please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Wandered into this friendly, fashionable modern pub on a sunday afternoon and was greeted by a reasonable selection; Pride, Landlord, Black Sheep & Leeds Best, priced around the �3 mark. The latter two were in good nick. The place has a mixture of traditional tables & chairs plus some old sofas which presumably cost a small fortune from some uber-trendy Islington antique shop. As befits the location a young 'n' trendy crowd but a pleasant place to escape the hubbub of Upper Street.
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Very pleasant pub in a prime location on Upper Street.
Light and airy as a consequence of nice big windows, nice low-key decor and an extremely pleasant atmosphere make this a worthy place to spend your precious down time and money.
Bar staff were very friendly and service was quick. Good choice of beers, all of which seemed to be in good order and prices are slightly cheaper than most similar establishments in the locale. Extremely pleased with my first visit and certainly hope to call again in the not-too-distant future.
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This is a very popular pub that was serving up a selection of premium lagers alongside Pride, Landlord and Doom Bar on my visit. I thought that the music was at a good level and there was a very chilled out atmosphere. There was no available seating in the bar area downstairs, but fortunately I was able to find a table up the spiral staircase and was able to enjoy my well kept Pride.
I will visit here again when next in the area.
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Visited on the afternoon of New Year's Eve. My first visit to this place since it was the Finnock & Firkin, and prior to that Raleigh's and the Sir Walter Raleigh.
Recent posts refer to a good range of beers, I think this is from the perspective of people who go for expensive/premium/continental lagers, fruit beer etc. As regards real ale, the choice is less impressive: on the day Pride and GK IPA. There was a third handpump not in use. Choice of three keg ciders, but no real stuff.
Staff were reasonably polite and efficient. Some glasses were arranged on the bar with prominent invitations to insert tips. This might be offputting, but having seen some of the attitude merchants they had to put up with I ended up slinging the odd coin in myself. Unfortunately Upper Street has always had its fair share of these types - walking in and seeing there was only one member of staff, serving someone at the time, then ostentatiously walking out as though everything should stop for them.
Disabled acess (via side door in Theberton Street) and WC.
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The burgers are great and seem genuinely home made! Great beer choices as everyone's already said, chilled out atmosphere during the week though packed like everywhere else on Upper St at weekends.. Sundays are also fab for a good roast.
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Marvellous boozer in a great location. Has thus far managed to stay the right side of poncey. Great range of beers, although a shame that they've recently lost a few of the more obscure German options in favour of your more standard beverages.
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I've spent some really pleasant afternoons in here, drinking the banana beer (ask the staff, can't remember what it's called) and playing one of the board games. Very recommended if it's for a long session or a swift one - an oasis in a sea of chain pubs
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Called in here on Saturday for some lunch and will definately be making a repeat visit. Nice beers on tap - went for Erdinger. Really good food menu - went for some tasty sandwiches but could have went back for more food later. Reasonably priced and delicious. The staff were really helpful and friendly. Really enjoyed a lazy relaxed Saturday lunch.
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Went in this Saturday for food and a drink.
My friend and I had coffees that were scalding hot,and tasted burnt, our food took over 20 minutes to arrive and it arrived cold and under cooked.
We got a refund and left.
No apology or explanation was given.
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Pretty good for Islington, great beer and decent service. As you'd expect, its generally full of up and coming, slightly smug 20-30 somethings but that comes with the location. If you want a nice old man's pub then don't go to Upper Street, especially at the weekend. Put it this way, its better than the Walkabout...
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This place has turned me into an ale fan!! They no longer do the standard you can find every other place, but some really cool and unique ones. The stafff were great and the atmosphere fun. My new local!
DLM75 - 24 Mar 2007 13:08 |
I really like this place, friendly helpful staff, good cheap food and decent ale which you don't have to mortgage your house to purchase. Good background music that you don't have to have the voice of Brian Blessed to be heard over.
flump - 28 Feb 2007 22:49 |
One of the better pubs on upper st. It was my local until very recently when i moved out og London. I always had good service and would reccomend to others.
