Uk Barblog

The Famous Cock Tavern (Highbury Corner - London)

The Famous Cock Tavern

Seated next to the station in waht seems like a rougher-than-average area of London sits the Famous Cock Tavern. The name certainly made me laugh for indeed I wondered if the name was once soemthing else and it had been changed by a furious landlord's wife in the early hours of one morning a hundred years ago when she found him sleeping in the broom cupboard. The venue is a medium sized sports style bar openeing early for breakfast in the morning with several large screens,a few fruit machines and a well stocked bar. The bar man is rather friendly and the pub is populated with high stools and booths on what is a mostly traditional layout for a pub. At the back is a beer garden and the bar selection is mainly ladish with very few girls in eyeshot.

Overall a fairly cheerful sports pub, a slight sting on the prices - £1.50 for the smallest coke you've ever seen and nothing impressive, charming or even appealing except somewhere to park your bottom and watch the darts at 8am. 5/10

The Living Room (Angel - London)

The Living Room

The Living Room has to be one of the most diverse venues in London and very suited to an all-round night out. The entrance is a little off the garden path of the rest of Angel and its gets rather populated into the evening with secluded bars, loud urban and RnB tunes and a long, impressively stocked bar. The service is moderately slow however and it is a little on the expensive side. However, follow the bar around to the left and the venue opens up to a two floored restaurant which is broken off from the rest of the noise as a relaxed dining area where food lovers continue eating into the late evening. Unfortunately this place does not open past about 2am and as its residents flock into the streets you wonder where to go next.

Overall a club without the door service, a trendy bar without the sport (the TV's appeared to be showing re-runs of soft-core porn) and a restaurant of apparent elegance and class, so a well rounded venue - versatile for the bulk of your evening. 7/10

Old Red Lion Theatre Pub (Angel - London)

Old Red Lion Theatre Pub

From the outside this appears to simply be another pub but in fact this is a pub front to a theatre which would suggest this is a particularly old and particularly significant building and drinkery. Bright lights and theatre posters fill the entrance and the entrance takes you into the lounge-like centre of a comfortable pub-come-lounge bar with the physical bar to the right and the door to the theatre at the back. A transluscent glass wall seperates the seemingly corridor entrance from the pub itself which is pricey and cider remains by bottle than by tap. I cannot find any means to drink here other than for or during a show.

Overall a blanket of a pub pulled over the eyes of an old theatre. This blanket is full of holes, its a novelty- theres no where to sit and to be fair the theatre never shows anything worth going to see to warrent drinking here very often - 4/10

Part of the Official MONOPOLY PUB CRAWL

The Agricultural (Angel - London)

The Agricultural

This place is rather small, bumpkin-like and with a panini stand in the corner it feels a little obscure for what looks like a larger establishment from the outside. The seating provided is leather and although the place remains quiet it is quitye friendly. £7 for a round of two pints with semi-popular music playing as you drink. It really does remain very quiet even on a saturday night. The toilets require a code to use so naturally you have to buy a drink to get that code (last time i checked it was middle-button then turn the switch right).

Overall the place is not really the kind of thing i could see myself drinking in regularly unless i was a one man band that enjoyed paying to enter a toilet the size of my thumb-nail - only a 5/10.

The Angelic (Angel - London)

The Angelic

This bar sits behind angel in a clown-suit. It has been dressed up to look like a hip and modern Gastro/industrial style scarecrow with a juice bar, stairs so big that the customer needs hiking boots and enormous, clumsy plates with clumps of food upon them. The decor consists of large unread library volumes and the low hanging lights over the bar look like they're lampshades were just plucked from a nuclear reactor. It is full of chelsea-wannabe's wearing the most expensive attire they could find in their local charity shops. the big windows however allow the light to pour in and there is little doubt that it is spacious despite being popular.

