Angies Freehouse II, Maida Hill, W9

Dating from the mid-19th century as the Builders Arms, I’m not sure how many Angie’s there are; I don’t know if they go up to XI, but they certainly went up to at least VII, the former Marlborough Tavern (N19), now closed. Diagonally opposite the Union Tavern (and as different as chalk and cheese), this backstreet boozer’s ground floor has at some point – probably the 1920s – been given a brewers’ Tudor makeover, a theme which continues inside, with a multitude of black beams, with white Artex infill, probably dating from the 1960s. The floor’s modern bare boarded, furniture is traditional and lighting is Victorian in style. Along with games machines, there are too many TVs to count, running the gamut of sports from football to rugby to horse racing, as this is an Irish pub, but by no means exclusively so; GAA games are also shown, obs. Décor comprises a multitude of sporting related eclectic prints, then popstar likenesses or photos from Elvis to Nick Cave. The customer base is all local – as am I – with some surprisingly young trustafarian types drinking outside at the pavement seating, then an all-round mix of ages, women being well represented. There’s no real ale of course, but rather than plump for the black stuff, I went for a Wainwright’s Amber on keg at £2.20 a half, served by a friendly Irish landlady; it was a better drink than some mainstream cask beers. The blindingly bright TVs and games machines along with the lack of a decent cask selection are a minus, but actually I thought that this was a jolly place, making for a good W9 crawl; you could do worse when in W9 around Harrow Road…a lot worse.

Irish pub, located just north of the Grand Union Canal, and opened out at some stage to leave a single room with quite a high ceiling. Plain, traditional furniture and decor, but the bar is dominated by three sports TV screens showing racing (naturally), football and rugby league. No real ale expected or available, so went for the keg Greene King IPA (£3.20) in preference to the inevitable John Smith's.

I popped in here for a couple of pints on Friday afternoon and although the place is darker than Peter Mandelson's soul I still had a good time. The barman (Greg) was extremely friendly and the other couple of people that seemed like regulars struck up a conversation with me almost before I had got to the bar. I stuck to the very nice Guinness, but the usual generic draught that you would find in an Irish bar was also available along with Tuborg. Sky and Setanta are shown and there are a couple of plasma screens which were showing the cricket which seemed to be the hot topic of the day. There is also a nicely placed dartboard in the corner and if I hadn't forgotten my darts I would have probably stayed a lot longer than I did. This is a fantastic pub and I will definitely go back here again.

Pub looks closed but according to a local resident this pub has very erratic opening hours, we were there about 1pm and it was not open