The Charles Lamb, N1

Traditional corner pub in very nice residential area just down from the mayhem of angel, towards the Regents Canal. Central bar, surrounded by high bar stools. Traditional furniture setup discreetly for dining. Beer was an below average XT 4 from XT brewing.

Official site of The Charles Lamb - thecharleslamb.co.uk

Official site of The Charles Lamb - thecharleslamb.co.uk

Tucked away on a side street the pub has quite a characterful exterior/interior. The L shaped main bar area serves 4 real ales with a room at the side that looks more foodie.

Small but busy corner locals pub. Only 2 cask beers on Hophead and Hobsons -best.I tried the new London brewer 40FTbrewery-pale on keg. Decent beer decent price.

Backstreet pub just over a couple of minutes walk from Angel through a nice, leafy residential area (though it overlooks some less-than-stellar 1960’s flats). Neat looking exterior with some old brown glazed tiling. Fairly small inside with an l-shaped bar and a separate dining area to the right. Light colour scheme, with white walls and turquoise-painted quarter length wood panelling. Some dried hops hanging from the ceiling and a map of old London on the wall, as well as a few lines about Charles Lambe on a blackboard at the rear. Dark wooden bar back has an attractive inlaid clock. Shut the Box and selection of board games available (pieces missing). A female member of the party joyously reported that there were free tampons available in the ladies loo. A GBG pub in recent years, there were four pumps at the bar, with chalked slates in place of the normal pump clips which made for a bit of an issue deciphering some of the more scrawly writing. After a good squint it turned out that there was W&E Windsor Knot, Dark Star Hophead, Red Willow Headless and the amusingly-titled ‘Abigail’s Party’ by Jones the Brewer. A good selection there but the issue I found, trying three of the four ales, was that all of them were too warm. The condition was there, but any form of line/cellar cooling was either broken or non-existent (I resorted to plopping an errant ice cube in mine). There is mention elsewhere of CAMRA discount but I saw no signs advertising it on my visit, so I’d be a bit grouchy if it turns out I could have saved a pound as well. In addition to the ales, there was also a real cider (Slack Alice) a pretty decent keg selection and Luscombe softies. Food offered, gastropubesque around the £9-12 mark which we tried and were quite happy with. There’s a lot to like here but I’d be reticent to revisit any time when it’s remotely warm because of the lack of ale cooling.