please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Best pub in the area. Been coming here since I moved to the neighbourhood and always made to feel welcome. I�d hesitate to call it a gastropub, mainly because I hate that word, and although the food is gastro-quality and the menu chalked up on an old-school blackboard, this place is nothing like those lah-de-bloody-dah places down Islington way. Just an honest-to-goodness local with great food and zero pretension. And anyway, there�s no pressure to eat, you can just spend a pleasant evening drinking here with a bunch of friends. Well-chosen international selection of wines, the usual Continental lagers, and a good choice of ales and bitters (if I knew anything about ale and bitters, that is). If you are eating, look out for the special six-quid lunches on weekdays, and the hangover-busting breakfasts at the weekend, as well as the Sunday roasts. Clientele is a friendly mix of locals, the odd character, and people from the nearby creative studios and offices. A suit was spotted here once, but thankfully didn�t last long. And because it�s away from the main Camden drag you don�t get any of the extraterrestrials or Bacardi breezer brats who make Camden on a weekend resemble something out of Dawn of the Dead. No jukebox or piped music either, but a creaky old Joanna in the corner. My only complaint is the yummy-mummies who occasionally swoop in for lunch with their screaming spawn, and convince me that Herod had the right idea after all. But apart from that, highly recommended. Oh, and there�s a theatre upstairs as well.
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I had not been to the Lord Stanley for a couple of years but on Sunday evening and thought I would pop in for a pint. There beers are well kept, I had a great pint of Landlord and they had Doom bar & EPA on tap. I didn't try the food but it looked pretty good. I�ll defiantly be popping back again.
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Boring gastro pub with expensive beers and polite men in Moss Bros. suits chatting up Islingtonian girls who read the Guardian.
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OMG!!! Have just checked back on this review. Can I just say I am totally loving how much I've wound up these old grumps by just telling the truth - maybe it means they won't come back and litter the place with their negative vibes...yaaaay, WOOOO HOOO!!
TRUST ME I don't work for anything to do with The Stanley, mine was an honest review. I'm just a satisfied customer telling the truth. Besides, it's not like they need any help from me - the place is always busy, bustling with happy, friendly customers. I still go there loads and LOVE LOVE LOVE it every time.
Can't wait for that adorable little garden to open up. I have also branched out with my wine choices: the Picpoul de Pinet I mentioned before is so so good and perfect for a special treat but there is also a white called Il Banchetto which is really reasonably priced and lovely.
(by the way doesn't everyone love how that guy below got on his high horse about my choice of phrase and then wrote "explanation" instead of "exclamation" mark - HA HA - KARMA!!!!!!)
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Ha ha - jimmywicks, nice one mate - totally agree with you. Why be spiteful or sarcastic? It's just not helpful. The place can't be that bad if these reviewers keep returning. If you ask me that Green_Onions seems pretty obsessed with the Stanley - kind of creepy/weird isn't it - perhaps it would be better for all involved if he did stay at home with his �5 steak - ha ha!!
My thoughts - Ace pub - I started drinking there a few months after my old local went seriously downhill. I mainly drink there after work sometimes have the pasta or a steak and in my opinion �17 for quality, decent sized rib eye with homemade chips and bearnaise isn't half bad.
Recently have also been down on a Sunday with the Mrs. It's a great place to chill and read the papers. Pretty much every table was full but it was nice not to be turfed off our table after we ate to make way for more diners - which seems to be policy at loads of pubs nowadays. Would really recommend this place to anyone - chilled, nice staff, good attitude to the whole thing and good value for money too. Top marks from me.
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Glum gastro-pub in a nice side street off Camden Road. Decent size single room with a large U-shaped bar dominating the centre. Beer at one end and a chef's hob and oven at the other. This illustrates the problem with this place; it falls between two stools. It doesn't want to be a pub and is too grotty to be a restaurant. Who would want to spend �18(!) on a rib-eye steak that you could pick up in the butchers for a fiver, while sat down surrounded by people stood up and sinking half a dozen after work? No-one was drinking the Adnams so we chose Guinness, which was mediocre. I was temted to ask for a pint of gravy, which I hear is AWESOME!!! Just to clarify my last posting...jimmywikks can turn down the humourless indignation. My comments were sardonic and a little cynical, certainly not spiteful. Read the previous posting I refer to. Look at all that hyperbole, all the explanation marks, then relax and have a laugh! Any regular user of this site will come accross such blatant self promotion quite regularly, and making fun of them is one of the best parts of being a reviewer!
