
The ground floor is a bar, with bottle-glass screens, candlelit booths and banquettes, and a short snack menu that runs to oysters, pork pie and mackerel on toast. Beers come from independent British brewers including Braybrooke and Verdant, alongside Guinness and cocktails. Up one flight of stairs, an intimate dining room seats fewer than a dozen small tables along a curved banquette, with a few more seats at a central seafood bar. A second dining room above has an open kitchen, a chef's counter and a single marble table for larger groups, and there is a private-hire room under the rafters.
Oysters arrive from Scotland, Northumberland and Essex; clams and cockles are served marinière in a vermouth emulsion, squid fried and served on brown paper with chilli mayo. Mains include a cheese-and-potato pie, a fish pie for two, and Cornish catch of the day with a choice of sauces.