The Charlotte Despard, Archway, N19

This is a mid-sized, partly modernised pub on the Archway Road, on the corner of Despard Road which, like the pub, takes its name from the British suffragette Charlotte Despard. The pub has a split-level interior, all of which is bare boarded and has half panelled walls with plain painted uppers. You enter to the lower front section which has the servery over to the left and a row of big pillars through the centre which break the space up in a very effective manner. Tables and chairs run in rows either side of the pillars and there are some comfy sofas and hard pews to the far right, with a pool table filling some dead space in the front right corner. The bar has a fairly high counter with a nice panelled front and a pub cat sat proudly at the far end. The bar back is a somewhat plain affair, livened up a little by a colourful, backlit Vedett sign. A step or two take you up to the rear part of the room where pew, bench and chair seating serves a number of tables in what feels like the pub’s cosiest spot. A TV screen on one wall remained off during the course of my stay, a couple of well stocked bookcases have some interesting items in them (I spent most of my visit thumbing through a Gary Larson book I found there) and there is a fun ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ art print on the back wall. You ascend again for a very small rear right area with a sofa, dartboard and inactive TV screen. Lots of miscellaneous breweriana can be found dotted around the whole pub, which was soundtracked by some fine post-rock tunes, incongruously mixed in with 80’s pop hits. I’d hoped to find some decent beer here, two handpulls had reversed clips and the third seemed to be out of action altogether, which was a real shame and meant I had to pick one of the craft keg beers from their modest draught selection. I forget what I picked, but it was nothing particularly out of the ordinary. Service was a bit brusque and there were only a small handful of other customers in attendance. I thought this place had the potential to be a great pub, so was very much let down by the lack of cask ale, the surly service and flat atmosphere. I’d be interested in checking the place out again if I could be sure they had some decent beer on, but may well resort to alternative nearby options in the meantime.

Now open again after a period when there appears to have been some dispute with the landlord (owner of the premises). Judging by the review posted in December 2010 by the landlord (operator of the public house) nothing much seems to have changed in the interim. There are five hand pumps, serving a cider and four ales, two of which were local Sambrook Wandle and Redemption Pale Ale, the others being the now ubiquitous Sharps Doom Bar and the almost equally prevalent St Austell Tribute. I had the Wandle for my first pint, which was refreshing but a little too hoppy for me to have a second, so I had the Doom Bar, but this was unfortunately a little tired, though still OK. The music was just a little too loud for me to have a comfortable conversation with my daughter, though the sofa and arm chairs near to the kitchen provided some respite, the nearest loudspeaker being sufficiently distant to make shouting unnecessary.