Overall it is the pub equivilent of the sore thumb in Angel but it has been well hidden and despite the hawaiin-shirt effect I was very glad to find less popular cider's on tap, I suppose ever clown has his charms - 5/10

Ladybird Bar (Upper Street - London)

Ladybird Bar

At a glance this place appears to be a civilised cosmopolitan dream but the delivery of its experience is not only delayed but disappointing. It's a double-floor rather trendy up-beat venue with hip-hop and reggae fusion playing throughout. The bar entrance is across a VIP rope and up a short set of stairs into a short walkway with leather backless couches and tables to the left. The walkway then opens into the bar which is to the left and some assorted tables and chairs to the right. At the end of the bar the venue finishes, in short; Yes; it is quite small. The decor of reds blacks and whites suits the desired comfortable effect and although the place is open til 4am it is hard to find a seat at 10pm. The toilets downstairs are pretty grim and the "late bar" also downstairs is very small and overheated. The service of the drinks was - ask at the bar - then go back to your seat and wait an hour for high quality cocktails.

In short the place is managed badly - its like waiting all night for a train then having it arrive with only one carriage, you frown but get on board cos you've been waiting this long but the ride is just.. disheartening. 5/10

Keston Lodge (Upper Street - London)

Keston Lodge

This trendy bar in Upper street is friendly, laid back and somewhat professional with dark corners, selective lighting and a centrepiece staircase which winds up to a smaller floor above the ground with a few available tables. The colour theme is a mix of dark reds and blacks and this is accompanied with a quiet but strange light breakbeat music. The atmosphere is pretty suited as well with a relative buzz but without being overcrowded. Would certainly be a good place to bring a first date as an ice breaker, especially with the cocktails during happy hour - 5pm-7pm being offered at a "buy the first get the second for £1" deal. The cocktails are also very well mixed and strong for the money. Unfortunately although this works out about 2 cocktails for £5 during happy hour things get much more expensive when the clock comes around and you are looking at paying around £14 for 2 cocktails.

Overall best to come of an early evening to get some action on that cocktail deal and spy up fresh talent among the red and black dressing of the venue but later on it comes down too heavily on the pocket and I fear this place crowds rather well: 6/10

[last visit: Dec 06]

Matt and Matt (Upper Street - London)

Matt and Matt

Generally this a very small bar literally after entering the swinging doors you are in a wooden venue with a cove of games to the right (table football and a pinball machine surrounded by barstools) and ahead a short staircase up to a wooden platform with low tables and chairs to the left and a bar to right. The bar serves a good variety of cocktail at £6 each but midweek between 6 and 9 you can expect to recieve two for the price of one. This place also has a unique blend of vodka shots to the tune of sweet-shop varieties including jelly babies, rolos and marshmallow shots. The bar abputply ends after a few shorts steps from the bar with a DJ booth and the toilets are down a staircase to the left. This is Matt and Matt, a dimly lit, salsa stroke dance music playing venue of small size but attitude to pull the younger drinkers.

Overall it's definitely too small for a night out or even more than a single round, its got an excellent variety of drinks to offer at good prices if you get the time right and is never overcrowded. In summary this shop gets a 6/10, really needs to extend its cheap drinks to the later hours.

The White Swan (Upper Street - Islington)

The White Swan (wetherspoons)

And what a wetherspoons she is! You get searched on the door by the bouncers and enter into a large venue first with a low celing and then opening out into an art deco nightmare of wallpaper and warehouse style ceilings. There is a kind of veranda out the front but inside it feels very much like the lobby of a Holiday Inn or similar motel. There is a rather smokey middleaged crowd inside seated at crap tables with an awful service at the bar to match. The drinks in here are upper street prices so of course they are more expensive and the back end is always empty. It really is an enormous pub for a wetherspoons, okay I've seen perhaps one more bigger but its impressive for islington.

Overall I wasn't amused, its the place to drink only if you cant see the walls for the awful wallpaper or for the bagfulls of money in your pocket required to drink here. Points for size but little else so 4/10.

