Howl at the Moon, Hoxton, N1

Howl at the Moon is a basic single room pub, just down the road from Hoxton market and a short walk from Hoxton Overground station. The interior is fairly unremarkable – bare floorboards, walls painted in neutral colours and a mix of banquette, pew and standard seating. The pews are lined up on either side of some very narrow tables that run along one side of the pub. There are big windows on the front and right hand walls which should allow plenty of light in, although I visited on a Saturday evening and made do with the muted ceiling lighting. A collection of books had been assembled on the windowsill including CAMRA literature and various beer books, whilst a few board games could be found on some shelves at the back of the room. There was a juke box on the rear wall and an excellent Motown soundtrack played throughout my stay at quite a loud volume. The toilets are, for some reason, without signage, so to save any embarrassment, prospective customers should bear in mind that the gents are on the left. Six hand pumps were on view, but only three were in action, dispensing Hackney Best Bitter, London Fields Black IPA and a real cider. The Hackney Best Bitter was a very enjoyable pint and I was encouraged to see the pub promoting some of the relatively new local breweries from this part of town. There was a decent keg range including all the standard lagers plus a Brewdog keg font with Punk IPA and 5am Saint. This pub was very quiet during my visit, so I’m not sure I caught it at the right time to fully appreciate it. I thought it had a bit of potential and although it’s not all that interesting, it had enough about it to make me consider a return.