The Scottish Stores, Kings Cross, N1

My first visit to this famous pub, oddly as its quite handy for Kings Cross station. Not large with its single old panelled room plus a bland modern extension to the right. There are four hand pulls and three were serving a dark beer:- Woodfordes Nog, Elgoods Raspberry Porter, Portobello Crown Jewels and London Pride. There’s also one horseshoe and a 6 tap T-Bar with a fairly standard keg range but including Tennants and a couple of interesting ones, Innis & Gunn bottled beers are also available keeping the Scots connection. Interesting decor with hunting pictures set into the panelling, bank notes and silver stags antlers plus copious warnings about bag theft.

Called in mid afternoon , pub not too busy. Pub interior neat and tidy. Bar person helpful , three hand pulls to choose from. I went for Dreams of Barry Fornication from the South Wales Vog Brewery, so I assume "Barry" was the town not a person,although I could be wrong . . . . Worth a visit if you are in the area.

A fairly large group of us had arranged to meet up here for midday opening. However, at 12:10, the barmaid still hadn't bothered to open up. She had sat on a stool at the bar until midday and then decided to potter around for a while, despite clearly knowing that ourselves and another group were waiting to come in. We had actually been there before midday, but after a 15-minute wait, we gave up and walked up to the road to the King Charles I which had apparently opened on time and was already full with customers who had been served efficiently. After a pint in there, we returned to meet up with a late arrival. But to be honest, we'd have been better off staying in the King Charles I. The Scottish Stores has shedded its seedy reputation as a strippers' pub and now has quite a traditional feel to it with a circular island bar surrounded by narrow areas of seating. A larger room adjoins the main bar and presumably serves as overflow seating. Toilets are downstairs. 3 cask ales were on. The house beer "Scottish Stores" is brewed by Wantsum. A second beer was Fortitude, also from Wantsum, with the third being Portobello Sauce on the Side. Craft beers seemed to be mainly from Siren. Quite a few of us tried the Christmas in Cali. A generous CAMRA discount of £1 per pint is offered and the pub now finds itself in the latest Good Beer Guide. The delayed opening was slightly irritating. But I'll look on this as a minor indiscretion and err on the side of optimism with a 6/10, whilst still wishing we'd stayed in the King Charles I!

Extended bar, mainly craft based but some real ales, though not totally perfect. Has the feel of a work in progress