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Detail Pages
The Nags Head, Walthamstow, E17
E17
E17 9LP
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Nags Head
I have to say I was much more taken with the Nags Head than the previous reviewers, but then a lot of that was due to the fact that I am a cat lover and my kids have grown and flown and therefore I would rather not nowadays share a pint with other peoples, but have no problem with the pub cat deciding he wants to use my lap as a seat. Therefore a quirky pub that celebrates cats and is so openly child hostile is fine by me.
The slightly quirky interior based around the central bar is as described by the reviewers below and provides plenty of areas to sit. I can understand why the focus on cats could be off putting to some. As maybe the various rules signs dictating what you can and can’t do. And for parents these include “Children are not permitted inside the pub”, but are “welcome in our heated garden to the rear” as long as they are long gone by 7:30pm. And “You can park your bikes and pushchair's at the side entrance where there are designated bike ramps”, and you get the feeling you would be in big trouble if you put your bike anywhere else.
The front of the pub has a number of tables and chairs and there is a spacious garden at the back of the pub, with fairy lights strung in the trees to make the more pretentious local residents feel comfortable. The garden is accessible from the bar or for those with small people, by the side access.
And there is a function room upstairs which I didn’t venture into, badged as “Madame La Zonga's”, with silhouettes of ladies of a dubious nature in the windows which are lit with a red glow at night to try and give it a bit of an edgy feel. But don’t worry, you won’t be finding a knocking shop above a pub in “the Village”, they are all well away, above shops back behind the Walthamstow High Street.
And on Sunday they have a resident live Jazz band called "The Stowaways" who play from 5pm until 8pm.
Food is served and is Italian themed and mainly Pizza’s. But we didn’t eat here as we were visiting for the beer. And on that front alongside Peroni, Kozel, Hoegaarden, and Pilsner Urquell on draught there is six real ales on the go, which for our visit were TT Landlord, Deuchars IPA, St Austells Tribute, Hook Norton Lion, Colchester Brewery Burton Pale Ale and the truly excellent Mighty Oak Oscar Wild, which from what I could make out seems to be a fairly regular feature.
The couple we tried were well kept and the Oscar wild was as excellent as it should be.
Good beer? Yes. Quirky and different from the normal? Yes. A characterful landlady? Apparently but not in for our visit. A good pub to go to ? Well I guess that will be down to your personal taste.
But I liked it and I will be back.
On 11th April 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2340 recommendations about 2186 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Thuck Phat left this review about The Nags Head
The Nags Head really is an impressive building. It's in the attractive Walthamstow village area and is a well kept, beautifully lit imposing Victorian pub.
Both front doors are covered inside with heavy red velvet curtains which when pushed aside reveal an extraordinary interior. The pub wraps around the central bar with carpeted floors and soft lighting courtesy of patterned pink lampshades. Furniture is a mixture of low sofas and pale pine tables and chairs some of which have leopard print tablecloths on. The walls have a strange mix of pictures of dolls, one real doll in a case, pictures and stories commemorating a recently deceased and clearly much loved 'community cat' with the odd picture of film and rock stars thrown in including one of Jimi Hendrix. It really is like being in a needy bird's bedroom and our strongest instinct was to find the nearest exit.
The pub is very popular and we received a warm welcome and an invitation to try any of the ales on offer. These were: ELB Foundation, Caledonian Double Amber, Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde, Wadworth's Swordfish, which was in decent nick and St Austell Tribute. It's a reasonable selection but nothing flew down and we swiftly succumbed to our original instinct and headed for the door.
On 1st December 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 692 recommendations about 691 pubs]