The Duke of Wellington, N1

Official site of The Duke of Wellington - www.frontierpubs.co.uk

Official site of The Duke of Wellington - www.frontierpubs.co.uk

A large traditional corner pub, with a relaxed and jovial atmosphere on our Saturday afternoon visit. The pub had a good choice of ales, five in all. I went for the Clouded Minds Luppol, a session Golden Ale which was decent enough. The surprising part of this pub, was the large back room used for various functions and was acting as an overspill on our visit, from the main part of the pub which was becoming increasingly busy.

A typical street corner Victorian London pub which unusually is painted black at ground level including across the pub name making it difficult to discern. A Watney Coombe Reid pub sign remains higher up but nowadays the ale choice has improved considerably. Saturday had Kent Brewery Session Pale plus their Cobnut, Otter Bitter, Sambrook's Wandle and the gorgeous Pentonville Oyster Stout (£4.00). Definitely beer of the day. The main room has an island bar which has no real bar back with just a glasses shelf with a world globe on top but has at one end an elaborate carved dark wood gantry with a feature clock. Bare boarded, large clear glass windows, chandeliers and ceiling fans. Very busy on Saturday afternoon, the Arsenal game had recently finished and the rugby on TV was about to start so seating was at a premium. There is another back room with a fine looking skylight but this was full as the room has the rugby on with sound. A decent pub with a good range of beers and a busy and buzzy feel, I liked it here.

The Duke of Wellington is a typical looking London corner pub that is situated on the busy Balls Pond Road. Once inside the pub has two separate rooms,the front room is oblong shaped and has a small island bar,the room is bare boarded and the seating bench type to the front with small stools plus some tables and stools,this room was almost empty,the room to the rear had a large screen showing the rugby match and was very busy. There was a very good choice of real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Trumans Zephyr which went down very well,the other bees noted were Clouded Minds Clout Stout,Hammerton N1 Pale Ale,Redemption Trinity and redemption Pale Ale. I enjoyed my short stay in this pub. Pub visited 11/6/2016

A first in here the other night, though passed many times. Situated opposite some lovely alms houses, this pub describes itself as being in the heart of Dalston, which I wouldn't boast about, not least because it isn't in Dalston, rather it's in Kingsland/De Beauvoir Town. Unfortunately this part of Balls Pond Road is a bit bleak and I wouldn't feel entirely safe walking along here late at night - the pub's not *that* far from Dalston. Internally, it's quite large and mainly stripped out with a central bar, dark wood and some remaining etched panels. The hanging sign is surmounted by an old Watney Combe Reid roundel of some vintage. Clients are mainly quite young and the area means that males typically suffer from hipster beards and 'man buns'. Music was muted and a TV, off, was spotted. Furniture is typically old school stuff with stools around the picture windows. The barman was nice enough. At the bar: 4 ales including Kent Columbus Pale Ale, which quite apart from being very nice and refreshing on a warm evening, but was also miraculously cheap at £1.25 a half. It was only then that I noticed six ales away from the bar on stillage. This is a very decent pub indeed and miles better than the rather awful Hunter S around the corner. Worth seeking out if on a crawl of the area, but not worth a special visit.

Already well described below, I was here while the FA Cup Final was in progress and as such was rammed full of Arsenal supporters so it was a little difficult to get a true feel for the pub,however with 5 decent beers on plus a couple of real ciders it looks like a good stop off venue on a crawl of the area and would look to include it again.My pint of Salopian Darwins Origin was in tip top condition.