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The Elbow Rooms (Angel - London)

The Elbow Rooms

This dramatically cool club is very well hidden and is the absolute gem of Islington. You approach the bar on an average-joe road populated by small supermarkets, bookies and newagents when you come across what looks like some kind of gay club outside but opens into this kind of sports bar with pool tables to the right and ahead a sea of people which early on in the evening feels like a kind of Youth club. The bar stretches across the back walla nd service is a moderate wait but the offers are pretty good, my eye falls upon a rack of nine shots for £15 and loads of cheap drinks before 8pm. There are tables available quite frequently and the places spiders off into lots of rooms and cubby holes. The place is lit up with mirrored effects and the music is sort of light-dance or chillout. Looking around further there are rooms for private hire and table tennis in the far corner.

Overall the atmosphere is very vibrant, the drink deals early on are great, the place is big but not overcrowded and really has its own character. The only downside is the feel that it has a rather younger crowd but it definitely deserves an 8/10.

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The Green Bar (Upper Street - Islington)

The Green

Apparently this is a gay bar but it felt more like a very loud argument occurring in a well lit corridor. Literally it is one long bar in a cramped space and at the back a collection of chairs and tables which feel like a cafe in a bright lit bar where service can take all night and the drinks are quite expensive at £3.50 a pint. Although i noticed the service was slow the bar staff were certainly friendly and the bar itself was very well stocked. However once you have drink in hand you have to protect the elbows for the number of people packed into the space trying to bypass you. Also there is no fee on the door even later on which is good and it has a good location just opposite angel green.

Overall totally unimpressed by the size of the place although it does have a somewhat sheik feel it does in fact feel more like a very large, very clean toilet cubicle, in all 3/10

Masala Zone (Upper Street - London)

Masala Zone

This indian restaurant turns bar when the evening approaches and although they continue to serve up food people are mainly seated at tables in here to drink. The alcohol isn't change though at £12 a bottle of wine but should you order food, it comes out it almost moments. The smell of rogan fills the air and its a strange change from the bustling bars down the road. Theres lots of seating up it doesn't appear to be large venue until you venture downstairs to find a number of rooms- empty of punters but full of waiting tables. The decor has an oriental feel to it despite it being an indian restaurant.

Really wasn't the sort of place I'd ever come for just drinks but given the speed of the food I would say its a good stop if your on the lash but need a qucik meal. If it was cheaper it would be much better but sits overall at 5/10.

The Medicine Bar (Upper Street - Islington)

The Medicine Bar

From the outside this place looks like an antique shop where in factit inside it is more a gothic-feeling cocktail bar with elaborate decor but expensive drinks. The cheapest cocktails are about £6 but the bar is well stocked and the service is fast. Looking around the place seems alittle cramped and the music is all wrong for the feel of the place, surely a gothic place would have similar clientell- well thats wrong because in Upper street only the trendiest come here. Halfway down the bar you find some stairs which lead up to two small room equipped with a bar and soft furnishings. It is a little small but feels lost in the experimental trance echoing through the place. It feels like it is trying to be different and it certainly has character, just not the type that reflects a good night out.

I leave feeling bewildered. Needs some smarter changes. Overall 5/10.

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The Mitre - Scream (Upper Street - Islington)

The Mitre - a Scream Bar

If someone whould have ever told me that there was a cheap bar or pub on Upper Street I would have laughed them into the ground but indeed I would have been wrong. The Mitre, as much of a pub as it sounds is in fact a bar aimed at students. Accompanied by a student "Scream card" pints in here are £2.30 and cocktails about £3, and thats a 10pm on a Friday night! The decor is red lights and red wallpaper but the venue itself is very small though it houses a couple of old televisions sporting MTV and a pool table. Out the back is a long summery beer garden. It was too amazing to believe how it wasnt more popular but its definitely worth becoming a "Scream" member before you head into one of these. In fact i think its the first one of its kind I've ever been in or heard of.

