The Three Johns, N1

Official site of The Three Johns - www.three-johns.com

Official site of The Three Johns - www.three-johns.com

Decent enough pub with some good ales - the stout I had was in fine order. Was a bit quiet on Sunday evening though.

There were three ales on here - ELB Foundation, XT 1 Blonde, and XT 3 Pale Ale. They still specialise in pizze, priced from £6.80 to £9.50. The interior's unchanged from previous reviews. The irreverant paintings are still there - I didn't examine them closely, but one seemed to feature George Washington blowing bubble gum. There are two rooms, both having copper plated ceilings, with the smaller room at the back having a skylight indicating that it was probably once a billiards room. There is some wood panelling on the walls in this room, but it has been artificially distressed leading me to wonder whether it is in fact a modern addition. The larger room suffers from that modern affliction of stripping away the plastering and/or panelling to reveal exposed brickwork. This pub's OK. As mentioned previously, the seating's pretty standard issue. It's comfortable enough if you can get a seat, but there's lots of open space in the centre of the room, which leads me to wonder whether it's there to accommodate vertical drinking. I'd visit again, but I doubt whether I would go far out of my way to do so.

A very pleasant street corner boozer in a traditional building which has had a reasonably sympathetic update. It reminded me of the Craft Beer Co. near Holborn with benches around the walls and a large space in the middle for the busy periods. I enjoyed the irreverant pictures. Each table is equipped with a menu, pizzas a speciality, but there isn't any pressure to eat. Service was efficient and friendly - Ray's description of "hip and upbeat" catches it perfectly. Plenty of interesting keg offerings with just three cask options: Five Points Pale, Moor Confidence and Mordue Five Bridges. Both the Pale and the Confidence were very good. A cool and calming spot for a very good pint on a hot day.