The Jolly Butchers, Stoke Newington, N16

Visited in June 2010 The Jolly Butchers, occupies a prominent street corner position on the main A10 road in the centre of Stoke Newington. It's reinvented itself from an earlier incarnation as Father Ted's. Never having visited the establishment in those days - well with a name like Father Ted's, you wouldn't would you ? - my evening visit was my first to the premises. It's now back to what was apparently its original 16th century name Externally, it markets itself as an Ale and Cider House, which, given the range of drinks on offer, is fair enough, but, as you go in, the overwhelming initial impression is of a gastropub, mainly due to the prominently visible open kitchen in one corner, paper menus, small candles etc. There are some attractive original features - the small semi circular arched stained glass windows high up, pillars and tiling - but the often used phrase "stripped out" seems appropriate here. The establishment is clearly aiming at the local urban professional crowd of 30-40 somethings and they seemed out in force on my visit. Predictably perhaps, TV's and fruit machines are notable by their absence. There's no pub garden, but there are some outside tables on the side road pavement. On the drinks front, there's 7 real ales which, on my recent visit included beers from Thornbridge, Redemption, Dark Star and Crouch Vale. All beers sampled by me - Dark Star Hophead, Redemption Urban Dusk and Crouch Vale - were in good condition and perhaps not as expensive as might have been expected ( eg - Dark Star Hophead - £ 2.90p ). 2 pumps were serving cider. Somewhat annoyingly, and similar to The Southampton Arms in Gospel Oak, it appears that you automatically get served in a jug unless you specify to the contrary. Staff appeared enthusiastic and there were no short measure issues. Food is categorised into "Small Plates - Big Flavours" and "Big Ones". The former includes for example, Chorizo Salad - £ 5.50p - and the latter includes Erdinger beer battered cod fillet with triple blanched chips cooked in duck fat - £ 10.50p. Food that I saw looked appetising and seemed to arrive promptly. Perhaps unusually, the pub doesn't open for lunch midweek and food starts at 5pm on those days, with, according to the website, a 4pm opening. My main criticism - and it's a fairly major negative as far as I'm concerned - is the total absence of any comfort, soft furnishings or degree of intimacy / privacy whatsoever. The floor is bare boarded, the chairs and tables are wooden and uncomfortable and there are no screens / partitions etc to break up the interior into more personal spaces. The end result of all this is a rather noisy, echoey environment where the ability to conduct meaningful conversations diminished as the evening wore on and as it filled up. A few rugs and the creation of some seating booths would make the place much more attractive and welcoming. The beers were in fine form and it was nice to meet up and sink a few beers with several friends, but this isn't really my kind of place and, taking the experience as a whole, I'm not noting this one down for a revisit.

The hanging sign outside says ‘Ale and Cider House’ and I’m glad to report that it is as there are nine hand pumps on the bar that were serving up an array of ales and ciders with none of the usual suspects that are found in most London pubs. I’m no aficionado on beer as I usually plump for the Guinness, but as the only draught options were premium German/Belgian beers I opted for a pint of Hophead which was very enjoyable. The pub itself is a plain open plan area full of wooden tables and chairs and there is an open kitchen at the rear that was serving up above standard pub classics in the form of burgers and fish and chips. There are no TVs, but there was some music playing so low that it just sounded like white noise in the background. I wasn’t expecting to find a pub like this on Stoke Newington High Street, but it was a pleasant surprise and although it’s far from a traditional boozer (some creepy modern art on the back wall) I would not hesitate in recommending to others.