Shakespeare, Stoke Newington, N16

Hidden away in a large residential area between Dalston and Stoke Newington, this is a very pleasant street corner pub with an elongated U-shaped layout. There are entrances on either side of the pub, each with their own mosaic tile floored porch bearing the pub’s name and also sporting some excellent etched glass panes including one denoting the Saloon Bar and other for the Luncheon Bar. Sadly, there’s no such distinction once inside, with any partitioning walls removed, leaving a long peninsular bar to serve two sides of the same room. The room is bare boarded throughout with hard pews and low stools around the perimeter and plenty of bar stools around the servery. The bar has a nice dark wood panelled counter and high modernised bar back decorated with a colourful retro poster for some random European drink. This is part of a wider theme, with many similar posters decorating the left-hand side of the room – some of the most striking breweriana I’ve seen in a long time. Elsewhere, old photos of the pub and blackboards listing drinks options fill much of the wall space, along with the temporary addition of a World Cup wallchart and bunting. To the rear right is a nice marble fireplace, lit on my freezing cold Winter’s evening visit, with a plain mirror above, and I also spotted a few TV screens dotted around the room, all switched off in favour of a pretty loud soundtrack. Limited pavement-side seating can be found to one side of the pub, and I think I saw a sign for a rear beer garden as well. I visited on a Saturday evening and was pleased to find the place doing a good trade, although less so when I realised that a good number of the customers were children. There were three handpulls in operation when I arrived, offering a choice of Fullers London Pride, Taylors Landlord and Five Points XPA. The latter was a fairly reasonable £4.95 a pint and in pretty good nick. They also have a modest craft keg range including beers from Beavertown, Five Points and a selection of Eastern European lagers. I only came here because the pub I’d intended to visit was closed and this was one of the closest alternatives, but I’m glad I did, as this is a very pleasant pub with plenty of attractive original features and a fairly decent beer range too. It doesn’t quite do enough to merit a visit in its own right but is worth the detour from the main thoroughfares to check out if you’re in the area.

On approach, this would appear to be a fairly plain former Whitbread’s backstreet Stoke Newington pub, part of the reliably good Remarkable Pubs chain. It’s clad to the ground floor in rather staid brown glazed tiling with the curtilage bounded by very high railings to a beer patio. I came here once before in May 2018 and it hasn’t changed. It’s cited on CAMRA’s heritage list as having an interior of Some Regional Importance and indeed, there are some fine details such as the etched and cut-glass panels, console brackets to the bar and a fine marble fireplace to the rear snug, lit in colder months. There are satin drape curtains, the walls and ceiling are magnolia Anaglypta with brown lacquered wainscotting to around one-third height. There are hanging spherical opaque lamps and the floor is a bit rough; furniture is as you’d expect in a pub of this type. There’s a ‘secret’ back garden, looking all very tidy. When I last came here, there was on overreliance on sport, but this has been hugely toned down, all for the better, with conversation being the dominant source of noise, rather than hysterical commentators. Indeed, the pub is literally in hearing distance of the Emirates – I could hear the home crowd cheering a goal on leaving – yet no TVs were active on my visit. There’s no food here, with a BYO grub policy; I didn’t spot any of the jars of winkles in vinegar available on my last visit, which is a shame. There were three ales on with a clip reversed. On my last visit, Five Points XPA was on but today it’s just Pride, Seafarer and Dark Star’s Orbit at a very reasonable £4.85 and in good shape considering. Hands down this is the best all-round boozer in N16 and one of the best in the borough. It is though, let down by a rather dull selection of beers, the best choice in the postcode going to the nearby Rochester Castle. If this pub got its ale selection in order, it could easily be one of the best pubs in all of Hackney, but is certainly worth a special visit if in the area.