Where to Eat Near Charing Cross

Published 28 September 2026 · Updated 9 November 2026 · By the Guide to London editorial team · Editor: Terje Moy

Trafalgar Square is one of the worst places in central London to be hungry, and Charing Cross station is fifty metres from it. The fix is three short walks. Villiers Street, running down the side of the station to the river, has a wine cellar that has been open since 1890 and a falafel counter; the Strand has the reopened Simpson's and two Victorian pubs; St Martin's Lane and Chandos Place, two minutes north, have the cheap end. Covent Garden is five minutes away and we leave it to its own page.

Nothing is named here that we had not first looked up on the Food Standards Agency register, and each entry carries its rating and the date of its last inspection. That matters more on this patch than almost anywhere in London: the same few hundred metres contains places rated 5 and places rated 2, sometimes next door to each other.

Why Trafalgar Square eats so badly

Three things work against it. The square itself has almost no frontage: it is surrounded by a gallery, a church, a government building and roads, so there is nowhere for a restaurant to be. The streets that do have frontage carry enormous footfall from the square, the station and the theatres, which supports chains and tourist pubs rather than anything that needs regulars. And the rents on the Strand are West End rents.

The result is measurable. On Villiers Street, the busiest of the approach streets, one branch of a sandwich chain most people would trust anywhere else holds a hygiene rating of 2, and a well-known noodle restaurant holds a 3. On St Martin's Lane a famous pub that appears in every guide to the area is rated 2. We do not name businesses below 3 and we are not going to, but you should know the pattern exists on this specific patch and look at the sticker in the window.

The good news is that the good places here tend to be the old ones, and they are easy to find because they have not moved. Our guide to cheap eats in London has the citywide version of this problem; Trafalgar Square itself is covered separately.

Villiers Street: one minute, and the best thing on it is underground

Villiers Street runs from beside the station entrance down to Embankment and the river, and it is pedestrianised, which makes it the natural place to walk. Most of it is chains. One address at the bottom is not.

Gordon's Wine Bar at number 47 is the reason to come down this street: a low vaulted cellar lit by candles that has sold wine on this site since 1890, with a cold counter of cheese, cold meat and pies rather than a kitchen. The register rates it 5, inspected 3 March 2026. It does not take bookings in the cellar, it fills from about 17:30, and in summer the queue for the outdoor tables along Watergate Walk is long. Our page on wine bars in London puts it in context.

The Princess of Wales at 27, rated 5 on 19 August 2026, is the pub on the street, and Go Falafel at 7, rated 5 on 4 July 2026, is the cheapest thing here that is not a chain. Halfway down, L'Ulivo at 21-23 is an Italian rated 5 on 28 November 2025. For fish and chips, see our guide to fish and chips in London.

The Strand: Simpson's is open again

The best-known restaurant on this stretch closed in 2020 and most guides still say so. It is trading: the hygiene register lists Simpson's in the Strand at 100-102 Strand with a rating of 5 from an inspection on 7 May 2026. It is a formal, expensive English dining room of the old school, the sort of place where a joint of beef arrives on a trolley, and it is not a casual lunch. Check the current prices and whether you need to book before you walk in.

Two pubs on the Strand are more useful day to day. The Coal Hole at 91-92, rated 5 on 16 July 2025, is a tall Edwardian pub attached to the Savoy building with a decent interior and pub food at pub prices. Further east the Strand Palace Hotel at 372, rated 5 on 11 July 2026, has a bar that non-residents can use, which is worth knowing at 22:00 on a Sunday. Our round-up of London's historic pubs covers the ones with the better interiors.

One closure to note rather than write around: the India Club, which stood at 143 Strand for seventy years and is still recommended in print, is no longer on the hygiene register at all, which in practice means it has gone. Do not plan a meal around it.

Chandos Place, two minutes north

Walk up past the station entrance and you are on a small grid of streets between the Strand and Covent Garden, and this is where the value is.

Lao Cafe at 60 Chandos Place does Laotian food and is rated 5 on 16 January 2025. Brigit's Bakery at 6-7 is rated 5 on 22 November 2025.

The crypt under the church, which is the answer most of the time

Three minutes from the station, under the floor of St Martin-in-the-Fields on the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square, is a brick-vaulted crypt with a self-service café in it. The Cafe in the Crypt is rated 5 by the Food Standards Agency at an inspection on 11 June 2026. It serves hot dishes, soup, salads and cake at prices that have no business being this close to Trafalgar Square, you sit on eighteenth-century gravestones, and it takes anyone: families, single diners, people with a suitcase.

