The Camden Eye, Camden Town, NW1

In its previous life as the Halfway House, this was one of Camdens biggest dives, a pub of little merit but bags of potential, inhabited by dropouts and zombie like weirdos. The building was originally a prison and you could sense it! After a brief closure it reopened as the Camden Eye and is now a far better proposition on all fronts. The pub is well positioned, wedged into a road junction in the middle of Camden and is handy for the market, the High Street and the numerous local music venues. The interior can best be described as compact, a small single room bar with a tiny stage at one side and barely enough room for half a dozen small tables. A window seat almost comes with a guarantee for some interesting people watching as the punks, crustys and Goths come pouring out of the tube station or the World’s End pub opposite. The general ambience is more that of a contemporary bar than a pub but it does have a wide reaching appeal. There were 2 Real Ales (Bombardier and Deuchars on my last trip) and wines also seem to be a prominent feature. Some of the music borders on the obscure but it is quite an eclectic mix and there are also flat screen TV’s either side of the bar. There is also a lounge upstairs (the intriguingly named Kissing Lounge) but at the time of writing, I haven’t ventured this far. The pub does naturally get busy but I have never had a problem with service and whilst you wouldn’t want to spend a whole evening here, it does make a convenient meeting point.

This is a small boozer packed with lots of high tables and little standing room. In fact the only notable standing room is at the bar. Deuchars, Bombardier, Guinness, Strongbow and 3 lagers were available on my visit. Unsurprisingly it was busy during my visit at 19:00 on Friday evening and the staff were overstretched. Someone had puked at the bar after downing a short and the barmaid sorted it out after a while by putting some blue paper over it. It was still like this 30 minutes later when I left – Nice!!! It was my first time in here since the name change and I wasn't very impressed.