Hope & Anchor, Islington, N1

A street corner Victorian pub owned by Greene King with very large in high plate glass windows ,with a 50 seater theatre on the first floor.The ground floor bar is quite small with high tables and chairs from scaffolding bars opposite the servery,some small high tables by the windows and a bit of seating in leather below the staircase to the theatre.There is room for vertical drinking which maybe necessary before a performance.Some small tables are situated on the pavement outside. The muzak was gentle blues and there was a calm atmosphere on my Saturday afternoon trip.Posters describe what's on and there is a sign for a booking office ,in a front alcove.The bar has 6 handpumps offering GK IPA and Abbott,Old Rosie cider ,Doom Bar and TT Landlord (far too warm).15 keg taps but mainly multinational brands apart from BrewDog Punk IPA and Beavertown Neck Oil but nothing more interesting. Bands used to perform here,and maybe still do.Pleased to see an early photo of The Specials on the far wall. It's not much kop for the real ale fan,and the captive audience for shows maybe the reason for a lack of care.Not bad,but not enough to warrant a revisit.

Not a bad pub with some halfway decent ales, although I doubt I'll ever return.

Located on a busy main road a couple of minutes trot from Highbury tube. Doesn't look overly promising from the outside though there's a bit better to be had within. It's a single room with a light varnished wood floor. Hipster refurb central with a construction theme: grubby and paint splattered floorboards making up the bar frontage, scaffolding fixed tables and chairs, scaffolding lights etc. That said, it isn't quite as dire as it sounds. Upstairs is a theatre and live music is also advertised. Six pumps all operational; GK IPA, Abbot and Oompah with three guests in Dark Star Hophead, Milestone and Woodfordes Nelson, the latter of which inevitably had a GK twang to it and was served in a heavily pitted glass. It's probably a fair shout on a crawl but isn't up to muster to be a worthwhile destination unless you want the theatre upstairs. 4.5

I don't recall ever coming here and if I did, it must have been in the mid-1980s when I reached peak Upper Street. This is a commanding pub with exterior granite columns though internally, it's smaller than you'd expect. Inside it's modern/conventional with high industrial furniture. Walls are a mix of bare brick with some wood panelling painted pale grey decorated with some old LPs and memorabilia, probably an allusion to the pub's former live music heyday. All this is lit by spherical lamps with filament bulbs. The floor is bare boarded with tiling close to the bar. There's a jukebox and unfortunately, a games machine. For a once famous music venue, sounds from the jukebox were surprisingly muted. Ales: Greene King's Abbot, IPA and Oompay, Woodforde's Nelson's Revenge, Thistlestone's Oktoberfest and Hophead's Darkstar at a very affordable £2.05 a half and fine. This isn't a bad place - if only it were more homely. Certainly far better than the awful Library but no competition for the King's Head.

Official site of The Hope & Anchor - www.hopeandanchor-islington.co.uk

Official site of The Hope & Anchor - www.hopeandanchor-islington.co.uk