The Devonshire Arms, Camden

How much you appreciate the pub rather depends on what sort of a night out you want. If you're used to metal pubs such as the Intrepid Fox, then this will be right up your street. The music is variable - I've been in on a Sunday afternoon and it's been pretty chilled, and everything at a reasonable volume, and I've also been in on a Sunday afternoon and had to shout over the top of skull-splittingly loud death metal. But if you go in at a busy time - Friday or Saturday night, then it will be loud.

Regularly have DJs and bands, and the overall vibe is not bad, though it's quite small and fills up quite quickly. The toilets are possibly the worst in London, but the Newcastle is cold, the Hob is pretty well kept, and to be honest, the clientel aren't the type to be put off by the state of the bogs. The bar staff are variable - I've had great service, and I've stood ignored for what seemed like hours while the dozy barmaid chatted to one of her mates and the punters got increasingly riled. I don't go in that often, and don't recognise the staff from one visit to the next, so suspect that there is a fair turn over of employees.

A great metal pub in the heart of Camden

22 Mar 2011 10:46

The Rowbarge Hotel, St Johns

I'm an occasional, but not frequent visitor to the Rowbarge. However, I never have any complaints.

The beer is well kept - not a huge selection, but always London Pride and one top quality beer, a Spitfire/Bombadier/Adnams-type. And always cold Newcastle Brown for those hot Summer days.

You can usually get a seat, certainly in the Summer as there's a sizeable beer garden, with the recent addition of a covered area for the smokers.

The food is very good, and freshly cooked. Sunday roasts are a feature, as are BBQ's when the sun's out on a bank holiday.

It is a little on the pricey side, but not excessively so - the beer isn't cheap, and a burger and chips cost about �8.50 last weekend and it was something similar for a bowl of pasta, and you're hard pressed to find anything other than sandwiches for less than a fiver. That said, the food is excellent. And unlike the town centre pubs, it isn't full of kids getting drunk on cheap lager, and I'm happy to pay a bit extra for that.

The staff are generally friendly and unobtrusive, although the bar is small and on busy Summer days when the beer garden is packed you might need to queue up for little bit.

If you like a good country pub where you can get good food and have a conversation with your mates, this is a great place.

24 Apr 2008 15:28

The Lion Brewery, Ash

A little late, but further to my post of last October, I can now comment on the pub.

Overall, OK-ish. The live music bar is extremely cramped, and not a great set up for the bands, but short of re-building the pub, you have to work with what you've got, and they do have a few bits that might help the band - a small stage and a UV stage light. Also, the pub hadn't seemed to have done any promotion, so the only people there were those that we already knew.

The bar staff were helpful to the band when we got there. However, they almost completely disappeared when we had finished setting up and wanted to start drinking. This became a feature of the night, and even when we had a fairly good crowd in the bar, getting served took forever. Some people ordered food, which was good enough for pub grub, but took over half an hour to appear. Our drummer had ordered a meal in plenty of time before we played, but it appeared a couple of minutes before we were on, so he was stuffing scampi and chips into his mouth between songs for the first half of the night.

That said, the beer was good, the locals were friendly, and it was a good night out. But I hope we caught the staff on a bad night, or else you might die of thirst!

24 Apr 2008 14:54