The Peasant, EC1

Rather nice pub.good selection of beers from Hackney,crouchvale and Wells.Busy for a mid week but not cheap for the beer.will return.

Quite a few original features have survived in this Victorian street corner pub,and I agree that the large picture windows and high ceilings do create a cavernous feel to the open plan interior.However the mosaic floor is very fine,the glazed tiling depicting The George and Dragon is attractive,the wooden bar is authentic and there is a vast mirror hanging on one wall.The music posters and the sound system,played at an acceptable volume,give the pub a contemporary feel and the place is popular with the creative types who work in Clerkenwell,so it was lively on my friday evening trip. To the right of the corner entrance were a few tables set for dining ,the bar is L shaped but you need to walk around to the left to find the four handpumps.Square wooden 4 person tables are placed around the walls but this is a sub optimal seating arrangement,so vertical drinking may have to be endured.Beware that some tables may have reserved signs for people booked to dine in the bar area. There is an unused corridor beyond the stairs to the restaurant where you could seek refuge. The pub features in the 2012 GBG and on my trip there was Crouch Vale Essex Boys (£3.60 pricey for a 3.8%),Truman Runner no8(brewed by Everards),Cotleigh Buzzard and Wickwar Rite Flanker.When the Buzzard ran out on came Crouch Vale Brewers Gold and we tried all these ales and found them in good nick.You get real ale served in dimple mugs unless you are quick to demand a straight.There are several craft kegged beers such as Meantime London Pale Ale,Camden Wheat Beer,Cristal and Leffe lager along with the usual keg offerings and there is a chalkboard advertising a good selection of bottled beers from around the world.Clearly some effort is being made to have a range of interesting beers,and despite the restaurant upstairs ,this is not a food led gastro pub. A bit of a shame that with a lot of original George and Dragon insignia around the interior, the pub is now call The Peasant and notices on the wall refer to customers as peasants in a post ironic sort of way.Its really quite trendy,a little pricey but a pub that I would expect to return to in future.

High ceilinged corner pub on a road junction. Yes, it was probably quite grand at one time but it has seen better days with the clock ou the frontage in a por state for example, but praise for keeping features like the mosaic floor and the tiling on the walls although they are a bit 'tired'. Due to the high ceiling the piped indie music sounds like you're in a concert hall, but its at a comfortable level. 4 real ales including Trumans Runner, though it wasn't kept very well.

Randomness Guide to London - Peasant entry

Randomness Guide to London - Peasant entry

The Peasant has plenty of positives that appeal to me but somehow I find it all a bit too open and lacking any intrinsic charm. The interior is spacious but the high dark moulded ceiling and large plain picture windows make it seem a bit cavernous. The real gem of the place is the fantastic mosaic floor, a bit of a rarity these days even if the wording does depict its previous life as the George & Dragon. The music posters give it a bit of an arty edge and there is a decent enough selection of beers (Bombardier, Crouch End Gold and Skinners Betty Stogs). There is an upstairs restaurant which gives the place its gastropub tag although the restauarant and bar are quite separate. All in all, this is a fine place for a couple of beers but I wouldn't specifically choose it for a full session.