Hicce Hart, N1

Official site of Hicce Hart - hiccehart.co.uk

Official site of Hicce Hart - hiccehart.co.uk

Reasonable selection of (expensive) craft ales but not as good as the Craft Bar round the corner.

Over the last six years or so this pub has gone from being called the Salmon and Compasses, Salmon and Compass, Compass, Hundred Crows Rising and as of 2014, the Joker of Penton Street. I came here about six years ago when it was called...well, one of the above and it seems that little if anything has changed. Canteen furniture, pink tea light holders on tables, a hot and noisy open kitchen. Décor includes the likes of heavy duty industrial hanging lights and oddities like the lamp array from an operating theatre, an optician's illuminated test chart and a 1960s' hairdresser's beehive dryer with perspex hood. Lighting is very gloomy; the interior is very dark. The music is also very loud - the only other drinker on our Monday mid-evening visit asked the barman if he could turn it down. Ales: three blank pumps, which I was informed had been mothballed in favour of the oh-so-fashionable 'beer wall tap'; so no real ale then. I opted for a half of Laines IPA from keg which weighed in at a mighty £5.40 a pint (£2.70 a half). It was served in a wineglass. The gloom, lack of atmosphere, lack of real ale, outrageous prices and loud music results in a pub which is really very poor and I shan't be returning. Fortunately the local Craft Beer Co. is just around the corner.

The pub was surprisingly quiet on our Friday eve visit, six people in all, who had called in as a group to sample the craft beers, dispensed from taps from a wall behind the bar. The pub does have late licensing hours, 1am mid week and 3am on Fri and Sat nights, so maybe the pub fills up later on in the evening. There were two ales on handpump on our visit, so we went for the Laines 48 at £4.15 a pint, which was considerably dearer than Craft Islington, which is just on the next corner. Their craft beers on tap, were very pricey as one would expect for this area.