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@Dementer.
"Picpoul" (mentioned in @PrincessVF's review) is primarily a French grape variety. It is available in both white and red although as far as I'm aware only the white variety is available at The Lord Stanley in Camden.
The "nice cold beers and good wine list" (mentioned in my review) range from Kronenberg to Corona. They also serve draft Guinness and a couple of bitters . If i'm drinking wine I usually go red - the Picotine at The Stanley is great and really good value.
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any more questions - would be great to have your input on the drinks available too.
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jimmywiks quite right use this site for what it`s meant for Beer it`s not foodintheevening is it? Where was there anything about the drink available in this pub I don`t come on this site to find out what the bloody gravy tastes like.
I have not rated or scored this pub as yet
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I have been watching this thread with interest since I posted my review in June of last year. I must say I am surprised by the spiteful nature of a couple of posts. Particularly @Green_0nions and @Dementer who should surely be removed for breaching the terms of this site?
Not only is it extraordinarily mean spirited but also quite pathetic to undermine a pub and it�s staff when they receive an enthusiastic review. Accusations that the landlord/ manger is involved are cheap and easy shots. Just as it would be easy for me to suggest that these reviewers work for a competing establishment�which of course I would never do�.
Although @PrincessVF�s review is somewhat flowery I can vouch (as I outlined in my 21 June 2010 review) that I have had similarly positive experiences with staff, food and value for money every time I have been to The Lord Stanley. The roast dinners really are exceptional and vegetarian friends of mine often say that The Stanley offer the best veggie options for miles around.
Lets take this website back to what it�s meant to be for � reviewing pubs and restaurants, not attacking fellow reviewers. I for one will certainly be reporting these users to the moderator.
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PrincessVF should be BS what a load of old guff, this is Beerintheevening it`s in the name, one quess what the BS stands for anybody anybody ???
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NEW COMPETITION---FIND THE MOST OBVIOUS AND DESPERATE FAKE REVIEW BY A LANDLORD OR MANAGER PROMOTING THEIR BUSINESS. EXTRA MARKS AWARDED FOR THE MOST RIDICULOUS STATEMENT. I start with the review below, along with "The gravy was AWESOME!!!!"
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I visited The Lord Stanley on Sunday for my birthday and had THE MOST FANTASTIC TIME!!!!
The food was incredible.
We ate a whole roast chicken between four of us. It was presented with all the trimmings and I can honestly say it was one of the best roasts I've ever eaten - juicy, tender with crispy skin. YUM!
Great roast potatoes as well. But the real stars were the veggies - the carrots and greens were so good I even tried to bribe the chef for his recipe. One of our group was a vegetarian and she could have happily eaten a plate of the veggies alone - that's how good they were!!!! Another had the Roast Beef which was cooked to perfection and came with the biggest, fluffiest yorkshire pudding i've ever seen. The gravy was AWESOME!!!!
To top it all off the service was brilliant. Nothing was too much trouble even though the place was packed full to the rafters (it seems half of North London already know about this gem!) The manager recommended a great white wine (Picpoul something?) to go with the chicken and the lady who cleared our plates boxed up our leftovers for us to take home. TRULY WONDERFUL STAFF.
SUCH fantastic value - ended up paying about �20 for delicious food (including some great Olives/ Hummous/ Homemade bread to start) super impressive wine AND LEFTOVERS!!!
Can't recommend this place highly enough. My only fear is that it will get EVEN MORE POPULAR than it already is and next year I won't be able to get a table!!!
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Wow. Where to start..... Expensive, abysmal service, food that was cold when it arrived, and still cold when they brought it back a second time....
We has a roast there on a sunday, both of us could eat less than 50% of the plate - the carrots were raw, potato's tasted stale and were genuinely disgusting, the greens were so over peppered that they over powered anything that touched them, and the meat was fatty and cold. Oh, and to start, we had olives that literally I had to spit out. Not sure how long they had been sitting in the grubby bar Tupperware but at a guess from the taste I would say upwards of 6 months
The service was even worse than the food. Won't bother to list all the problem, please save yourself a lot of money (oh yes, it is expensive) and avoid this place at all costs
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Although I don't entirely agree with you Louise (sure everyone has a bad day but spilling sauce and not clearing it up is pretty poor waiter service!), I have been to The Stanley many times and agree that it's a great pub.
