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Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Robin, N4
N4
N4 4AP
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Moby Duck left this review about The Robin
A beer forward pub with six cask and ten craft beers available, on cask were Oakham Citra, Salopian Darwins Origin, Gun Chummy Bluster, Iron Pier Rosherville Red, Orkney Dark Munro and Fyne Ales Jarl at a pocket friendly, for London, £4.88 a pint, the craft beers were all top level stuff from the likes of Verdant , Deya and Beak to name a few. The room , loosely triangular in shape is fairly unremarkable though the addition of some artwork on the walls and an upright piano make for some interest as well as the lively clientele giving a vibrant feel but the beer here is the real interest and as such I would certainly return.
On 27th October 2024
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2151 recommendations about 2118 pubs]
Pub SignMan left this review about The Robin
This unusual shaped pub appears to be never ending if you approach from the top of Crouch Hill, until you eventually reach a corner entrance which leads you into a bare boarded room with plain painted walls and a row of steamed up windows along the front wall. It's a narrow space, tapering slightly to the rear, where the servery fills the right rear corner. Cramped banquette booths can be found along the left-hand wall, with hanging plants trailling down from above and some pub themed paintings on the wall. A long banquette runs down the plainer right-hand wall with chairs in support and there are some low and mid-height stools under the front windows. The bar has a plain tongue and groove counter with more plants hung from above, and a simple bar back to the right. Pavement-side seating has been arranged out the front under some graffiti art style murals and there's a drinking ledge to the left of the bar with high stools, but this is in a particularly dull part of the room and was consequently not so popular, remaining empty throughout my stay.
On the bar, a pretty good cask range comprised Sotomayor Pale Ale, Marble Manchester Bitter, Durham Dark Angel and Fell It's Mild For This Time Of Year (£4.74 a pint). The barmaid was quite friendly and served up a well-kept pint of the Mild - a style of beer that's virtually impossible to find in London these days, so I was pretty grateful for that.
I thought this was a bit of a mixed bag, as the good cask ale range was offset by a pretty unmemorable, bland interior that I struggled go settle down in. I think the positives outweigh the drawbacks and seeing as the place only opened in its current guise six or so months prior to my visit, it may still be bedding in and merit another visit at some stage, which doesn't sound like much of a chore to me.
Date of visit - 21st March 2024
On 15th August 2024
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]
David Walton left this review about The Robin
Visited 29/07/24
Not visited before and almost unrecognisable from reviews below, even quite recent ones. Now called just the Robin and a very cool venue that has a beer range (cask and keg) that would be very hard to beat almost anywhere. Quite a small venue and so it packs a substantial punch. Layout wise it is a rectangular bar, with the servery on the far (relatively speaking) right corner from the entrance. Outside seating offered around the perimeter that was understandably super popular this evening on arrival a bit before 7pm. Inside the seating consists of stools around the bar plus some wing back leather chairs a la Rowley Birkin monologues and some leather Chesterfield sofas and regular wooden dining table style chairs. The large windows at the front of the venue were thrown open to let the summer in. There was a real buzz to the place.
There were six hand pulls all operational. The list Marble Mild from Manchester Marble Brewery, Velveteen Chocolate Milk Stout from Dark Revolution, Titus from Saltaire (my choice and it was very well kept), the intriginly named (and looked like brewed especially for the venue) “No Champagne No Bookings No VIP” from Deya, Plateau from Burning Sky and 70 Shillings from Newbarns. The keg range was most excellent also and comprised of What Are Dreams Made of from Verdant, Milk Shake a milk stout from Wiper & True, Our Ram in Veneto from Pastore, Into the Haze an IPA from Deya, the Flowers witbier from Queer Brewing, Pale Fire a pale ale from Pressure Drop, Fresh the AF IPA from Cloudwater, the fantastic named Existence as a Radical Act also from Queer Brewing, the IPA from Small Beer and, to ensure even lager drinkers were offered something, the Studio Lager from Signature Brew. Wines were provided from three taps also!
So, for the two traditional, and very good, pubs I have preceded this venue with this evening add a much better cask and craft offering in a much smaller space that had combined ten times the number of punters and so it is hard to argue that this place hasn't got things spectacularly right. Beers are attractively priced as an added bonus. This is unquestionably one of my pubs of 2024 and that and it might well end up being my pub of the year for 2024. Almost made it a maximum.
