The Tamil Prince, Barnsbury, N1

Official site of The Tamil Prince - www.thetamilprince.com

Official site of The Tamil Prince - www.thetamilprince.com

I was in at around 3.0 PM on a weekday, so I wasn't overly surprised that the only other occupants were the lone barman, and another old boy enthusing about the rock music (Smoke on the Water) being played. It's a fairly small pub - perhaps a bit larger than a micropub - although having no handpumps on the counter, with the barman having to go into a back room to fetch your beer from stillage is typical of a micropub. But the presence of rock music would definitely disqualify it from micropub status. You enter from the side door, with what would have been the main door on the corner now disused, to face the minscule royal blue painted serevery. There is some banquette seating around the sides with some standard tables and chairs, plus a large very solid wood eight-seater with a vase of lilies as a centrepiece. The ceiling is painted royal blue as well; it's modernist and minimalist, although there are a few prints on the walls mainly of bucolic scenes, but also one of a stadium under construction - The Emirates probably. The only ale on was Ripple Steam Farmhouse Pale Ale (£2 a half). I guess they would like to have more - the barman rather apologetically said it was the only one tapped at the moment - but speaking to him later I gathered they don't have the footfall to sustain more than one. I saw a sign that said that lunch is served from noon until 4.0 PM, but I didn't see any menus when I was in. This place has only been open in its current incarnation for about five months. Personally I don't mind a quiet drink in the middle of the afternoon, but if Tris's evening experience continues then it doesn't bode well. On the plus side, the barman was friendly; I thought it was a comfortable enough place to enjoy a drink, and my Farmhouse Pale Ale was in great form, and apparently not suffering from being on stillage.

My first visit since my one and only last, back in the autumn of 1993 when this pub was trading under its original name of The Huntingdon Arms - I recall a fairly traditional pub with large model biplanes hanging from the ceiling. Later known - for some reason - as The Cuckoo, this was converted into an Indian restaurant called Roots N1. This didn't survive and has subsequently been reopened, again, as The Cuckoo. Why? Why wasn't the original name reinstated? I arrived yesterday, mid-evening, to be met with a pub that was utterly dead. I can't remember - if ever - being the only drinker in a pub at around 8.00 pm. Indeed, upon arrival the barman, who looked bored out of his skull, put on some muted mood music as an attempt to alleviate the interminable tedium of the place. As you enter, you are confronted with an absolutely tiny bar. The interior is conventional modern with traditional café chairs, modern square tables and leatherette banquettes to the perimeter. The floor is bare boarded and modern; chic lights hang above the tables. This isn't exactly a hotbed of real ale: you make your selection at the bar, the barman then goes off to the rear of the pub where stillage can be seen through a glass window. Naturally, ales being on stillage have all the appeal of a urine sample, being lifeless and flat. Indeed, as lifeless and flat as the pub itself! My half of Ripple Steam's Best Bitter from stillage was as above: lifeless and flat, though at £2.00 is cheap for the area. If this pub wants a name that reflects its persona, then perhaps it should rename itself The Marie Celeste - deary me this is a depressing place and I can't possibly envisage a return visit. The seriously flawed Hemmingford up the road is far better; I really can't see this place surviving, which would be a terrible loss.