The Depot, Holloway, N7

Official site of The Depot - thedepotn7.co.uk

Official site of The Depot - thedepotn7.co.uk

Occupying a part of North London that is otherwise fairly light on pubs, Shillibeers is a large factory converted unit which was taken over by the West Berkshire Brewery in June 2016, to become their first venue. It's an unlikely spot for a Berkshire brewery's first pub, not just because of the location, but also the sheer size of the premises which sprawls through several levels of this huge building. The pub is accessed via a courtyard which has a fair bit of picnic bench seating and also leads you to an adjoining theatre. The upper section is closest to the road and appeared to have been set up in a more formal fashion compared with the lower level main bar area. A good deal of standard table and chair seating can be found here, as well as a nice padded bench along the front wall and a TV screen which was turned off in favour of some fairly good tunes. There looked to be another seating area accessible from here, set on an even higher level and with sofas and other such lounge furniture, but I didn't get around to exploring properly. Steps take you down into the main room which is bare boarded and has an extremely long curved dark wood servery along the back wall. The walls, including the bar back, are predominantly whitewashed brick, which helps brighten up a rather dimly lit, fairy light strewn room. Canteen tables and benches are set out opposite the bar and there are some good padded bench booths along the front wall, with high tables and stools filling in the gaps. A row of hefty pillars run through the room, supporting big iron girders that cross the ceiling. The bar back has a number of beer casks stacked on top, including one that is marked 'Hook Norton Lion', whilst the word 'ALE' is written in large letters above. Food is available and a quick look at the menu on my table showed that mains clock in at around £12, with Sunday roasts costing £14. Two West Berkshire beers- Mister Chubbs and Good Old Boys - were available on hand pump, along with a guest (Merrie City Triple Hop) and a cider (Seacider Black Cherry Pie). Two further handpulls were out of action and I noted a few interesting keg beers on tap as well. I tried the Merrie City, which is apparently a subsidiary of Clark's Brewery from Wakefield. It was a pretty good drop, served up by a very cheerful and chatty barman, but not exactly Wakefield prices at £4.50 a pint. This is a very curious place which I would imagine you'd be hard pushed to just stumble across and I'd be very interested to know why WBB opted for this site. I quite liked drinking here, although the size of the venue can make it feel rather empty unless you've got a decent crowd in. I made the 15 or so minute walk here from the Emirates and thought it was a far better option than trying to get in the much busier pubs along the Holloway Road. An interesting place and one that I hope works out well for all parties.

Big industrial barn of a pub.On two levels with plenty of seating inside and in a side courtyard.Now owned by West Berks brewery who want to enter the London market but strange one for a first pub.Four cask beers on WB-good old boy,Trumans -rio gold,Sambrookes -lavender hill and my choice WB -screaming eagle which was very good.Couple of WB keg beers on.loud music but good tunes.Not my style of pub but liked it a lot.

West Berkshire Brewery has bought Shillibeer’s in Islington, its first London pub

There were three ales on in here – Truman’s Lazarus, Stod Fold Amber, and Late Knights Crack of Dawn (£1.80 a half), plus a couple of ciders on handpump. Single sheet menus were on all the tables, with some sort of tapas dishes (called “bits and boards” here) being offered individually or at £14 for three. Main courses featured burgers, mainly at £7 (but with the Big George beef burger at £11) with chips (or more accurately fries I guess) an extra £3. This looks like a large American style burger restaurant converted from sort of industrial use building, attached to a theatre it seems. There’s a fair bit of outside seating in the courtyard that you have to walk past to get to the entrance, but inside it’s effectively a larg drinking area, a la ‘spoons. On the left as you enter is the open to view kitchen. The main bar area is furnished with some banquette seating by the windows, plus some normal tables and chairs, but the main area of the room is dominated by some massive (10 – 12 seater) solid wooden tables and hard backless wooden benches. All very primary school dinners. Up a few steps on the right is another seating area, and then leading up a few more steps to yet a third seating area. Decor doesn’t amount to much, but one cannot fail to notice the enormous illuminated “ALE” sign behind the bar. Fair enough, as they do sell ale, but the presence of clipped handpumps gave me a clue about ale availability. This place won’t be to everyone’s taste. It’s a bit brash, and the overly loud pop music wouldn’t be my choice. I doubt whether it’s the sort of place to go for a quiet and relaxing drink in the evenings, but it does serve some decent ale, and neither the ale nor the food is at over the top prices by London standards. I’m probably not going to make a return visit, but if I lived locally I would probably return.