The Fellow, Kings Cross, N1

Formerly The Duke of York, this pub is a little off the beaten track, to the north-east of King's Cross station; it's not in the most welcoming of locations, but the area is inexorably on the up. This is a fairly modernised pub but not savagely so - conventional modern then. Ales on: Purity Mad Goose (£4.50) and good, Sharp's Gloom Bore and Young's Bitter. There's little in the immediate vicinity and after The Scottish Stores this is the best unless you like banging studenty places; this is what I call an 'easy listening' pub.

I was going to walk past the Fellow, dismissing it as a restaurant, before spotting a couple of customers through the window who were knocking back flat pints of beer that looked decidedly like cask ale. To be fair to my initial observations the décor, table settings and waitress service were all indicative of a restaurant, but there was a bar in the right rear corner. There were also a few high stools and tables for perching upon and in the far right rear corner by the toilets were some larger tables placed for the use of imbibing in groups. The lounge bar upstairs was closed during my recent Friday lunchtime visit, but the decked roof terrace was being used by some local office workers who had decided to have an extended lunch break. I didn’t look at a menu, but I would expect restaurant prices. The bar was stocked with premium keg products and three hand pumps were drawing St Austell’s Tribute, Young’s Ordinary and Sambrook’s Wandle. I found the service to be polite and I could see myself popping in here for lunch with my fellow suit clad work colleagues. Unfortunately I live and work miles away and I don’t wear a suit to work so plans for a revisit have fallen at the first hurdle.

Official site of the Fellow - thefellow.co.uk

Official site of the Fellow - thefellow.co.uk