The man behind The Pocket and Southampton Arms has bought the Old China Hand in Clerkenwell

Is there something special in the water in EC1? Or some secret big stakes game going on where the only way to win points is to be pouring pints in your own pub in Clerkenwell? We're asking because the boozer scene in that part of town is fully on fire at the moment.

Leading the game, of course, was the arrival of Bouchon Rachine into the Three Compasses. Most recently we saw the Public House Group play a blinder with the opening of The Horses. Next, and perhaps most compellingly, there was the news that Nick Jones (of Soho House fame) was opening a pub with 007 Daniel Craig and The Devonshire's Charlie Carroll.

Now that trio of pubs has an interesting new competitor, because the Old China Hand on Tysoe Street has just been sold to Pete Holt. He's the man behind two very lovely (and super popular) pubs, The Southampton Arms in Kentish Town and The Pocket in Islington. Holt owns his own brewery, which means you know that the beer is going to be decent. His pubs also do very good pub snacks and are known for having a piano for a good sing-song.

The Old China Hand's current owners are retiring, having run the place for 20 years. But we'd suggest they're leaving it in good hands if Holt's other pubs are anything to go by. In a neat, everything is connected, turn one of the Southampton Arms' pinned posts on their Insta page is of Daniel Craig popping in for a pint at the height of his Bond fame. Maybe he'll poke his head into this new pub too, to check out one of his nearby competitors...