The Toucan,Soho

The Toucan occupies a Grade II listed building on Carlisle Street dating to the 1730s, its cellar bar given over almost entirely to Guinness since Colin Taylor took over the licence in June 1994. Two narrow floors hold a stand-up bar upstairs and a below-ground room lined with stout memorabilia from three decades of trade. Irish whiskey occupies a shelf nearly as deep as the beer list, and impromptu sessions of traditional music still break out on Friday nights, a habit stretching back to the pub's mid-1960s days as a haunt for visiting musicians. Taylor has run this single site without interruption since taking the licence, resisting offers to expand or franchise the name. There is no food menu; drink is the entire point.