George IV, N1

This is a large corner pub with an impressive facade that draws you in, only to find a considerably less impressive interior within. The pub was clearly once a pretty spectacular multiple roomed affair, but is now a bit of a mess, with ugly sanded floorboards and large open spaces with no furniture combining to create a noisy, echo chamber in which I was unable to hear what the bar staff were saying even on a moderately busy mid-week visit. . A nice tiled entrance area in what was presumably once a porch area, leads into the vast room where pews and chairs serve large sanded tables under the front windows. The servery is opposite, on the back wall, running in a staple shape with a nice counter top and frontage that has been painted a lurid shade of blue, whilst the bar back is quite tidy and has some nice carved support posts. More pews and chairs can be found to the right, whilst the left hand side has padded stools and acres of standing room before you reach a few sofas that surround a nice glazed tile fireplace under a skylight. Every wall has been painted in grim gastro-pub grey, which sadly leaves the pub’s primary attraction – a lovely tiled frieze that skirts around most of the pub, just below ceiling level – looking extremely incongruous. A few small etched panes above each entrance are also worth a look, but it’s very clear that the majority of the pub’s interesting features have been lost and what is left remains scant consolation. Elsewhere, there are a number of cheap looking statues and busts of classical figures, including several en route to the toilets which are down a tight spiral staircase. Music played in the background but this was almost entirely lost under the boom of the customers in this acoustic hellhole of a room. There were four handpulls in operation when I arrived, offering a choice of Windsor & Eton Windsor Knot and Father Thames, Sharps Doom Bar and Trumans Angel Tears. My pint of the Father Thames was in reasonably good shape and the bar staff seemed friendly enough, if impossible to hear. Visiting this pub was quite a sad experience, reflecting on what a fine establishment it must have been in its heyday and what a sorry specimen it appears to be now, thanks to a make-over that no right-minded customer can possibly think is befitting of such a building. A half decent pint was some degree of consolation, but whilst this pub remains in its current state, it will be a case of missed opportunity to capitalise on a potentially excellent venue.

No ale of any great strength but there was some decent craft stuff. Would not revisit.

A visually pleasing Victorian street corner pub with Dutch gables and a corner turret, inside there is the usual opened out single room with a boarded floor, scrubbed tables but with some nice original features in an ornate tiled wall cornice, green painted fluted columns and an attractive, if possibly not original, dark wood carved bar back. Clear glass windows let in a lot of light, a Greek style white statuette sits on the corner of the bar. There are four handpumps, Truman's Blindside, Sambrook's Junction, a pub beer called Angel's Tears which Whatpub tells me is brewed by Sharp's for the pub, whether exclusively I'd be very sceptical. Another from Sharp's, Atlantic, was reversed. Foody but not a gastropub, the Angelic Burger is £12.50, they do oysters, either individually or 6 for £13. Never fancied the slimy looking things. Steady if not spectacular , worth a look in depending on what they have on if the real stuff is your bag.