Overall a very impressive 8/10. F*ck the decor, the prices in the place completely outweigh its lack of size.

Jorene Celeste (Upper Street - Islington)

Jorene Celeste Bar

This oplace looks like an old man pub from the outside but opens into a nice but darly lit long bar and couches set in a not over popular candlelit room of commercial RnB. Good availability of drinks at the bar with a fat and friendly service. It feels like a pub only when you are at the bar however but in terms of a bar its not very elaborate and could do with a dancefloor. The food in here is expensive at £5 a starter and it seems to be trying to be the bar its not just for the upper street scene.

I'm sticking by my first impressions though, the surprise that this place is not actually an old man pub was a good one and I have no doubts that if they perhaps lowered the price of the drinks this could become avery popualr venue. Overall 6/10.

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The Cedar Rooms (Upper Street - Islington)

The Cedar Rooms

This has had several previous names including "The independent" and "Lush Bar" but each has had a different fitting with its own decor and character. The Cedar rooms appears to be fairly new. with red under lighting across the picture rail by the ceiling creating a rather exotic lighting effect topped off by Chinese decorations and chandeliers. The place is really very small, merely the size of a small pub but with a rather plush bar with good cocktails available at £6 each (very strong) even though the bar persons are a bit slow. There is a hidden flight of stairs in the corner which seem to lead into a rather quiet private party type area. You can see they have really tried to give what is clearly a pub an upmarket trendy image but only the cocktails really rescue the fact that it is too small and out of place on this part of upper street.

Overall an even-sided 5/10.

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The Beirodrome (Upper Street - Islington)

The Beirodrome

From the outside this place looks like a butchers, large class windows which open up as doors in the summer months to allow punters to sit outside. Once inside you are faced with a rounded bar which forks round to the left for drinkers and to the right for diners. Although the bar is small the service is fast and friendly and I opt for the tastey shnapps shotsat £8 for 6. The drinkers section runs into a tunnel like area scattered with comfortable couches and small tables. It never seems to get too crowded in here and you can talk above the music which is a kid of dancy chillout genre, a nice place to relax before goign out to a club later on. There are girls wandering around offering massages as well and soft wooden floors add to the warm feel of the place.

Overall very inviting and enjoyable at 7/10.

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The Glassworks (Angel - London)

The Glassworks (Lloyds No.1 Bar)

The Glassworks is a lloyds bar (of the wetherspoons chain) hidden in the new N1 complex in Angel. Its a simple trek up some stairs and along the walkway and you're facing a bar with a totally glass front. Inside the path leads directly to the bar with table seperated on either side- i assume its non smokign and smoking. The bar is very long with a massive number of drinks on display and some very friendly bar staff serving everyone very quickly. I think this lloyds bar is a little cheaper than others I have been to but i opted for "Thatcher's Perry" a 750ml of 7% pear cider for £3 , total bargin. We found a table and enjoyed the drinks finding the crowd a little loud and in fact realised the place has too few tables to accommodate the growing crowd.

Overall 7/10. Its one of the best deals near upper street for the price but i'd get in early, the doormen was counting people in at just 6pm on a Friday night!!

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Canvas (Roller Disco) - (Kings Cross - London)

Canvas (Roller Disco)

This was an amazing experience!! I have never been on wheels before so the best idea ever was to get some drinks in in Camden and then make our way to Canvas, a large warehouse/club behind Kings Cross station to roller skate to some banging tunes. We booked the tickets in advance (£14 each) and picked them up on the door- or rather froma  pink van outside the front door and made our way inside, dumping stuff off at the cloakroom then up the stairs into a large room. We picked up our skates from a hole in the wall in the corner and sitting down on the uber-oversized leather seatings with about 30 other people strapped my skates on. The decor of the place was amazing, you could still tell you were in a warehouse but there was terrific flashes of red and pink lighting and fabric drapped all around. To my left was bar serving shots at £3.50 a pop and bottles at £4. Very expensive. The main skating floor had a sideline of more couches and the beginners were all given the opportunity to get some unrushed instruction for free. This room led down a ramp into a second room with a bar, a little darker than the first with a massive skating floor and this led down further into a dark-rave like rink with a DJ in the middle and some awesome skaters running backward circles around the beginners.

