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Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
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Detail Pages
The Old Farmhouse, Kentish Town, NW5
NW5
NW5 2JS
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
David Walton left this review about The Old Farmhouse
Visited 18/11/24
Cask comprised of a single hand pump of the Sharp's Atlantic Pale Ale (hence making it the first occasion ever I believe where I had a pint of the keg version in one venue then had a pint of the cask version in the next venue). Keg options were a mix of bland and decent and comprised Blue Moon, Pravda, Aspall cider, Guinness, Asahi, Staro and then Huck & Back NEIPA from Salt and two from Harbour, namely Daymer Bay Pale Ale and the Arctic Sky. Not tried the former previously so twisted my own arm to stay for a half of that rather than go back into the piss poor evening quite yet!
This only re-opened last Friday apparently so top marks to Tris for already having photographed and reviewed and prompting me to trek here as a new venue. It was previously the Lady Hamilton visited a good while ago. Very different and much pared back. Now a bare boarded venue with bar servery on left hand wall with some stools at the bar, and the open kitchen next to that on that wall. Regular tables and chairs dotted around the rest of the floor area and some net curtains one third window height to create a south sea island French bistro sort of vibe. Lighting was subdued and non-descript music soundtrack suitably low key.
On 20th November 2024
- rating: 5
[User has posted 631 recommendations about 631 pubs]
Tris C left this review about The Old Farmhouse
This pub dates from the mid-19th century, to be rebuilt in 1885; the original name – The Old Farm House – can still be seen to the parapet, presumably from Ye Olden Times when a farm house was two words, not one. This has gone by several names in recent years, documented below, but it was originally a Hoare’s house (later Charrington), with the name ‘Toby Ale’ above a window; this was probably the last remaining example of the name under Hoare’s, but sadly this has now gone.
Compared to the last incarnation, the interior is utterly unrecognisable and a bit bizarre: the bar top is half a tree, with bare brick and scaffold bar back; next to it is an open kitchen, the raised countertop straddled by the other half of the tree. The floor is modern pale boarded, the walls clad with roughly applied pink gypsum plaster; the ceiling has bare wood rafters with chipboard infill. Furniture looks a bit south-east Asian, simple tables sporting flickering LED candles. There’s no décor other than lots of potted ferns; I half expected David Bellamy to leap out at me from a nook; in all, I guess that the concept here is that this is some sort of Tiki bar, but I felt like I was drinking in a branch of Travis Perkins.
Marginalised to the left-hand side of the bar – sorry, tree – a solitary cask manifestation took the form of Sharp’s Atlantic, £3.10 a half, not bad by Sharp’s standards, served by a deferential barman.
Compared side by side, this place is far better than the mildly menacing former O’Reilly’s but isn’t as good as the former Lady Hamilton; the Southampton Arms is a short walk.
On 19th November 2024
- rating: 4
[User has posted 2208 recommendations about 2165 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Lady Hamilton
Just a short way down the road from Kentish Town station, this is a fairly cosy, single room pub that was doing a decent trade on a mid-week evening. It’s a pretty simple pub with a single bare boarded room, benefitting from rugs thrown down here and there to dampen down the inevitable noise. Large windows along two sides allow lots of natural light in during daylight hours, although the muted lighting on my visit helped create a pleasant ambiance. The remaining walls have either been painted in dark colours or covered with floral wallpaper and the servery runs along the left-hand wall, with a simple wood panelled counter and mirrored bar back, turning into some sort of food servery towards the rear, despite no obvious evidence that the pub does any sort of food. A couple of TV’s were mounted at either end of the room, but both remained off, in favour of a loud and eclectic indie soundtrack. The walls have been decorated with a lot of fashion portraits, covers of Vogue magazine and other such bits of couture. The ceiling is also worth checking out thanks to a nice criss-cross moulding in a floral design with numerous roses in between.
There are two handpulls on the bar, but neither were clipped on a Tuesday night, so I opted for a Siren IPA on keg, which was available alongside brews from the likes of Two Tribes and Beavertown as well as plenty of mainstream stuff. The bar staff were friendly enough, if a little passive and there was a nice post-work buzz despite the freezing temperatures outside.
I thought this was a pretty decent pub with quite a likeable, cosy interior, decent seating and some attractive features. The lack of cask ale was a bit of a letdown and the service wasn’t the sharpest, but I quite enjoyed my time here and would pop my head in again to see if they had anything more interesting on the bar.
On 3rd January 2023
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about Lady Hamilton
Great atmosphere in this busy pub.Loud music helped.Two cask beers and my Hammertons -cache was top quality.
