St John's Tavern, Archway, N19

Gastropub not far from Archway tube. The previous review sums up the interior well. Although, there were just 2 ales on for my visit - Fuller's London Pride & Hammerton N1. My N1 was pleasant enough. Staff were friendly and there were a handful of other customers, 2 of whom were eating. Ok, but nothing out of the ordinary.

This is a very large street corner pub with a large open-plan front bar and a separate restaurant area to the rear. The front room is fairly simple, with bare floorboards and white painted walls dotted with uniform light fittings and a few bits of modern art. A wedge-shaped space to the left of the front entrance has some pew and chair seating arranged around a rather chunky looking fireplace with a huge plain mirror above. The bar runs in a curved L-shape around the rear right corner of the room and has a dark painted tongue and groove counter front and decent pewter top, whilst the bar back looks like a giant wine rack. There are tables and chairs along the front and right-hand walls and there is a TV screen mounted high on the side wall, but this remained off throughout the duration of my visit. More of the same seating can be found to the rear of the room, near to an entrance to a hallway filled with all sorts of modern art which leads on into the formally set dining room. This room has plenty of standard tables and chairs throughout, another blocky fireplace to the right and an open kitchen over to the left. A greeter started making their way towards me as I peered in, so I made a hasty retreat back to the bar, but I did manage a glimpse of the room’s rear wall which has been covered almost entirely with striking framed modern art prints, creating a distinctive and rather impressive visual spectacle. The bar supports six handpulls, of which two were out of action on my visit, leaving a choice between Fullers London Pride, New River Twin Spring, Siren Pale and Five Points Citrae Pale. The latter turned out to be a pretty well-kept pint which I enjoyed at the bar, listening to the laidback jazz and soul tunes that played in the background. This was a nice enough place to enjoy a decent pint in and despite the pub’s focus on food, the front room remains a proper drinker’s environment separate from the dining operation. There wasn’t a lot here that left a deep impression on me beyond the decent beer selection and whilst I wouldn’t complain if I found myself back here again, I’m also not sure I’d rush to return either.

A single roomed Gastro pub, plenty of sensible height table and chairs around the room set with wine glasses ready for diners but there was no problem sitting down with a beer,alternately there are bar stools at the bar. A decent beer selection was available from the six handpumps, two from Dark Star, Hophead and Sunburst, another two from Gun Brewery, Scaramanga and Project Babylon, London Pride and a Westons Cider Wyldwood completing the offerings.I didn't have any of the service problems experienced by others, though I was in early doors on a Sunday lunchtime. I found it quite comfortable here but its not a pub worth going out of your way for.