On 3rd August 2024
- rating: 9
[User has posted 631 recommendations about 631 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about Brave Sir Robin
Modern corner bar in an area that I haven't been drinking in for almost 5 years.
It was quite on our Monday evening visit and I got the feeling that they would have preferred to have served us at the table, had we not waltzed up to the bar. We were certainly pointed in the direction of QR codes on each table for a beer menu, but instead preferred to gaze at the pumpclips and keg fonts.
The solitary real ale was Redemption Trinity, which we'd just had in the Lamb at Holloway, whilst a second handpull was clipped with Thistly Cross Whisky Cask cider.
As with so many London pubs nowadays, craft beer seems much more popular. The range was Brick Peckham Pale & Redcurrant and Blackberry Sour, Deya Steady Rolling Man & Invoice Me The Microphone, Brew By Numbers/Boxcar #21 Pale Ale, Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout, Dig Brew Potion, Dig Brew/Exale Enter The Void & Siren Futurist. Once again, the keg cider was from Umbrella.
Food from the kitchen smelt good, but the menu is limited to burgers at tidy prices.
On 4th February 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3040 recommendations about 3038 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about Brave Sir Robin
I can see the three reviews here are all for different businesses in the same venue over time. I wouldn't be surprised if it was trading as something else, this time next year.
This, despite its inclusion in the 2022 GBG.
Its a crafty with a distressed look and hard bench seating. Nothing of interest in the decor, unless you like bare walls.
Beer wise - a single cask stout and lots of interesting Keg. Usually, this lack of cask would get it marked down in the GBG - but it must be liked.
Food - a kitchen outsourced for artisan burgers.
Ambience - no other punters on a Saturday lunch time. Staff outnumbering me 3-1 and this excludes the burger men.
Still employing covid rules - with waiting to be seated and ordering from a QR code. In a place with no punters.
Wish them every success but you'd have to get me out of the faltering fullback at gunpoint if I was ever in the area again.
On 19th January 2022
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1563 recommendations about 1543 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
paulof horsham left this review about Brave Sir Robin
The interior of this "craftily" refurbished pub affects a distressed look with the wallpaper appearing to have been ripped off this morning. The exterior has a black base for artwork focussing on the pouring of a craft-keg ale.
The bar, likewise, is predominantly craft offering a dozen or so well-chosen offerings from the likes of Buxton, Kernel & Deya. A 2/3 option contains the costs of these a little. It was good to not only see a cask ale but also that it was proving popular on a recent Friday afternoon. This was Buxton Porter with Turners Pear Cider also on the pumps.
A simple food offering of the burger and fries variety is available too.
For some reason, they were asking customers to wait to be seated, although it wasn't overly busy and I was hardly delayed on the way in. Table service was reasonable enough though, despite it being my first visit, I was already "mate".
I'd rate the Brave Sir Robin pleasant enough for a brief pit-stop if you're in the vicinity.
On 15th September 2021
- rating: 6
[User has posted 554 recommendations about 516 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about The Hopsmiths
The Hopsmiths is situated on the main road from Crouch Hill to Finsbury Park.
Once inside there is a single oblong shaped room with the bar facing,the floor is bare boarded and the seating is tall tables and stools to the front and normal tables and chairs to the rear.
This is Late Knights brewery tap,so there was a good choice of their real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Late Knights Crack of Dawn which went down well,the other beers noted Penge Porter/ Worm Catcher/ Morning Glory/ Summer Knights/ Fog Cutter all from Late Knights brewery,there were two guest beers on,Windsor & Eton Republica and a beer called Thames H20 which i did now what brewery i came from.
There was some decent background music playing.
This is not really my sort of pub.
Pub visited 4/8/2016
On 2nd October 2016
- rating: 7
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Strongers . left this review about The Noble
This is a gastro pub that is verging on being a restaurant, although I didn’t feel out of place just having a Guinness and there were two ales available amongst the premium beers in the form of Deuchars and Pride. There is plenty of food available and the smells coming from the kitchen were very nice, but it is expensive and a 10% optional service charge is added to all bills.
The barman was very friendly and the décor is very well done, but this is the sort of place one takes the missus for a meal rather goes out for a beer with the mates.
I would have given a much higher rating if this were a restaurant review site.
On 16th March 2010
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5965 recommendations about 5931 pubs]