I really don't understand any of the negative comments - for me, this pub has everything a great pub should: nice cold beers, a good wine list, friendly staff, friendly locals, a beer garden, a �6 lunch menu every weekday and a fantastic roast on a Sunday - I guess there's just no pleasing some people!
Once small criticism is that there's never any music playing - but other than that The Stanley gets a big thumbs up from me.
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I've been visiting the Lord Stanley for years and think some of these reviews are grossly unfair. Particularly comments about the staff who I have always found to be friendly and helpful. I worked behind a bar in my student days and I can tell you - it's hard work. It's long hours and it's mundane - so maybe sometimes they don't give a monkeys? Give them a break!!!! We all have a bad day at work now and again - but we're not all judged so publically for it. Next time perhaps try smiling? Saying please and thankyou? Being a little kinder? You'd be suprised what a difference it makes.
Furthermore, i'm glad they're not showing every match of the World Cup. It's a family pub, not a sports bar. People want to sit and enjoy a quiet drink, a meal, some good conversation without the constant drone of football in the background.
Bravo to the Lord Stanley and it's wonderful, patient staff!
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I am Hector from Nigeria and I took my good friend Rodriguez from Paraguay to a pub I used to go to all the time when I was was a student in London. We wanted to watch the World Cup match against Italy over dinner.
When i got there I could not believe my eyes!
On the wall was a brand new (locals told me) Panasonic 50" Viera flat screen TV....switched OFF!!!!!!
The locals were watching the game on an i-phone on the bar!!! I took photo and will try to upload...you have to see to believe!
I took Rodriguez to a downmarket pub with a TV.
Can you believe this????
Hector
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We go to this place way more than we should because it's our local, and we regret it every time. The service is so bad it's actually funny--If you ever want to look into someone's eyes and see the sincere look of not giving a monkey's, visit this place. When our starters were delivered the person bringing them spilled the sauce that went with one of them on our table. Her response? A look of indifference (no apology) and then she walked away. Nice, eh? The food was good at first (which is why we kept going back), but it's going downhill. They don't even bother to peel garlic/onions they use anymore. (Though I guess it's extra fibre???) Avoid this place; Many better options.
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My favourite Camden pub. Couldn't disagree more with previous comments about rude staff. This place is head and shoulders above the competition. Staff always remember mine and my husbands names and what we drink. Perhaps that's because we take the time to smile and say hello rather than barking our drinks order at them. Good manners are a two way street.
Drinks prices have risen in accordance with every other pub - anyone who expects the price of a pint to stay the same for 3 years might want to aim their frustrations at Mr Darling, not a local pub trying to survive the recession!!!
As for the atmosphere, yes it's noisy, yes it's busy, but hey, it's a London pub!! If you want to drink alone in silence I suggest staying at home. If you want a decent pint and some exceptional food in a buzzing, friendly atmosphere then I suggest you try The Lord Stanley.
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More prices.
Pint of Kronenbourg �3.50
Pint of Guinness �3.50
Clientele generally snotty and rude, pushing and barging past you as they make their way to the uninviting toilets
Noisy beyond belief and deafeningly so.
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I mean �3-35 per pint
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Nearly a year later. Prices have rocketed. Spitfire is now �2-35p a pint. A large glass of house white wine an outrageous �5.
Wine prices are gloriously advertised on a very large board on the wall. But try finding a list of beer prices. (Bad joke, honestly)
The place is a bad joke as far as its decor is concerned which is now one year older.
Loud yuppies frequent this joint.
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Nice looking pub in a great location, but that's as far as it goes in terms of nice comments.... The staff are so stroppy and useless....The whole place is cold and soulless and you wait ages for the privelege of getting a drink. If you are not buying overpriced food, they don't want to know....annoying and total waste of what could be a great pub. 3 minute walk to the Torriano which is 10 times better. Do that!!
