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Disappointment of the week with Real Ale Ray
on the Pub Forum
Image posted by Tris C
Submitted on Wednesday, 26th May 2021
With picture contributions to 2293 other pubs
View all this pub's pictures (19 more images)
Detail Pages
The Army & Navy, N16
N16
N16 8NN
Served areas
Reviews of The Army & Navy (Average Rating: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Army & Navy
The exterior is all quite traditional but the Guiness signs outside indicate it's Irish orientation.The interior is worthy of inspection with a small right front section with a darts board and the route to the beer garden.The main body of the pub has a L shaped bar and throughout the flooring is laid to carpet.There is a stage in the corner apex,the ceiling has an interesting finish while the three flatscreens were on mute for the Test match,while the muzak was gentle.A fruit machine was evident but there are also some interesting original features in this 30's design.There is another dartsboard at the far end.
The welcome was friendly ,and the regulars greated each other as they arrived,it's a community boozer for the local Irish but that theme is not overdone and I didn't see a tricolour anywhere.
Of course there is no real ale,so the best option seemed to be Beavertown Neck Oil (£5.70) alongside Gamma Ray.
If you enjoy pub heritage this place will please you,sadly the lack of ale limits it's offering.
On 12th June 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Army & Navy
Visited by us for the first time last week and unchanged since the previous reviews, this is an A. E. Sewell hostelry built for Truman’s in 1936, featuring the brewer’s motifs to the exterior: the name and eagle logotype along with bow window looking like a florist’s display. Also featured are less attractive aftermarket signs advertising Moretti, Fosters, Heineken and Guinness, for this is an avowedly Irish pub.
The building is also Grade II-listed and features on CAMRA’s heritage list for having an Interior of Regional Importance, typical of Sewell’s other ‘modern’ or ‘improved’ pubs which feature his trademark white Vitrolite ceilings along with Truman’s mirrors and their beers advertised; some leaded stained-glass windows are still in place. The floor is carpeted and there’s a small, raised stage area to one end; furniture is traditional and low with velour upholstery. There are brick fireplaces, sadly blocked off but the interior features much brown lacquered wood with some bare brick. The bar back is original and features a scrollwork wrought iron pot shelf; it’s all very evocative of the 1930s. There are almost too many TVs to count, showing the football from multiple angles; a projector screen also seems to exist. Easy listening played over the gramophone. There’s a beer garden which is home to the young incomers, a far cry from the much older customers in the bar area, the two of us constituting the exception.
There’s a sea of illuminated chrome founts on the bar but there’s no real ale that I could see, so I plumped for a pint of Guinness at a very agreeable £4.10 and in decent nick, poured by a very friendly barman, delivered by an equally friendly barmaid.
This pub is worth a look on the heritage trail, but there’s a better example of Sewell’s work just up the road from here – the Rose & Crown – which sells a selection of real ales, none of which are bathed in a green glow from the TVs.
On 2nd June 2021
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1983 recommendations about 1949 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Army & Navy
There was no real ale available, nor any handpumps on the bar, so I guess that must be a permanent state of affairs. There was no sign of any food or menus on Monday afternoon.
This is an ex-Truman’s pub, and some of the original signage remains outside. Inside it’s been largely opened up, but it still retains sufficient inter-war original features to warrant a place on the London regional inventory of pubs with heritage interiors. These include the excellent leaded light windows, original bar back, distinctive vitriolite ceiling, three-quarter height wood panelled walls, and nice brick surround fireplaces (but now sadly painted over). The pub itself is reasonably comfortable, being carpeted and furnished with banquettes and small round stools. The stage is still there in the corner (but I didn’t see any indication as to what it’s used for) as is the dartboard on the right with a shelfload of trophies above it indicating that it is more than just a decorative feature.
This pub is worth dropping in to if you’re in the area just to see a largely unspoilt inter-war pub interior, but it’s not worth going there for the beer.
On 19th November 2012
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
View more reviews of The Army & Navy (4)
No known official website for this pub.
- Facebook - The Army And Navy
- CAMRA WhatPub :: The Army & Navy - whatpub.com
- Historic Pub Interiors - pubheritage.camra.org.uk
Dalston Junction, 0.48 miles, 9 min walk (show)
Canonbury, 0.78 miles, 15 min walk (show)
Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 19 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 19 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Beer Festivals : No last updated 18 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Beer Garden : Yes last updated 19 September 2018 by Komakino .
- CAMRA Discount : No last updated 19 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Car Park : No last updated 18 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Child Friendly : Yes last updated 19 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Darts : Yes - Two dartboards. - last updated 02 June 2021 by Tris C
- Dog Friendly : Yes last updated 19 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Function Room : No last updated 19 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Hot Food : No last updated 18 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Jukebox : No last updated 19 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Live Music : Yes last updated 18 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Live TV Sports : Yes last updated 18 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Micropub : No last updated 18 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Pinball : No last updated 19 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Pool Table : No last updated 19 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Quiz Night : No last updated 19 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Real Ale : No last updated 31 July 2022 by Rex Rattus
- Real Cider : No last updated 18 September 2018 by Komakino .
- Wheelchair Access : No last updated 18 September 2018 by Komakino .
- WiFi : Yes last updated 19 September 2018 by Komakino .
