Location: 251 Royal College St, London NW1 9LU
Year of Inscription: 2023
Venue Type: High Street Pub / Live Music Venue / Quirky
Map
Description
Gallery
| EBG Rating: | 7.7/10 |
| Choice/ Quality of Drinks | ❤️❤️❤️ Cask ales mainly from a mainstream range, but well kept. Reasonable but largely typical back bar selection. |
| Style/ Décor | ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Three-storey Victorian corner pub with some original Mosaics at the entrance and L shaped corner bar. Decorated with dozens of old musical instruments hung up above the bar. Local art and a range of furnishing further add to its distinctive identity, a blessed relief given the Greene King involvement. If that isn’t enough, renaissance sculptures, glass eagles and posters of old theatre shows complete the set. |
| Atmosphere/ Character | ❤️❤️❤️❤️ An interesting mix of arty independent crowd and general boozehounds result from its location, which attracts general footfall. This helps give it a vibrancy without any smug cliquey feel. |
| Amenities/ Events | ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Thai food, artwork, live music, Monday quiz, DJ set on Thursday, dog friendly, resident cat |
| Value For Money | ❤️❤️❤️ A nice surprise, reasonably priced given the location. |
| Description | There are places such as this where the mainstream appears to be sitting willingly alongside the subculture, and this is to be applauded in an era where people live increasingly siloed existences. On some levels the offering will seem ho-hum – familiar mainstream ales and pub ownership, DJ nights, and a high street setting. On the other, its Victorian inheritance, collection of musical instruments, sculptures, theatre posters and cats balance the transient trade with a core of regulars and frequent guests. It is also an affordable venue for the area and London generally. Overall it made a sound impression – every time you dwell on a shortcoming a surprising highlight comes to reset your experience to a positive one. (Added September 2023) |