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my girlfriend and i started using this place a few months ago and although we love the building and the location; the staff are pretty poor. no-one pays attention to whether there are any customers waiting much less who was at the bar first. as for the comment about the slack service being due to it 'being busy therefore they must be doing something right' is complete nonsense. they are just slack barstaff. the food has been good on both occasions that i have eaten there and i'm sure that it shall remain as such. However; i've never had a good drink there (shorts with mixers) the ice is always half melted, the drinks themselves are always tepid and it has usually taken an age to even get them. poor drinks, poor staff, time to find another local.
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Very disappointed by Lord Stanley: I ordered a chicken sandwich shown with salad and crisps on the menu. However, when the dish was served, the crisps we're missing. When I asked the waitress about this, she simply replied "The menu's changed!" and walked away. Their menu was wrong and they blatantly and they just didn't care.
My friends ordered steak sandwiches, that were served without bread! A sandwich without bread... we had never seen this.
This pub is a joke.
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Food is outstanding. Service is a bit poor - it feels like the staff think they are cooler than you. Drinks are very nice. The price point of the bar is high but the quality and surroundings reflect this (not the service)
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This is not really a pub, but a medium to expensive "gastro-pub". Gastro-pubs are not pubs: they pretend to be pubs in mutton clothing.
What do you have? 70 year old tables whose varnish has rubbed off. Waiters who wear jeans. Shabby decor. A loo where there is no hot water or soap, and only a regular hot air drier. If I am going to pay a top price for a dinner I expect a better level of service.
Spitfire cost �3-15p per pint. Tips were not refused.
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This pub used to be wonderful, now its not! It was the best pub in the area; with the best food friendliest staff and a really good ale. Now the beer is mediocre, food poor and the staff, well you might as well go into a weather spoons (they care about that much!). These days if Im in the area I would go to Prince Albert for food, The Junction Tavern for ale and the Torriano to see all the old regulars!
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Sunday lunch was amazing, quick to arrive and top quality, beer good, staff good, can't fault this place. Always a nice mixed crowd too, not just media types or haircuts like some similar establishments seem to attract.
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this was once a really great pub. it isn't anymore
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Dropped in here on Saturday afternoon on the recommendation of Time Out- what an utter disappointment. This place completely lacked charm- you could see that it may have once had it but the only vibe I got was one of pretence and designs far above its station. The food was obscenely overpriced; the staff spent more time outside smoking ciggies than serving at the bar- I waited patiently for 5 minutes while the chef looked at me but did not draw my presence to the attention to anyone of the tree bar staff out for a ciggie! It was just one of those boring pubs that was probably once good but has been ruined by its Gastro designs...avoid!
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Stopping nearby so tried it for an after show drink. Well kept Old Hookey, Spitfire on the bar along with GK IPA. Didn't try the food but it looked ok if a little pricey. Not made to feel like we should be eating.
PS Seymour only posted three comments, all on this pub!
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I go to this pub regularly for Sunday lunch and have encountered very few of the problems which other people have. They do an excellent Sunday roast (if a tad pricey) but the back garden on a Summer's day is lovely. The decor has that 'well loved' feeling. The service can sometimes be a tad slow but that is usually due to demand at the bar, which proves they must be doing something right !!!
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Complete and utter Sh*t hole.
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This used to be a great pub, with interesting locals and a great atmosphere (the reason i moved to the area!). but recently this has been replaced with a sub standard over priced restaurant, filled with boring city workers trying to clutch onto the trendy and cool, but as always they are too late! not impressed with the new management; they have turned a long term successful locals pub into 18month yuppie wonder! This pub will no longer be making any time out short lists!!
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Horrible, terrible, risible place full of men in fashionable hats shouting at one another while using there laptops. The food is slightly above average, the wine list uninspired and overpriced and the service patchy to say the least. You do stand a chance of getting served in the right order, but only if the barmen's friends aren't in, as they always, always, always get served first. On the other hand, it serves as a filter to remove such people from other pubs in the area...
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Previously candidate for best gastro pub and local in London - now suddenly souless and horrid - Ill concieved move towards being a restaurant a disaster. So very very sad. All the downsides are now in sharp relief. Please, please, please bring back the bar as a bar - rather than an enormous service point for an average restaurant. Dont know what youve got til its gone...
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At last the Lord Stanley has done something to get rid of those truly dreadful people at the bar who made the place look like some kind of 'local' pub instead of a dinery.
