The Hawley Arms, Camden Town, NW1

Battleship grey frontage ,the interior is L shaped with a very high and imposing ceiling.There is a huge mirror to the left,a flatscreen off at the end of the other leg and a mix of furniture ,mainly small tables and chairs ,with a few bar stools .It was popular with a young,hip crowd but has maintained a friendly atmosphere this close to the tourist trap of Camden Market.The bar staff were great ,although they dont have the most exciting selection from the three handpumps in GK brewed house beer Hawley Grail 3.8%,London Pride (However well kept I cant give more than NBSS 3.5,£5,served in an attractive pub branded jug) and Seacider. The soundtrack was classic rock at a sensible volume and the food looked decent and not at rip off prices with a median main around £12.There is free wifi,it's dog friendly and there is patio and roof terrace. I liked it,just a shame the ale range was pedestrian,better options would have lead to a higher rating.

A fairly famous pub with a great looking interior still adequately described by Tris a few years ago. Only a couple of Cask Ales on perhaps due to the current uncertain pandemic climate, London Pride and Hawley Grail (brewed in Bury St Edmunds) so I gave those a swerve, also omn handpump was Seacider, I opted for a Camden Pale on keg which does pretty much what it says on the can, for a price. Nice Pub , dull beer.

A noted celebrity hangout with an esoteric interior, somewhere between a drawing room and an French bistro. Numerous pictures of visiting personalities adorn the walls. Despite this, it is actually a fairly comfortable pub and we quickly felt at home, always a good sign. Draught ales were London Pride, Harvey's Best and the Greene King House Ale.

Back for a repeat visit. Very quiet at 11pm on a Tuesday. Which was pleasant - actually managed to get a seat downstairs. Worth checking out for its musical pedigree - loads of interest on the walls and great music. Some photos at my walking blog - http://bit.ly/21Jz75P

I called in here after a quick visit to three pretty awful pubs in Camden High Street and on my way to the Admiral in Kentish Town West, hoping for something a little better than the awful dross that I'd had so far. I stifled a yawn at the sleb photos on the walls, and another on seeing the beer selection: Greene King IPA, Old Speckled Hen and Hopback Summer Lightning. I'd have gone for the latter, except that a 5% ale would have made remounting my bike slightly more dangerous, so I had the GK, which the pump clip assured me had been "hand crafted". Service in here is on the uninterested/sloppy borderline, and the fact that my IPA was poured into a warm glass was possibly typical. It certainly didn't improve the quality of the beer. My half was £2, seemingly almost a standard price in Camden Town, where the pubs are seemingly happy to fleece the passing trade, who evidently know no better: they were certainly flocking into this place. To be fair, the décor is OK and the music was all right, but that's all that keeps me from using the word "avoid" - I'll content myself with "not recommended". Better still, go to Tapping the Admiral instead.

This pub gained a fair bit of notoriety over recent years for being the drinking venue of choice for the so called Camden-set (Noel Fielding, Peaches Geldof, Kelly Osborne et al), before getting global coverage in early 2008 when a fire led to a temporary closure and a passionate tribute from their most famous regular - Amy Winehouse. My recent visit for a quick pre-gig pint failed to turn up any ‘famous’ faces and to be honest, I was a bit surprised to find a very normal looking gastro style pub. The interior is comprised of a fairly large, if somewhat narrow, L-shaped room with wooden floors and wood panelled walls along the longest side. There is a large fireplace with an exposed brick chimney on the left hand wall, next to an enormous mirror. Standard seating is in plentiful supply throughout and I'm sure I spotted a couple of comfy sofas as well. The left hand area stretches right to the very back of the pub where there is access to a garden. The pub has very high ceilings which has allowed for a grand bar back to be installed, which has a great many shelves, most of which are cluttered with drinks, bits of old memorabilia and bar snacks in large glass jars that make it look a bit like an old sweet shop. An old juke box, with a big stack of board games balanced precariously on top, was blaring out a selection of music throughout the evening and as you might expect, there are various music themed pictures on the walls, including some caricatures of the more prominent Camden-set members. The music theme continues as you move to the right of the room, where there are stairs lined with old LP covers leading up to another bar and roof terrace. This is a Greene King house which had three of their beers on offer, namely Abbot Ale, Old Trip and the seasonal Ghastly Ghoul. My pint of Old Trip was fine and served by one of the many barmaids, all of whom seemed efficient enough but not very welcoming. In fact I found the clientele in general were quite rude and I felt a bit out of place after a while. This was better than I had expected it to be, although I'm still not sure what it is that attracts so many of these celebrities to it. Camden is a difficult place to get a decent drink in decent surroundings and this pub might well be as good a bet as anywhere else, but I won't exactly be rushing back.