Jam & Rye, Highbury, N1

Basement lounge bar of the Cock above, but effectively run as a separate operation. Quite nicely furnished and comfortable, but just a few keg taps unless you are into the extensive cocktail list.

Popped into the Famous Cock next to Highbury & Islington station for a quick pint ahead of a gig at the nearby Garage, only to find it mobbed with football fans, so with a certain degree of trepidation, I ventured into this basement bar beneath the pub instead. It’s a smart venture which seems to major on cocktails but has draught beer options as well. The staircase leads you down into a room with nice floorboards, expensive looking decorative wallpaper and a fairly warm colour scheme on the whole. The servery runs along the rear of the room and has a nice counter with unusual coloured swatches across an otherwise plain counter front, a stone counter top and bare brick bar back with a mosaic tile centrepiece that spells out the bar’s name. There’s a partly screened seating area to the left of the stairs with some plush looking button backed banquettes, some of which have been formed into booths, with abstract paintings on the walls, odd ornaments dotted around and some dark wood panelling. A ledge with high stools between a couple of pillars helps to screen this space from the rest of the room which is filled with tub chairs around smaller circular tables. Some more unusual paintings are on display here and a couple of TV screens were showing muted coverage of the same football fixture as was on upstairs, but without the attendant crowd. The bar area has some decorative tiling on the floor, whilst to the right there is another small screened-off seating area with comfy seating and extremely muted lighting. A contemporary R&B soundtrack played throughout the course of my stay and the clientele was pretty much entirely young professionals. There are four keg taps on the bar dispensing Guinness, Peroni, Orchard Thieves cider and Gipsy Hill Hepcat. The latter set me back a rather upsetting £5.95, so had to be savoured to the very last drop. With cocktails making up most of orders at the bar, I had a long wait at a not particularly busy bar, which made me wonder if I might not have got served more quickly at the packed bar upstairs. I thought this was a really nicely presented bar with lots of comfortable, secluded spots and smart, contemporary décor of a high-spec. However, the overpriced beer from a limited selection, slow service and lack of atmosphere ultimately made this a pretty unenjoyable experience and I can’t see me ever venturing inside again.

Official site of Jam & Rye - www.barsandvenues.co.uk

Official site of Jam & Rye - www.barsandvenues.co.uk