The Brave, N1

Large room with bar to rear. Additional rooms to left and right and a beer garden to the rear. Three hand pumps with weak ale and one reversed. Rest weak keg. Not a place to which I will return.

Rather a dull façade, but the interior has been partly opened-out to leave a large-ish 'L'-shaped lounge (with a dining room beyond) on one side of the entrance with another - much smaller - public bar to the other. Mix of furniture and elements of gastro-pub decor, but a good amount of what appears to be original wood panelling has been retained. Patio seating area out front and patio beer garden to the rear. Two banks of three handpumps, offering the regular Harvey's (£3.70) plus Golden Arrow from Cottage and Hackney American Pale Ale.

There were three ales on here; Harvey’s Best, Timothy Taylor Golden Best, and Truman’s Swift (£3.60 a pint). There was a little tray of Scotch eggs on the counter (£.50 a pop), with only one lonely little egg left when when the time came for us to leave.There was a single sheet menu on all the tables on Saturday afternoon, with main meals “from the BBQ” at around the £10 - £14 mark. The Lord Clyde beefburger was £12.50. Although not cheap, these prices are not unreasonable by Canonbury/Islington standards. It certainly looks as if the emphasis has shifted from restaurant to pub since previous reviewers’ visits. The pub still has a couple of distinct areas. What was probably the public bar is on the left, then through a doorway there’s a much larger room which stretches back and to the right of the bar counter, leading out to a suntrap of a garden. The walls still have the original, or possibly inter-war wood panelling, and the bar back still has some Charrington signage. As you might expect, there are a couple of tall tables/tall stools and sofas, but the majority of furnishings are normal tables and chairs. All the tables had a little vase with a tulip in them – an upmarket and genteel touch Mrs R would say. This is a rather nice pub, and definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area.