Uk Barblog

The Three Crowns (Old Street - London)

The Three Crowns

A very normal looking corner pub just off of the Old street roundabout. Entering one finds a small room with high ceiling - a small bar tucked in the left corner and a rather unfriendly bar woman serving drinks. With not so much as a smile or any soul in her pouring technique we get drinks - £2.80 a pint so not over priced. Looking round one finds the niche - a stairwell downstairs reveals three pool tables and the first floor overlooks the basement from a small galley. There are no chairs downstairs however and its a bit of a lads room. The music throughout is RnB so the older crowd is definitely warded off but then Old street isnt the place for anyone over 35 in any case.

Overall the three crowns is a good pub to hit for a group of blokes looking for a bar woman who doesn't take any crap and a couple of sturdy pool tables - ladies, avoid at all costs. Meanwhile it remains small and in a word, uncomfortable: 5/10

The Bavarian Beerhouse (Old street - London)

The Bavarian Beerhouse

A total surprise to find this kind of bar in what can only be described as one of the most univiting areas of london. You enter through small doors and down a set of stairs with a bright-light-wetherspoons type entrance and through double doors into a small underground maze of lederhosen-wearing females with large breasts on display. The network of rooms all have long tables and benches and the bar is equipped with traditional european taps with all punters drinking from Steins (those litre sized beer mugs). One stein costs £6.80 - or about £3.50 a pint so the cost quickly racks up since you have to open a tab with the waitresses and cannot buy directly from the bar.

Really the place is not very well themed except for the waitress costumes which are near perfect. Its really just an English take on traditional european drinking- unique and the height of novelty but could do with some all round improvements -7/10

Cafe El Paso (Old Street - London)

Cafe El Paso

Situated on the ever characteristic old street leading through some of london's most up market and down market shops and evening venues, Cafe El Paso is a bar/restaurant parked in the thick of it all. From outside it looks like any normal bar with a kind of kitchen/restaurant section to the right of it. We made our way inside at about midnight on a friday night which is never a good time and found the place to be very busy with people overcrowded the single bar. Looking for a table I discovered a pointless staircase-galley combination riding up over the bar and downstairs the toilets were utterly wasted and grimm. The downstairs was essentially a small- badly lit club with loud dance tunes echoing through the walls.

Overall the place was very expensive and exceptionally nasty for any evening out, okay there was the fact that it was open so late without a charge on the door but it isn't worth the effort- 2/10

Underbelly (Hoxton Square - London)

Underbelly

Ajoining the Zigfrid bar above ground, this door and a set of stairs leads you into the pit of dance that is the underbelly. The place costs £2 on the door on a saturday and actually proves to be a very quiet venue once inside- its essentially a large staircase landing on a dance area with a bar to the left and stage around the the right almost under the stairs. Towards the back is a sensible seating area and the toilets branch off to the right where the dancelfoor hits the wall. The place was so quiet that only our group of mnates populated the place and that was at midnight on a Saturday night. the place closed at 2pm and disappointingly had all of their beers out on pump.

Bottled magners cost some £3.80 a bottle but it was the small bottles - okay not extremely expensive for a club but the music wasnt excellent and the staff were unfriendly. overall i'd opt for Zigfrid over Underbelly on almost any day excpet for the good amount of space and under-crowded status of the place- 5/10.

Catch Club (Shoreditch - London)

Catch Club

The Infamous Catch club sits very quiet and dormant in little old shoreditch down the road from Herbal rather innocently until about 9pm in the evening when it is bought to life by budding DJs big crowds and free entry in what can only be classified as London's armpit. There is a short queue outside with big burly bouncers but the free entry surprises everyone. As such is pretty jammed both upstairs and down but I felt more comfortable downstairs. The weight of the well lit and stocked bar to the right as you wade in adds to an otherwise small and hot atmosphere. its very friendly and the music ranges massively, I happened upon "eat some chips" this particular evening and it polished off the atmosphere rather nicely. I felt the place was altogether too small and expensive however.

Overall the place certainly has character and although it looks like a steamy dungeon in the daytime it bolsters a proud crowd of night but still fails to impress me as the gem I'm after on the bar scene- on reflection, but admidley free entry to what feels like a small club is commendable: 6/10.

Bar Aquarium (Old Street - London)

Bar Aquarium

Not to be confused with a club down the road with the same name, this is a bar/pub of surprises. Inside it is very pub-like and seems small with a fast, curtious bar facing you as you enter vai the front doorsand the bar splits of in two directions, both busy and both snaking into a well lit back room with 2 small banquet tables and expensive leather chairs, then this leads outside and up some stairs to a roof-top beer garden and another door leads onto a club floor complete with second bar, DJ and dancefloor. it gets to be a very busy venue early on in the evening but if you get in early it is the perfect place to bring a crowd. Drinks are about average price, the only drawback is the escallating temperature in the summer months and that it feels like a posh dining room in those winter months.

Despite its complexity it still feels a little compressed for what it is and some areas feel private where perhaps it may not be clear to punters. Overall 7/10.

The Angel (Old Street - London)

The Angel

Pubs that give you a wink and a smile on the way in are those pubs with the truest character. The angel in old street is a prominant pub of old form and style with carpet, comfy chairs and bright pub lights under the watchful governing of a fast bar service. The toilets are clean but rather 'open plan' and upstairs is plenty free of tables even at the weekend and in the summer there is even a little rooftop outdoor area to serve as a beer garden. Its £2.60 a pint with a pool table upstairs and games machines down. Not a bad place to be honest no faults as I could make out.

