The Blues Kitchen, Camden Town, NW1

Originally a Watney Combe Reid pub called the Stationers Arms, I came here once around 30 years ago when this was known as Bar Royale, with a prototype 1.30am licence with emphasis on cocktails, purchased by a deep pocketed friend and in abundance. I don’t remember the place, largely because we’d spent the entire evening in the Elephants Head before coming here; I certainly don’t remember leaving. The current incarnation dates from 2009, specialising in selling bourbon, American food with live soul music. As none of the above is my thing, I’ll not be making a return visit, but I suppose it adds another stratum to multi layered Camden Town.

This one of a small number of pubs from the Blues Kitchen chain, who specialise in well presented bars mixing traditional and contemporary styles with dining and live music facilities. You enter into a large, partially partitioned room with the bar over to the left. The entrance porch has been decorated with the chain’s iconic glazed tiling and looks pretty stunning as a result. This venue makes use of these Craven Dunnill Jackfield tiles far more than the Shoreditch and Brixton branches manage to, creating a much more impressive effect as a result. The right side of the room seems to have been set up for diners and has rows of tables and chairs through the middle and banquette booths to the side, all occupied by people eating from the fairly standard menu. It’s a similar situation opposite the bar, where high benches and stools serve pre-set tables under a remarkable light feature made from old brass instruments. The bar runs down the first half of the left hand wall and has a great glazed tile bar counter with beautiful curved ends. At one end of the bar, there is a column that has been tiled in a different colour, whilst the bar back employs plain tiles and some retro-style mirrors to great effect, only partially spoiled by the presence of a crocodile head and large lizard. The room extends to the rear left where banquettes and low stools face a stage on the rear wall, which is used for regular live music performances. The bare brick walls here are lined with arty pictures of old blues musicians and some nice murals of Etta James and Sonny Boy Williamson. More of these murals can be found on the staircase which leads down to the toilets and it goes without saying that a blues soundtrack plays away in the background. Sadly, these bars don’t stock any real ales, and this one was no exception, with numerous mainstream and craft keg options available instead. I tried the Fourpure Oatmeal Stout, which cost a stout £5.50 but was at least very tasty. The staff here all seemed really friendly and one barman popped over to my table and asked if I was okay and whether he could bring me anything, which was a nice touch. I quite like these bars, but the substitution of cask ale for overpriced keg beer is a real off-putting factor. I thought this had the best decor of the three Blues Kitchen bars I’ve visited, but it felt far more food-led than the others and the live music set-up looked a lot more primitive. Not a bad place for a quick glance round the interior, but repeat visits are less appealing.

Official site of the Blues Kitchen, contains menus and event details - www.theblueskitchen.com