We should soon be able to get easy service from the bar area now that there is so much space. I reckon waiting time could get down to less than 10 minutes once the new staff are fully trained. Even better...we could have waitered service at our tables and negate the need to actually shift ourselves out of our trough benches to get watered!
I strongly support the new management in everything they are trying to do. It's about time nice people with manners (OK some of us are abit whinny and squawky!) had somewhere of their own to go to. Despite it being trendy Camden, it really is King's Cross and a tad rough so it's a pleasure to have a safe haven for proper people.
I am also appalled at the previous comment that states the diners are coke heads...I certainly only drink coke when I'm driving.
One suggestion for improvement though...if they put tables alongside the bar area then the last dregs of 'regulars' would not be able to stand at the bar. There would be more covers and they would then have to provide watered service only! They might as well as they already have the little silver trays for giving the bill in a tip-inducing way
I rate this pub as a 9/10!!!
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Bring The Lord Stanley Back as a Pub!!! That's the name odf the 40 strong group I have just joined.
Reading the previous comments is interesting because it tells a true story. However, the pub of previous comments has been eroded by new management and staff - for example you can't chat to the bar staff perched on a bar stool any more as the bar stool Gestapo have locked them all in the dungeon (alright Cellar OK)!!!
The Bar staff with one exception have all either resigned, been fired or are working in sister establishments.
The ambient local feel has gone too. You have to respect business decisions designed to increase turnover, however it will be interesting to see how the Stanley survives as a restaurant. The middle class coke heads still have the money to splash on the over-priced plain food but what will happen if, as expected, the economy takes a downturn in 2008?
My rating for this pub is zero based on the fact that I no longer consider it to be a pub. If I had reviewed it a year ago I would have given it an eight.
Regards,
Lord Stanley
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The Lord Stanley is not really a pub. It is a (not very impressive) restaurant that happens to sell beer. There are many better places to eat and better places to drink, nearby.
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maybe you shouldnt be dragging your heavily pregnant girlfriend around pubs, or using her as some ultimate demand for blissful service - just a thought
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The lord stanley doesn't f**k around, bad comments below are just people getting the worst of a north london crowd and i would bet money it was on weekend night. With no doormen it is nigh on impossible to control the clientele you receive as a popular pub, there is always a shift in the mood of a place......anyway, i think the food is pricey but i've never been disappointed with it. they have really cheap but excellent nibles and do a great job of making olives, and frsh baked breads etc seem way more apppealoing tyhan a lot of restaurants. To anyone with a bad word, dry your eyes, i swear you misery-guts arent happy unless you're miserable, the lord stanleyengages with its regulars, thats why it has them and keeps them, havent been there in months but am remmbered and looked after. Have to wait longer than i'd like, but guess, what it's OK, it doesnt kill me------time isnt money guys!!!! Nice one Ben and the guys!
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Went in there with my then heavily pregnant girlfriend, who asked for a well done steak only to be told the chef likes to cook them rare. This place really rates itself, but in reality is full of middle class students who like the sound of thier own voice and are little more than grinning idiots.
I've always had suspicions that venues post comments to bump thier rating and it would come as no surprise that this place. I do go here a bit not because I like it but because it's not the Unicorn.
A dreary souless, dull dull pub.
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In a nutshell... Service particularly from one particular bar maid is guaranteed to be appalling everytime - ubrupt and constantly sniping at staff and customers, the prospect of sticking around for more than one drink is not enticing. Being a giving person I have gone back to this place many times in the hope that she may have overcome her 'troubles' evidently she never will. On the plus side food is fairly ok and the decor not too bad.
anonymous - 25 Apr 2007 09:58 |
Had a genuinely awful experience here myself, but for different reasons. Nice place to go for a drink, inoffensive service. My girlfriend and myself had been looking forward to going there for a meal for ages before we got round to it. Had the sauasages and mash and was served up the most unfeasibly over peppered monstrosity I've ever faced. Truly awful. Managed to force down about a quarter of it and spent the rest of the night feeling like death. It genuinely was that bad. Like I say, nice place to go for a drink but avoid the food like the plague
anonymous - 17 Feb 2007 09:55 |
Oops - that was a request for chips with my fish...not the other way round. And YES, they did say that. WTF!!