It is the answer for a wet day, a cheap lunch, a meal before a concert in the church above, or eating alone, which our page on eating alone in London covers. It gets very busy between 12:30 and 14:00 and again before evening concerts. Our guides to St Martin-in-the-Fields and museum and gallery cafés cover the building and the alternatives, including the two cafés inside the National Gallery across the square.

St Martin's Lane: where our patch stops

St Martin's Lane runs north from the square towards Covent Garden, and it changes character halfway. The southern end, opposite the Coliseum, belongs to this page: Fumo at 37 does Italian small plates and is rated 5 on 25 September 2025; Mr Fogg's Tavern at 58 is rated 5 on 14 July 2025.

North of Long Acre, where the street becomes Upper St Martin's Lane, we stop and hand over to our Covent Garden page, linked above, which owns Seven Dials and the streets beyond. If you are eating before a play, where to eat before a West End show is built around curtain-up times, and Leicester Square and Theatreland covers the area west of here.

Timing, prices and the late option

Our estimates for September 2026, given as bands rather than exact figures: £7 to £12 for a counter lunch from the crypt or the falafel counter; £14 to £22 for a main at the pubs or Fumo; £30 upwards for dinner on the Strand. Service is usually added at the sit-down places and is discretionary.

The window to avoid is 17:30 to 19:00, when theatre-goers and commuters want the same tables. Before 17:00 and after 20:30 the whole area loosens up. Late is the weak spot: most of this patch shuts by 23:00, and if you come off a late train you are better walking to Chinatown or Soho, which our page on late-night food in London covers. Charing Cross is the terminus for trains to south-east London, so if you are heading that way our guide to Deptford and New Cross has better and cheaper food twelve minutes down the line.

Frequently asked questions

Where can you eat cheaply near Trafalgar Square?

The Cafe in the Crypt under St Martin-in-the-Fields, three minutes from Charing Cross, which is rated 5 by the Food Standards Agency and serves hot food at prices well below the surrounding streets. The falafel counter on Villiers Street also comes in under £12.

Is Gordon's Wine Bar worth it?

Yes, for the room rather than the food: a candlelit cellar that has sold wine on Villiers Street since 1890, rated 5 at an inspection in March 2026. It takes no bookings in the cellar and fills from about 17:30, so go early. Expect cheese, cold meat and pies rather than cooking.

Has Simpson's in the Strand reopened?

Yes. The Food Standards Agency register records an inspection at 100-102 Strand on 7 May 2026 with a rating of 5, which means the restaurant is trading again after its closure in 2020. It is formal and expensive, so check current prices and booking before you go.

What is open near Charing Cross on a Sunday?

The crypt café, the pubs on the Strand and Villiers Street, and most of the restaurants on St Martin's Lane and Chandos Place. The offices are empty so it is quieter than a weekday at lunchtime, but several places close earlier on Sunday evening, and the counter shops keep shop hours.

How far is Covent Garden from Charing Cross?

About five minutes on foot up St Martin's Lane, and the market building is seven. For anything north of Long Acre, including Seven Dials, use our Covent Garden page; this page covers the streets between the station, the Strand and Trafalgar Square.

Sources

• Food Standards Agency food hygiene ratings - Gordons Wine Bar, 47 Villiers Street WC2N 6NE; Princess Of Wales, 27 Villiers Street; Go Falafel, 7 Villiers Street; L'Ulivo, 21-23 Villiers Street (checked September 2026)
• Food Standards Agency food hygiene ratings - Simpson's In The Strand, 100-102 Strand WC2R 0EW; Coal Hole, 91-92 Strand WC2R 0DW; Strand Palace Hotel, 372 Strand WC2R 0JJ (checked September 2026)
• Food Standards Agency food hygiene ratings - Lao Cafe, 60 Chandos Place; Brigit's Bakery, 6-7 Chandos Place (checked September 2026)
• Food Standards Agency food hygiene ratings - The Cafe In The Crypt, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St Martin's Place WC2N 4JJ (checked September 2026)
• Food Standards Agency food hygiene ratings - Fumo, 37 St Martin's Lane; Mr Fogg's Tavern, 58 St Martin's Lane (checked September 2026)