O'Neill's, NW1

Ordinarily I would avoid one of these places like the plaque but as this was the Christmas period there was virtually nothing open around here and also for the fact that as Alan said, this was indeed once a real pub called The Euston Tavern, present here in some form since at least the mid-19th century when it was an all together more attractive Marston's-tied structure, the current incarnation probably being early Edwardian. This is probably the best of the breed, perhaps explained by the fact that M & B have their headquarters upstairs. The interior is quite an opened out arena with a slightly raised area to the rear. Bare boarded of course, with some Minton-style encaustic tiles, conventional furniture with some taupe leatherette banquettes. Games machines flash in the corner, sport played on TV with the sound down and music played at a medium level. There are pictorial menus for the illiterate on the tables as well as cradles containing sauce bottles. Clients are touristy types, lost souls making a beeline for the first drinkery they see on exiting the railway stations and drunken oddballs. On the plus side, the lavatories are quite nice. The barman was efficient with ales on offer: Fuller's London Pride, Great Heck's Mercy, Shepherd Neame's Rudolph's Reward and Black Sheep Bitter at a very reasonable £4.20 a pint and good with it. This place is typical Euston Road crap and makes for a decent emergency stop over the holiday, but the best advice is to avoid this area whenever possible.

I can remember when this pub used to be Called The Euston Tavern and was a Charrington tied house. I never got round to doing it and have waited years for it to revert to its original name to do it. It is still called O'Neils and i had to go in as it is an early opener and i fancied a drink before heading up to Kentish Town for a pub crawl. Once inside there is a single square shaped room with the bar facing and to the rear,the room is bare boarded,there is a decent sized raised area to the front and on the left side,the seating is mainly normal tables and chairs plus a few tall tables and chairs. There were four real ales on the bar,i had a drink of St Austell Tribute,which went down very well,the other real ales were London Pride,Doom Bar and GK IPA. The pub was very busy on my Saturday morning visit and the breakfasts being served looked good. I would visit here again if with the wife for an early drink and a breakfast. I thought this pub was a lot better than i thought it would be. Pub visited 2/6/2017