Overall a clearly respectable 7/10. A high mark indeed for a pub.

Cocomo Bar (Old Street - London)

Cocomo Bar

Can't find a decent photo of this place anywhere, it is essentially a hawaiin hut-like bar slap bang on Old Street among countless bars that look the same. But indeed looks are decieving. Inside Cocomo bar is a very welcome bar crew running a rather small bar in an even smaller venue but with great cocktail-preparing tools at their finger tips- i have never seen so many blenders behind a bar. Their strawberry Dakeri, though not traditionally made is out of this world and cocktails cost from £5.75 with a happy hour before 8pm with cocktails falling to almost half that price. There are a few tables upstairs and in the basement a couple of couches in a dimly lit red haze of what feels like some kind of egyptian den except with misplaced Christmas lights for decoration. It has a nice atmosphere and chilled out music and is open until about 2am.

Overall it is really tiny but with a nice atmosphere if not a little strange. Not as comfortable as I was hoping but cocktails to die for. 6/10.

Prague Bar (Shoreditch - London)

Prague Bar

Okay so we're in hackey, the streets are paved with needles and people are not all smiley and family orientated as they would appear in prague 'the old country', here they are seriously hip, trendy, mashing it up to the grooves of cheap cocktails and acid jazz. Thats what this bar is like- set among the burnt out buildings this very small cafe of a bar is bustlign and alive. It is in fact very cramped- there are certainly no seats and it is not the place to bring a group. The upside is that along the small bar the cocktails served are only £5 each and beer is 3 bottles for £6. There are however long serving times, no real atmosphere and some moody schoolkids in the corner ringing some kind of portable doorbell every minute or so. Its literally the kind of place where you enthusiastically get ur drink have a sip, look round for somewhere to sit and realise you will have to drink out of your own lap cos theres no room to bend your elbows.

Overall 5/10. A miget piece of trend that needs a proper plush-up and some character.

Zigfrid Bar (Old Street - London)

Zigfrid Bar

As you may or may not be able to tell from the image above this is the entrance to what we assumed to be some kind of mockup grren house with outdoor seating rain protected and weather proof but indeed we were wrong as we got a little closer. As you near the doo r the bouncers have made funny rules like "there must be more girls than boys in your groups" and no "single" people allowed. On entering the place was massively crowded, loud and bustling with activity. The large screen flashing scenes from humphrey bogart movies, oversized lampshades, small tables and giant arm chairs from beofre a war that never happened. The music was a sort of electronica, funky house tone and getting served at the bar took ages. The toilets were a mile towards the back and the heat was unbearable. The drinks were a quite reasonable £2.50 a pint however, and I am told it is a lot more pleasent before 7pm of a weekend evening.

Overall the party for old street is definitely happeneing here but i didnt feel like i wanted to be a part of it, too noisy, too hot, overall an avergae 5/10.

The Masque Haunt (Old Street - London)

The Masque Haunt (wetherspoons)

This pub stands rather miserable alongside some much better looking bars but it a wetherspoons none-the-less and therefore means cheap drinks, fruit machines and cheap food. The only problem is that the clientell are OAPs hooked on gambling and teenage mums. Busy during the day and surprisingly quiet at night it needs that little bit extra to compete with bars in the srrounding area which it unfortately lacks.

Overall I would go in here over the true variety surrounding it and it gets a poor 3/10.

Bluu (Old Street - London)

Bluu

Bluu is an excited bar, very popular and trendy if it is enormously overcrowded- hot and sweaty at first entrance on a Saturday night. But entering and pushing your way to a very small and overcrowded bar you find that most of the people inside are larger lads welcoming in a world cup victory before the season is even due to start. It is a great atmosphere though even if you are elbows deep in someone else's drink- there are pipes and brick walls feeling very industrial and accompanied by deep booming funky reggae music which throbs through you and brings a smile. Drinks are about £2.50 as they cost everywhere else in old street and I'm sure I'd go back, perhaps a little earlier in the evening to actually get served.

Overall the popularity of this place brings it down a notch and it lands comfortably in my books at 6/10.

Bar Ria (Old Street - London)

Bar Ria

Theres two ways of looking at this venue, its either uncomfortabley quiet or cosmopolitan and romantic. Whose to say? I have to admit i liked it and the mixture of bar with thai food served well in the dim lighting. Alcohol is around £2.50 a pint and the staff are friendly. The service is quick and we can see this the place to bring someone for a quiet meal on say, a second date. Other than that it is a little expensive but should be reserved for those week-day drinks of an evening with only the closest of company- bringing your friends here would be a mistake.

Overall 6/10.

Cube & Star (Old Street - London)

Cube & Star

From the outside this place looks like a darkened strip club but inside it reveals itself to be a very up market and cosmopolitan exhibition of cuban artworks, rum and fine cigars. Venturing inside you pass various tables reserved for what appears to be royalty by the throne-effect of the seats and the venue becomes a well-stocked cocktail bar to the left with leather furniture to the right. At the back there are stairs which decsend on a club open later on. At the bar a bottle of beer is three pounds and a coktail is six, expensive yes but delicious indeed! The place doesn't get too crowded and the back lit canvas' on the ceiling produces a relaxing and sophisticated atmosphere.

Overall a 7/10 bringing the night alive with great cocktails and jazzy cuban tunes even if it is a little pricey.