The Camden Road Arms, NW1

A large corner pub with a bit of a cafe/diner feel about it, there were six handpumps at the bar, somewhat surprisingly and disappointingly none were on. I had a half of Camden Pale on tap which was good but very expensive at £2.55. My visit here did not Impress.

Now owned by the Draft House chain,I enjoyed my visit here.There are large plate glass windows on the section opposite the Overground station,with three internal areas running around the three sided bar.The main serving area has a few tables and metal chairs,a front section by the curved window has more closely packed small dining tables ,while the back room is altogether calmer with a long bench,seating booths and a small servery.It was popular afterwork on my Friday visit,a young professional client base and a young serving crew.The muzak was well judged and not too loud.The food menu included a lot of bar snacks,mains £10-14 while there is a very long bottled beer list from around the world. There are 17 craft keg taps from some leading brewers and again foreign names amongst them ,while the real ale options are just from three handpumps.From what I could gather Five Points Pale and Siren Undercurrent (£4.05 ,very good nick) are regulars while the daily special was Sambrooks Pale ,and at £ 2.90 you cant argue that this chain isn't wallet friendly ,although I'm not a fan of Sambrooks. Camden was and probably still is a real ale desert,so it's good this pub is now in safe hands.It's buzzy and fun ,I will pop in again when in the area.

Ordinarily I wouldn't touch a place like this (this is the first, dated to 2006), but we only popped in as this was once an original pub, The Eagle, not to be confused with The Old Eagle further up the road. Suffice to say, no obvious sign of the original pub remains with the possible exception of some columns with ornate capitals. Thereafter it's bare boarded with some kilims and a blue/grey colour scheme. Music is muted and sauce bottles adorn the tables: classy. My half of Three Hop craft ale (£2.30) was actually ok. This is a style bar for the young, so no chance of a return visit.

Very grand looking interior with lots of leather seating,mirrors and lamps etc.Only mega brewery keg products to drink so had a half In/bev-tastless bland beer.

No real ale.