The Golden Lion, Camden Town, NW1

Corner spot on a development site,bare floor, long bar, large wooden tables and chairs. Some seats on the pavement outside and there was a bbq lit prepping some smokey ribs. Beers ok.

Very quiet for our late afternoon visit and we were the only people drinking in the pub. An impressive exterior with one set of functional doors leading you into a not so impressive one bar interior, although it was clearly separate rooms back in the day. Two of the three handpumps on the go, with Doombar and fortunately a decent Sambrooks Junction. There is a dart board on the wall at the far end, but the fact that there is no defined oche and you have to throw over tables and furniture would indicate that it is usually just for decorative purposes. The most interesting thing for me about this pub was the basement toilets which has its own stannah stairlift to transport you down therein under 5 minutes, according to the barmaid. Nice to have this one still surviving in community ownership, but it didn’t really do anything to quicken the pulse for a return visit.

A large corner pub that is listed in Camra's heritage pubs list. There are several doors, labelled with their original functions (off sales, private bar, saloon) but the one I chose opened into one large space and I assume the others would either have done the same or are now no longer actual doors. There were three hand pumps on the bar, but just one beer: Sambrooks Junction, which was fine (NBSS 3). I was told they were awaiting delivery of beers for the other two. My notes made no mention of any heritage features, which the heritage pubs website says are mostly to do with the Victorian bar back. Maybe I need to come back when in less of a hurry to catch a train. Date of visit: 1st March 2023