Playtime at Throgmorton's

For more than a century it was an institution in City social circles, the unofficial boardroom of the financial community, and as quintessentially English as public schools and cream teas at a cricket ground. Throgmorton's was the flagship restaurant of J. Lyons & Co, the teashop proprietors, and cost the princely sum of £30,000 when it opened back in 1900.

Recent winds of change blew unfavourably on this venerable grande dame - it closed in 2002, a time when the new generation of City workers began to eschew traditional haunts in favour of speedy lunches at modern watering holes. Two years later and it has undergone a bit of a facelift and reopened under new ownership, so I tripped over to see how it is being received.

Much of the unrestrained elegance in the design remains, with a lush, shimmering gold mosaic-tiled staircase leading you down into the bowels of the building.

Here you'll find the Long Room, a long and narrow dining hall which
could be a copy of an Orient Express railway carriage, the Long Bar, a smartly accoutered drinking salon bookable for private parties, the Mosaic Room cocktail bar, a welcoming, oakpanelled drawing room which is the main drinking area, and the similarly panelled Oak Room sports bar, where you'll find a couple of pool tables, a table football game and plasma TV screens that show all major (and minor) sporting events.

When I finally catch the attention of one of the team of lugubrious (mostly Antipodean) staff, I choose a bottle of 2003 Domaine Thomas Beaujolais Villages red wine (£14.60). 'Try it chilled,' the menu suggests. I say I will. 'Sorry mate,' says Lurch (not his real name), they're all warm. No worries, I say, joining in with the lingo, I'll take it as it comes. Lurch uncorks the bottle: 'You wanna try a slug first mate?'

On paper, this is a place I could burrow away and hide in for days on end without surfacing, but the drinks list - pedestrian lager brands and an unimaginative range of spirits - will probably not attract back the discerning City topers who once frequented this place.

The suited clientele of today - more likely to be photocopying machine repair men than high-flying City executives - seem happy enough here, though. Perhaps this is because the food - platters of charcuterie, Neal's Yard cheeses, sandwiches (from the ground-floor deli) and wholesome English grills --is so good and hearty.

Throgmorton's is a splendid venue, offering so much to so many, yet too few were taking advantage of its offer on either of my two visits. Next time I'm in the City and in need of a game of pool or to watch a footie match, though, this is the place for an unpretentious evening at play.

Throgmortons
27A Throgmorton Street, EC2