The Compton Arms, N1

The Compton Arms is hidden away down a side street,a basic one roomed boozer, simply decorated with wood paneling all around the top portion of the walls and ceiling are painted in a cream colour, there are some pump clips on the overhead beams to give you an idea of past beers. It is Greene King owned and thankfully there is a guest ale policy in place, five handpumps all working with the choice of GK IPA and Abbot, Compton Ale (no doubt some re-badged nonsense), St Peters Ruby Red Mild and Blacksheep Pathmaker Pale, I tried the latter and it was in fair shape. There is a beer garden but it was "closed for maintenence " on my visit. A nice enough pub and worth a look.

Tucked away down a quiet back street that makes it easy to forget just how close you are to the bustle of Upper Street, this is a quaint local's boozer with something of a stripped-out feel to it. You enter into the bare boarded bar area with the dark wood servery directly opposite the front door. The main room is wide but quite shallow, so that there is only space for bar stools and a ledge under the front windows in the area opposite and to the left of the bar. The room opens out slightly to the right, on a lower level, with carpet and a mix of standard tables and chairs and a few low stools. A TV here was turned off but suggested that live sports are normally shown, whilst music was quietly piped through the room instead. The décor consists of lots of black and white photos of the local area and a collection of pump clips along the dark wood ceiling beams. A second room can be found to the rear left - also bare boarded and with some basic perimeter seating and a large mirror on the back wall which gives the impression that the room is much bigger than it really is. Meanwhile, over to the rear right, there is access to a beer garden which I was unable to get a good look at in the darkness. A big stack of board games can be found on the end of the bar counter and I also noticed various magazines and flyers on a shelf, including copies of London Drinker. The ale range comprised three Greene King brews - IPA, Abbot Ale and Down the Dragon - plus two guests in the shape of Roosters YPA and Truman Runner. The friendly barman, who was heading out for a quick fag when I arrived, made his way back to the bar to pour me a pint of the YPA, but I have to say it wasn't in particularly good shape. I had mixed feelings about this place as I felt the interior lacked the character I would expect to find in such a nice, historic building and the beer was pretty ropey as well. Having said that, the service was good, it offers an oasis of calm from the surrounding area and there was a welcoming, inclusive vibe. It's probably worth a second look and the fact that it's so handy for nearby venues such as the Union Chapel, Islington Assembly Hall and Highbury Garage means I will doubtless be back at some point.

Being a Greene King house I wasn’t surprised to see Abbot and GKIPA available, but they also had on something called Merlin’s Oak as well as Timothy Taylor Landlord. There’s a few stools at the bar plus a few more at the window ledge, and there are a couple of settles in a small carpeted area down a couple of steps on the right. The wooden beams are still a prominent feature, now bearing snippets of information about the Earls of Compton – such as the fact that the Earldom was created in 1618. Not many people know that. Food was advertised on the Monday lunchtime I was in. A chalkboard advertised homemade burgers and soup. Clipboard menus were lying around, featuring £5 lunches on Mon – Fri with meals that seemed OK, such as the aforementioned burgers. I reckon that this is a cracking little backstreet pub. I was in when it wasn’t particularly busy, which may well have coloured my judgement to some extent, and I can well believe it becomes less enjoyable when it’s packed. But, taking it as I found it, I liked it a lot.

The Compton Arms is a decent looking pub in a quiet area just off upper street. This is a Greene King tied house and what i could see of the pub inside looked fairly nice but it was that busy i struggled to get to the bar and once i had a drink i went outside to the front of the pub to get some air,i had a drink of GK IPA which was not bad for that drink i dont know what other beers were on here.