New Smithfield pub The Poet by the Sune team will have both Scampi Fries Scotch eggs and a 14 course chef's table

30/10/26 - Updated with the opening date and menu details.

A couple of decades ago, there were advanced plans, if you can credit it, to demolish the lovely Victorian buildings that surround Smithfield Market. Happily, the whole area has now been protected as part of the new London Museum development, and to add to the general joy, we also have a new pub on the way.

The Poet comes from the same stellar team that are behind Sune in Hackney; so that's Spencer Large, Honey Spencer and Charlie Sims. It's a lovely corner site on Farringdon Road and the pub will also feature a first-floor dining room. In the kitchens is chef Charlie Tayler who was formerly head chef at Alyn Williams at The Westbury and then Aulis.

Their plans here in Smithfield are to run a classic pub on the ground floor, but with an impressive pub snacks roaster like a Scampi Fries Scotch egg. Upstairs in the dining room they're promising to reimagine British pub classics (although they seem a little more fancy that that to us) with dishes confirmed including lamb shank suet pudding with red cabbage and lamb fat sauce, côte de boeuf with hash brown chips and gentleman's relish and whole dover sole meunière. 

And rather than vertical drinking, there's a "vertical chicken menu" which uses the whole chicken across a few courses, kicking off with a warm pretzel with chicken fat butter and finishing with plum eve’s pudding made with chicken fat, served with vanilla ice cream.

But that's not all. The pub will also have a 10-seater chef's table offering called Envoi on the mezzanine, serving a 14-course tasting menu. And finally, up on the attic floor, there will be an Arts & Crafts-style cocktail bar called Shambles. Both of those are going to be launching in 2027.

Count us officially intrigued by the idea of a pub that will be, Honey says, "honouring everything we love about a great traditional boozer, while also giving us the opportunity to bring together exceptional dining and cocktails under the same roof."