I've just sussed, also, that the toadying reviews below mine must have been posted by the boozer itself.
This gaff is a genuinely disturbing part of the planet. I'd be happier in Croydon. With dysentery.
How long ya gonna take to scrub this off the menu, guys?
Best Sunday roast my ar**!
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Truly dreadful pit - full of public school hyenas on cheap cocaine, braying hysterically.
My outlandish request for fish with my chips was dismissed with an outright "NO. We only do chips with the lamb."
Food utterly banal and couched in gastro-speak pretentiousness. Atmosphere ZERO and my previous - equally accurate review - removed by owners who must know the writing is actually on the wall...
Go for the grotesques if you will but this place is hideous.
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Found this little gem by accident after getting lost coming from Kentish town. Great traditional pub even if they are now Gastro as so many places are in N London.
Amazed the guys can knock out so much great food from the tiny kitchen behind the bar.
Still has its typical locals perched on stools. At least the staff were talking to them and actually looked like they were enjoying themselves at work.
Bit smokey but apart from that great little boozer.
Look forward to revisiting after smoking ban and taking advantage of garden
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Best roast beef sunday lunch I have ever had!
Go for the well above average gastropub menu (which they seem to cook on 4 bunsen burners at the end of the bar), the walled beer garden with over sized tables and chairs, good range of beers, wines and lagers and the friendly local (who looks like the experimental love child of Asterix and Obelix) who shakes your hand on arrival and collects your empties.
Avoid if you like your pubs 5 mins from a tube station, want the chairs to match the tables and want to pay less than �2.50 for a pint of "house" lager.
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I had a bit of time on my hands so i thought i'd google my local to see what came up. Glad to see that the Stanley has a good reception. It's a fantastic pub inside with a great atmosphere, but no one's mentioned the garden! It's my favourite place to chill in the summer. The food's amazing and the house wine doesn't taste like vinegar; a great change from standard pub fare. The bar staff are always on hand and helpful and they've now extended opening hours to 12:00 on both Friday and Saturday nights. With summer coming what more could you want?
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consistent greatness alll round, but where's vince gone??!!!
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Used to be my local before i moved up the road to Holloway. A fantastic pub to which i intend to regularly make pilgrimages for the food and atmosphere. Also disagree with the 'grumpy staff' comment earlier... rating should definitely be higher than 6.8!
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I once lost a blim
outside. I often return,
but rarely go in.
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I do like this pub for the interior, the beer and the cat but the staff are so miserable, it looks as though they'd rather be doing anything at all rather than serve you. The food is good but there's one chef in particular who seems to think he's Gordon Ramsay...
anonymous - 13 May 2005 13:34 |
Lovely pub - even more so compared to what is nearby (i.e. Mansfield, Unicorn and Leighton). Reasonably priced beer which is of a pretty high standard. All pubs should have ginger cat like the Stanley's...!
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A top notch pub. The food is rustic English and Meditteranean and has improved vastly although on a busy night you should be prepared to wait as all food is cooked to order. They bake their own bread daily (foccaccia, ciabatta and all sorts of seed breads) and the chef makes his own pasta as well. Full of crazy local characters and oozing rugged charm. The closest you can get to a "real" pub in London.
Philip - 26 Oct 2004 12:56 |
A really lovely pub with great food that has improved massively. A lovely local which feels like one - rare in London
kate - 14 Sep 2004 20:30 |
The stanley was sold in December,2003: to the owners of the lansdowne.
I visited the place for my birthday in August, with friends and family. We had a great time.
I missed the old style and the spice driven style of food.
Winras - 10 Sep 2004 18:20 |
Great Olives and nice if slightly pricey food but beware of the head barmaid (possibly owner???) she's very abrupt and in my opinion rude. Also if you're a cider drinker be prepared to be disappointed - they often don't have any. And avoid the house wine - it's like vinegar!
sarah - 4 Jul 2003 11:14 |
comfy, friendly; a top place to eat and drink. try to catch one of the barbecues. but watch out the bar staff can get a little frisky.
i live miles away and it's still my local!
derek - 15 May 2003 16:25 |
Great food, friendly atmosphere, local art displayed, can get a little smokey though, mix of locals and visitors
James - 29 Nov 2002 12:00 |
