Where to eat at and around The Ned

You are at the Bank junction, where the City's money has eaten lunch for three hundred years and still does, which means the best rooms nearby are open on weekdays and several of them lock up at three. Inside, the banking hall and the floor below hold seven public kitchens, from Millie's Lounge for British plates and afternoon tea to Lutyens Grill in the old bank manager's office, with Nickel Bar playing live music from breakfast until late. Outside, the Bloomberg Arcade across Queen Victoria Street is the modern answer, and the alleys off Cornhill are the old one.

Worth the table

The tables at this hotel that are a reason to come, and how hard they are to get.

The Ned: Verdigris columns and checkerboard marble

Millie's Lounge

British cooking and afternoon tea in the Grand Banking Hall

This is the table that justifies the whole floor. Millie's Lounge sits in the open banking hall itself, between the 92 verdite columns and the bank's original Grade I listed walnut counters, and the room does most of the work. The cooking is British and straightforward rather than ambitious, and the afternoon tea, Monday to Friday 2pm to 5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, is the cheapest way for a non-guest to sit in the space for two hours. Come for the hall and order accordingly.

Reserve ahead

Lutyens Grill

Rare-breed grill in the former bank manager's office

The one room on the ground floor that closes its doors on the noise. Lutyens Grill occupies the old bank manager's office, wood-panelled and quiet, and serves fish and prime cuts from rare breeds including Longhorn, Hereford and Wagyu, with trolley service. The set piece is the unlimited 45-day-aged prime rib on Fridays and Sundays, carved at the table and served with roast trimmings on Sunday. The hotel lists it at number 35 on the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants. Book it if the banking hall is too much.

Book well ahead: tables go weeks out

Nickel Bar

American bar and lounge with live music from morning until late

The bar that sets the volume for the rest of the building. Nickel Bar runs from morning drinks and bites through to the early hours, with live sets on The Nickel Stage from jazz trios to blues, and emerging acts on New Music Mondays. No membership and no reservation needed, which is the good and the bad of it: neither does anybody else, though under 18s are not admitted after 8pm. Worth a nightcap, worth knowing about if you are choosing a bedroom and sleep lightly.

Walk in

On our shortlists

Within ten minutes on foot

Sweetings
4 min walk
Victorian fish counter, weekday lunch only · £££
Open since 1889 and unchanged in the ways that matter: you eat at a counter, a waiter stands behind it, and the fish is grilled, fried or poached. Its own site gives 11.30am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, and no reservations, so arrive before half past twelve or queue. Come for the Dover sole and a black velvet, and for the fact that nothing about it has noticed the hotel across the road.
Walk in39 Queen Victoria Street, EC4N 4SF
Koya City
4 min walk
Handmade udon noodle bar, all day · £
The Bloomberg Arcade's cheap, serious lunch: udon made on the premises in hot or cold dashi, with small plates built for sake and draught beer. Its own site gives 11.30am to 10pm Monday to Friday, noon to 10pm Saturday and noon to 8pm Sunday, which makes it the reliable answer at the weekend when the old City shuts. Sit at the counter and order the kitsune.
Walk in10-12 Bloomberg Arcade, EC4N 8AR
Brigadiers
4 min walk
Indian barbecue and sports bar · ££
An army-mess Indian barbecue on the arcade, loud on purpose, with screens for the cricket and the football and a terrace for the summer. Its own site lists the restaurant and terrace noon to 2.45pm and 5pm to 10.30pm Monday to Wednesday and noon to 10.30pm Thursday to Saturday, with a four-course feast menu and a Saturday sports menu with free-flowing drinks. Book for a Thursday or Friday night.
Reserve ahead1-5 Bloomberg Arcade, EC4N 8AR
Cabotte
4 min walk
Burgundy wine bar and bistro · £££
Founded by two Master Sommeliers and built around a Burgundy list that runs from village wines to rarities, with French bistro cooking to match. Its own site gives noon to 10pm Monday to Friday, last orders 9.30pm, closed at weekends and on bank holidays, and closed from 24 December 2026 to 4 January 2027. The room to take a bottle seriously in, four minutes from the hotel.
Reserve ahead48 Gresham Street, EC2V 7AY
Hawksmoor Guildhall
5 min walk
Steak and seafood, Sunday roasts · £££
The City branch of London's dry-aged steak house, a business room on weekdays and, its own site says, a Sunday institution for roasts. Kitchen hours on the site are noon to 3.30pm and 5pm to 9.30pm or 10pm Monday to Friday, 5pm to 10pm Saturday and noon to 4.30pm Sunday, and on Mondays it runs Wine Club with 5 pound corkage on any bottle you bring. Book Sunday lunch well ahead.
Reserve ahead10 Basinghall Street, EC2V 5BQ
Simpson's Tavern
5 min walk
Chop house, weekday lunch and breakfast · ££
Down an alley off Cornhill, the oldest chop house in London by its own account, with stewed cheese on the menu and wooden booths that predate the bank you are sleeping in. Its own site gives the dining rooms noon to 3.30pm Monday to Friday, the bars from 11.30am, and breakfast 8am to 10.30am Tuesday to Friday, which makes it the nearest proper alternative to paying the hotel for eggs.
Walk inBall Court, 38½ Cornhill, EC3V 9DR
Blacklock City
9 min walk
Chops in a basement substation · ££
Beef, pork and lamb chops and steaks with sides built for sharing, in an old electricity substation under a Grade II building near Monument, with a separate cocktail bar. Its own site gives noon to 3pm and 5pm to 10pm Monday to Thursday, until 10.30pm Friday, noon to 10.30pm Saturday and 11.45am to 8pm last seating on Sunday. The longest walk on this list and the best value chop in the City.
Reserve ahead13 Philpot Lane, EC3M 8AA

Breakfast

Breakfast is not included unless you take the Bed & Breakfast rate, which for 9 to 11 February 2027 was 40 pounds a night per room above the flexible room-only rate and covers breakfast up to 32 pounds a person before service. Otherwise it is served in the banking hall at Millie's Lounge, which opens at 6am on weekdays and 7am at weekends, from a menu that prices a Full English at 22 pounds, eggs any style at 12 and pastries at 5, with a discretionary 14.5% service charge on top; Cecconi's and Malibu Kitchen also open for breakfast. Simpson's Tavern, five minutes away on Cornhill, serves breakfast 8am to 10.30am Tuesday to Friday.

What to skip

The mistake here is the calendar, not the street. The City's best lunch rooms are weekday-only and several close at three; turn up on a Saturday expecting the Cornhill alleys to be open and you will end up in a chain on Cheapside. At the weekend, go to the Bloomberg Arcade or eat in the hotel.

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Compared with

Questions people ask

Good questions about The Ned

Where can I eat near The Ned?

Where should I eat at The Ned?

Millie's Lounge. This is the table that justifies the whole floor. Millie's Lounge sits in the open banking hall itself, between the 92 verdite columns and the bank's original Grade I listed walnut counters, and the room does most of the work. The cooking is British and straightforward rather than ambitious, and the afternoon tea, Monday to Friday 2pm to 5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, is the cheapest way for a non-guest to sit in the space for two hours. Come for the hall and order accordingly.

Our verdict

Book it for the building and for the fact that seven kitchens sit between your bed and the street. Check that your rate includes the pool and the gym, and treat the rooftop as somebody else's club.

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Last checked: September 2026

The Ned · From about

£433 a night

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