The Old Oak, Gospel Oak, NW3

Across from Gospel Oak station. Bit rough around the edges but nothing wrong with that. 1 real ale.

When alighting early at Gospel Oak Overground station for a meet up at the nearby Southampton Arms I thought I’d squeeze in a couple of ticks before hand. This was an easy one being right opposite the station, but if I had researched that this one is run by the Craft Union arm of the Stonegate Co I would have probably given it a swerve. Still a very basic sports oriented pub with plenty of large flat screens and Union Jack flags abound. No real ales, not even clips on the two forlorn hand pumps and a very standard keg offering so I went for a softie, so as to not eat into my beer capacity for the day. This is a rough and ready pub that attracts a rough and ready clientele if my short experience was anything to go by. But with all the pubs north of here towards the Heath largely gentrified and more resembling restaurants this one clearly serves a purpose for this more densely populated area of NW3. It just wasn’t for me.

A very basic locals pub that has probably seen very little change since the 1980s, two handpumps both with turned clips of London Pride and Doom Bar, so I defaulted to a Guinness, the remaining keg offerings were standard/premium lagers. On the plus side, the only one really, the landlady was very chirpy and welcoming, that aside this is a pub I will leave to the locals.

Official site of The Old Oak - oldoak-hampstead.craftunionpubs.com

Official site of The Old Oak - oldoak-hampstead.craftunionpubs.com

I’ve passed this pub all my life – I almost ended up at the primary school, opposite. This may inexplicably have an NW3 postcode, but this isn’t the part of NW3 where houses have been sold for £46.5 million. This is another pub dating back to at least the mid-19th century, to be rebuilt around the 1930s in an area that was once terraced houses to the south when I was a boy, but is now home to a large, sprawling estate…and Michael Palin. It’s an avowedly locals’ corner pub opposite Gospel Oak overground and a few hundred yards to the south of Hampstead Heath. It’s also a pub with a reputation that precedes it; I typically walk past on the other side of the road at night. Closed on passing, we went in mid-week, early evening and it was absolutely heaving with a mainly young crowd and some older clients; how high is the unemployment rate round here? The young bar staff seemed to eye us with a soupçon of suspicion – perhaps they thought we was plod. There’s a pool table to the rear and several TVs of course, showing sport with the sound off so as not to interfere with the muted Supertramp. Ales: amazingly, there was one ale on (and an unused pump), but of course it would have to be Sharp’s Doom Bar, which should be renamed Hobson’s Choice. Quite cheap at £1.90 a half and as good as it’s ever going to get. The Old Oak clearly has a loyal local following, but this isn’t my kind of format. I’m glad that I’ve visited after so many decades, but no, I won’t be returning.

The Old Oak is a decent looking pub that is very handy for Gospel Oak train station,i was on a pub crawl so did not use the the station. Once inside there is an L shaped room with the bar on the right side,there is a darts board to the front right and a pool table to the rear left,there were two TVs showing the Cricket. For seating there are tall tables and chairs to the front and normal tables and chairs elsewhere. There were two unclipped hand pumps,so this left me having a drink of John Smiths Extra Cold Carp,which was on top form in being extra cold and extra crap. Quiet background music was playing and the pub was fairly busy with locals on my Friday afternoon visit. I do not mind going in pubs like this,just a shame about the Extra cold crap. Pub visited 2/6/2017