On 15th April 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about Lady Hamilton
A street corner pub which has been gentrified inside.The interior is a square room with very impressive ceiling mouldings,with the bar and open kitchen with a pizza oven running down one side,to the front there is a drinking shelf with high chairs,while in the middle are some high tables .To the sides there are long benches with heavy wooden tables.Rugs on the wooden floor complete a classy feel.There is a discrete BT Sports flatscreen above the apex door,switched off during my lunchtime visit.Muzak was playing at a sensible volume and the rainbow flag indicates gay friendliness.
Beside some standard kegs and a few crafty brews there are two handpumps ,just one dispensing a well kept Purity UBU (NBSS 3.5).On ordering I was asked if I was a CAMRA member which resulted in a £3.60 charge for the pint,nice touch.The food is mainly pizze (around £12) with some small plates of Italian food (around £7).
If there had been a wider choice of ale even higher marks would have been awarded.I enjoyed my pint and bite to eat,it's worth a visit.
On 15th January 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2936 recommendations about 2936 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about Lady Hamilton
Single roomed open plan corner pub with an ornate ceiling and wooden floor and wooden tables and chairs throughout.
Bar is situated on the far wall as you enter and then there is one of those open kitchen areas in the far corner that I am not a great fan of.
The target demographic for this one is definitely the under 40s as mentioned below and on a busy weekend evening when the place is full, it’s probably a lively and fun pub. But on a wet Monday lunchtime when the kitchen area is not in operation and there’s only a couple of others in I found it all a bit of a soulless experience.
Two hand pumps on the bar but only one in operation with a purity ale on for my visit, but a more impressive array of chrome taps with a decent craft beer selection and I’m guessing they move a lot more Beavertown neck oil than they do ales in this one.
I will be leaving this one to the under 40s in future.
On 12th January 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2236 recommendations about 2098 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about Lady Hamilton
Edited:
One of the few pubs in the area to have reopened under relatively normal conditions: no Big Brother Bother, just a zhoosh of squidge to the hands before being gestured to a table by a very friendly barmaid. No bar service here, so orders were taken from table with payment by card on delivery. The drinks' selection comes from 12 chrome founts and here it's mostly cooking fizz (Amstel, Asahi, Estrella, Camden Hells) but there's also Toast APA and Big Smoke Co.'s Fruju on keg as well as a couple of others I couldn't read; Thatcher's Gold for Worzels and Guinness. There are two real ale pumps marginalised to the left-hand side, one clip reversed, thereafter Purity's Mad Goose at a reasonable £4.00 a pint and on top form.
There's not much open around here as yet and with some pubs worryingly not posting details of when they'll reopen.
On 23rd December 2018:
Third time lucky and this pub has certainly changed for the better since my last visit. The interior is now far less hipster than before with a metal bar top, and floral claret/gold Victorian/Edwardian wallpaper. Furniture is new yet is more traditional and restrained manifesting itself in dark wood. However, you can certainly tell that this is a pub/bar aimed squarely at the under-30s, not least because of the overly loud music.
Slightly confused staff presided over just two real ales: a reversed clip thereafter East London Brewing Co's Nightwatchman in very good nick and an absolute bargain at £2.00 a half.
This is an improvement over Camden's Daughter but there's far better in the area, namely the far superior Pineapple, ironically owned by the same team behind this venture and Tapping the Admiral, just over the border in NW1.
On 7th July 2020
- rating: 4
[User has posted 2208 recommendations about 2165 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about Camden's Daughter
A first visit since this was the execrable O'Reilly's and what we have now is pretty much the tap for the Camden Town Brewery 10 minutes' walk around the corner. As such it doesn't sell real ale. There's also an open kebab kitchen and the rather attractive bar has been ripped out and replaced with some panelled wood affair. Still, the attractive ceiling remains. Part of the pub is clad with white tiles, and of course the floor is bare boarded. There are modern wooden pews to the rear, metal stools with metal-topped tables with single column legs and side banquettes. Lighting is a bit dim and music isn't too loud though with all the hard surfaces, the acoustics in here are poor.
I had a half of the Camden Pale Ale which cost £2.20; it was cold, fizzy and tasteless. Surely this is lager by any other name?
This is not my sort of place at all so I won't be returning.
On 9th April 2016
- rating: 3
[User has posted 2208 recommendations about 2165 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about Camden's Daughter
Small one room pub.Modern industrial interior with ornate plaster ceiling(looks new)doesn't work for me.12 keg beers on 7 from Camden brewery and some guests.Reasonably priced craft beer. I tried Cloudwater-vienna lager which was okay.Food is kebabs.Doner or chicken from a little grill on the left of the bar.A first kebab shop in a pub?
On 21st November 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about O'Reilly's
This was the Old Farm House, today it's a rough Irish boozer for locals.
Still, the ceiling's interesting as is the tilework below the bar.
As Steve C says, best keep the exit in clear view at all times, ideally from the pavement.
On 19th July 2011
- rating: 2
[User has posted 2208 recommendations about 2165 pubs]