The crowd was sensitive to new skaters but it is easy to see why some peopel might be intimidated. Curiously the crowd is a black:white ratio of 4:1. The experience was terrific. Would definitely go again and if it wasnt for the expense i would get drunk on skates too!! Overall 8/10, they have done a fantastic job !!!

The Pitcher and Piano (Upper Street - London)

The Pitcher and Piano

This was the first Pitcher and Piano I had ever been to. I entered on a red carpet through large doors held open by friendly bouncers into a wall of heat and persons. The music was commercial pop, the decor exhibited red padded walls and although it appeared rather funky it was a little small. The clientell were trendy, so much so that the girls had ornage skin from fake tan and although there was no room to breath at 8pm there was massages being given in the middle of the room, which invitably meant elbow in your drinks and your party of five crammed into a smelly nook beside the long bar. The bar staff took a long time to serve although the drinks were excellent but a bit expensive at £5.50 each. Although it wasn't dark like many bars can be this was way too loud to hear yourself speak.

Overall evening time is too late and although it may get a better mark in the day it gets a 4/10 at 9pm.

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O'Neills (Upper Street - London)

O'Neills

In the summer the whole front it opened up onto the street and the warm breeze is very inviting, even at 8o'clock in the evening this place is relatively quiet so you can grab a table and I mean quiet, the music was barely above a whisper and it was easy to get served quickly at the bar by the friendly bar staff. the place is much larger than it looks from the outside and there are a whole range of seating inside from couches to bar stools and tables. Food is served throughout the day and there are plenty of games and fruit mahcines to play on. The downside is that this venue seems more expensive than its Wetherspoons, Lloyds bar and Walkabout counterparts.

Overall a pretty average 5/10. Perhaps the least rowdy Oneills i've ever been to!

The Angel (Angel - London)

The Angel (wetherspoons)

Its nice to see a wetherspoons with a bit of character outside that divides it from the army of Wetherspoon clones across the country but unfortunately inside it remain pretty samey. There a a few empty seats early on a froday night but sitting down it feels like a cheap diner in an airport terminal. The service is quick however and bar staff are friendly when the drinks are at about £1.50 a shot and about the same for a pint. Need the toilet? then navigate your way down some awkward steps into the abyss below. Place is equipped with games and quiz machines but falters with a lack of space as this place gets more and popular as the night goes on with all manner of cheap persons.

Its the common folk that bring the place down but none-the-less its still a 6/10 which is high for a wetherspoons!

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The Arc (Angel - London)

The Arc

From the outside the Arc looks like a restaurant, not something you would want to while away the wee hours in shaking your backside but in fact if you take the time to find the doors at the rear you enter into a bizarre realm of cocktails, flatcaps and pizza. Its an expensive, towny bar come restaurant playing light dance music and flashing red neon lights all over the shop. I can't imagine it would be the best place to eat in but it made a pretty good bar where the music was not too loud and the bar persons were well skilled in cocktail preparation if a little slow to serve us. There is also funky artwork on the walls, leather booths and tables and clientell wearing every imaginable design of goatie on the planet. I cannot say I thoroughly enjoyed myself, it was overcrowded, untidy and the floor layout was bad, there was inf act no where to dance.

Overall, a total mix of the good with the bad, make up your own mind is my advice, apparently it depends on what night of the week you go: Friday is a 5/10 for me.