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I like this pub and I try to pop in whenever Im out in Islington. Trouble is that last time I went the service was awful. The bar staff looked miserable and our food took over 50 minutes to arrive without any apology from the staff.
I hope this was just a one off blip.
bee26 - 17 Jan 2007 15:46 |
This place is definitely worth a squirt if you are out on Upper Street - something that tends to happen if you live in this part of London. If you with a group of people who know nothing about pubs or beer and want to be "where the action is", steer the mindless drones in here. The large staircase at the front opens the place up and gives it more of a bar feel than other Mitchell & Butlers unbranded pubs. The beer selection is OK - Franziskaner wheatbeer and Kuppers Kolsch on tap, along with a couple of standard issue real ales, Liefmans and Chimay bottles from Belgium in the fridge. Service seemed OK, the shabby furniture is arranged to accomodate big groups without breaking the place up too much.
Not somewhere I'd ever go apart from a proper night out, but frankly on Upper Street, full as it is of miserable chain bars, the Bull is an effing godsend.
Cheers
STONCH'S BEER BLOG - stonch.blogspot.com
anonymous - 10 Jan 2007 13:01 |
Have had some good times, some bad times and some quite surreal times in the this pub. Good times included cosy catch-up chats with friends/other half in the days when they had little booths/dividers between the tables at the back. Bad times included some bunch of aggressive randoms hurling lemons around on a Saturday night (you'd think the bar staff would have taken the bowl of lemons off the bar after a while, but hey, I did in the end). Surreal times included spending a couple of hours one afternoon sitting next to a group of, well, students perhaps (?), who were painting eggs.
Better than some pubs on Upper Street, but probably best avoided on a weekend unless you like fighting.
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Great pub - friendly locals, good atmosphere, healthy selection of beers. Much better than the dump at the other end of Theberton St....
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This pub has had an internal face lift since I was last in and its defo a big improvement, but its a bit orange. - Once we got over this it was all pleasant suprises for a pub thats on the main drag of Islington. The range of beers they have on draught is a suprise with no need to drink the usual dross of Carling, Stella etc.
Food took about 15mins to come out which is suspiciously quick but one taste of the burger was enough to convince me that the chef must know their stuff.
Have gone back again but was much busier and stuggled to get a seat
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Only been once but it seemed really good to me. Was cheapish and enough room to have a merry old time. Worth poking your head into for a beer.
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A pub with a large selection of beers from all over the world. Can get very crowded and take a while to get served, but the range of beers makes this worthwhile. My advice: get there early to get a seat or you ill end up standing all night.
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Quite liked this pub, until they refused to serve me 10 minutes before last orders as they apparently had 'already called it'. I shall be drinking elsewhere!
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A bit identikit gastropub, though good beers. The food is average and pricey, but the service is good. It's the clientele that ruin the place, pompous twentysomethings, really up themselves...
manonabus - 23 Oct 2004 16:39 |
Good food, quite large amounts for your money. Comfy and good to meet friends mid week. Belgium raspbery beer is always a winner
Ruth - 5 Jul 2004 19:10 |
This pub has the best Olives ever! Try some.
Paul Devos - 4 Jun 2004 17:05 |
Great feel to the place. Rather busy at the weekends, maybe too busy for those looking to swan up to bar and order without a wait. Great place in the day, always a few bodies to make it feel like something is going on without the craziness that comes with the night. As a complete bonus they sell some beautiful abbey beers like Leffe and Grimbergen as well as the usual ales and beers you'd expect from a decent hang out. Comes with my recommedation.
Wanosh - 26 Apr 2004 17:54 |
This pub serves superb real ale. A very pleasant surprise.
ck - 17 Feb 2004 13:12 |
Pretty cool pub decor wise, an is relaxed. however does suffer from some pretentious types. cool sofa upstairs, looking out over high street. Good food.
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