The Pineapple, NW5

This is a little gem of a pub, tucked away down a leafy street fairly near to Kentish Town station. They had Old Cannon Brewery's Bitter on, plus one of the Adnam's beers, when I was in there at lunchtime yesterday. The OCB Bitter was absolutely superb. They had had a beer festival going a few days ago and still had some of the ales from that on offer. They may still be selling them off during the evening – at £2 a pint! The food is Thai, and was pretty good for £5 a meal. But there was nothing other than Thai food, which is fine as long as you like Thai food. There is a well-preserved stunning mid-Victorian bar-back in place. It's one of the best I have seen, and is a really attractive feature to have in a pub like this. This is a comfortable pub with very friendly service, excellent beer, decent food and some superb Victoriana. Definitely worth seeking out if you find yourself in Kentish Town.

I walked through the door to this place and slipped through the curtain behind the door that is used to keep the heat in and was confronted by the backs of people's heads sitting at the bar a foot in front of me. Surprisingly a local moved out of my way so that I could get to the bar and the friendly barman came straight over even though it was busy. Kingstone Brewery's Kingstons Gold and Tewdric's Tipple were available alongside Old Cannon Best Bitter and a selection of premium and standard lagers. The front of the pub is small with the bar taking up most of the space, but it does have an open fire. There is more seating around the sides and in the conservatory out the back. There is also a beer garden, but I did not check it out as it was raining. I enjoyed my visit here and would recommend it to others.