Bucks Head, Camden Town, NW1

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Pub SignMan left this review about Bucks Head

This is the first pub you reach if you head North from Camden Town tube station, so I suspect the place gets a fair bit of passing trade based on that geographical factor alone. As it turns out, it’s actually not too bad an option and certainly didn’t stand out as being any better or worse that the few other pubs further up the road. It’s a typical, boxy bare boarded room with the servery down the left-hand wall and plenty of seating opposite. The bar has a modern tongue and groove panelled counter with a fairly plain bar back painted in a dark shade and lined with fairy lights and gold framed promotional blackboards. The seating opposite mainly comprises basic tables and chairs, plus a few mid height chairs, one high table with bar stools under the front windows and a raised platform to the front right with some comfy padded banquettes. There were shelves here stuffed with board games and a TV screen above was showing muted World Cup football. To the rear, beyond the bar, there’s an addition seating area that has been decorated with loads of Camden/Swinging Sixties themed pictures. The whole pub is painted the same dark shade as the bar back but has been livened up with some collages made from old record sleeves and the like. Signs pointed the way to a rooftop garden, but on a cold evening, I declined the invitation.
There were three handpulls on the bar serving Fullers London Pride and Taylors landlord, with a Sharps Doom Bar clip reversed on the final handle. The landlord clocked in at £5.85 for a pint, which is probably about par for the course in this tourist-centric part of town, and it was in pretty good nick, to the point that I stayed and had a second. The pub was rammed on my Saturday evening visit, but the staff kept things turning over quickly at the bar and the door staff must be some of the friendliest I’ve ever encountered.
I thought this was a decent enough place with a well-kept pint of Landlord, a lively atmosphere and plenty of comfy seating options. It doesn’t really stand out all that much from the crowd and I’m sure in a few months’ time I’ll struggle to differentiate it in my mind from several other nearby Camden boozers, but it worked well for some pre-gig beers, and I wouldn’t moan if I got dragged back here again.

On 20^th March 2023 - rating: 6
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