The York (Islington - London)

The York

You wont find it hard to spot this pub in the summer months upon Upper street, its punters grab a drink from the bar within and pour into the front drinking area and onto the streets with their pints. Although this is a nice experience it feels odd to intoxicate yourself in the day light in the middle of a busy city, especially with a plastic cup. The pub inside is actually very small and although it maybe packed outside it is rarely the same inside. Although this is the case it still seems to take a long time to get served at the bar but having said this there is a good range of items to drink although it is quite expensive at about £2.80 a pint. There is cheesy dance music and pop playing in the background as I leave the bar again to head back out onto the street.

Unfortunately seating is few and far between and I can't say my experience was comfortable, overall this pub gets a 4/10.

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The Slug and Lettuce (Upper Street - London)

The Slug and Lettuce

I was expecting an overpriced up market den but instead I was greeted with a friendly O'Neills-like wine bar, white walled and low hanging blue lighting over the bar. it felt almost like being in an operating theatre with a bar except that there were massive bright windows onto the street, which on this particular night lay dark outside. It was big bar however with a good variety of drinks, very friendly bar staff and a 20-30 something aged crowd around us. Watch out for random stairs and a toilet under the staircase. It still remained rather expensive and closed at 11pm on a Friday night but it was the nicest slug and lettuce I have been inside yet.

Overall a pretty medium 5/10, if only it were open later :(

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The Queens Head (Angel - London)

The Queens Head

Drawn into a bar by breakbeat tunes drum and bass and heavy house music? This just might be the one stop shop for your needs. The Djs from Fabric (that big old drum and bass club in Farringdon) spin their early evening tunes in this pub before heading down to continue their set in the club. The bar serves up a variety of expensive cocktails to a a parade of badly dressed 20-somethings that have just learned that drum and bass can be better than rock music when accompanied with a bad haircut and festival-style clothes. The huge shop-windows on this bar open onto the high street and picnic tables collect outside in the summer. Unfortunately like most bars on this parade the cost is £3 entry for a friday night after eleven.

Overall 5/10. We had some problems in the bar but the bouncers are very friendly, the place just appears to be a little over-populated to be as exclusive as it advertises.

The Garage (Highbury - London)

The Garage

I'll give you a clue as to when I last went here. I saw Hoobastank and they had just released their first album. Not the best clue ok but thats not important. The bar is whats important, or at least it would be if it one wasn't being mauled with sweaty spotty teenagers as one tried to buy a pint. No doubt this place is a one hot venue if you can just about see the performers under the low ceiling above the stage but it is tucked round the corner of higbury and hard to get to if you don't know your ways. The toilets are just one step away from the gates of vomit hell and with sticky floors and screams you feel like your participating in the opening credits of "Nevermind the Buzzcocks". Understatment.

Overall a punky 6/10. The character of this place would be nothing if it wasnt this crap to have a drink in.

The Driver (Kings Cross)

The Driver Pub

I went into this pub for a lunch with work colleagues a few days ago so i really can't comment on the drink but the food was amazing. We waited ages for it but the portions were hefty and for a very reasonable price for london with the avergae main course only being about £5. The drinks were a little pricey that then I only had a coke and an OJ. The place with rather cramped and there were too many tables and chair for it to warrent being a place to go out of an evening.

Overall this pub gets a 6/10 because although the food was amazing the prices for drink are likely to be sky high and its just a cramped atmosphere

Hope and Anchor (Upper Street - London)

Hope and Anchor
In my opinion its a pub with an attitude. Theres a bar and pub area upstairs with fruit machines and the like and downstairs is a small venue with stage and soundsystem. I have heard that more recently this place has become more trendy but I did orginally go there to see a friends band playing. The prices are typical of the area-too high but it is made up for with the crowd and the lack of crowding at the weekend (or so i found). I would gladly return although i do admit to spending much time looking for sdomewhere to sit because its not awfully big and to prevent crowding there are therefore less tables.
So, so so and its gets, drumroll please.. a 5/10.

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