The Rosemary Branch, De Beauvoir Town, N1

A large attractive pub with a single L-shaped boarded room with a smaller semi-separated area to the rear beyond the bar which has several mirrors and fairy lights. Above the bar and here and there are stuffed fish and small mammals including a squirrel and either a stoat or a mink, not sure which. A large clock, which incidentally doesn't work, hangs over the bar and two large models of WWII fighter aircraft hang from the ceiling. Additionally there are a couple of statuettes of whom I don't know, an upright piano and a mock up theatrical dressing table complete with a bulb fringed mirror, there is a working theatre upstairs. Various theatre productions were advertised on posters and leaflets, alongside a stack of London Drinkers. Décor apart from the larger articles mentioned featured posters from events long ago, The Hoxton Pony Race and the Islington Vauxhall Balloon Ascent by one Mrs Graham. Apparently the area to the rear of the pub was once a large public space called Islington Vauxhall. A picture of the balloon is incorporated in the external gable of the pub. Fuller's beers dominate but I am fairly certain that this isn't a tied house, in fact a window advert shows Adnam's beers, although the only offering from Southwold was reverse clipped on Saturday. Beers on were Fuller's London Pride, Seafarers, Brit Hop (new to me) and Spring Sprinter (also new) plus Doom Bar. A sign on the bar said "cash only" which is fine by me as it avoids the pub annoyance of getting drinks on a card. Food served but no menus were out at 4:30pm. Not a bad spot and a couple of less usual Fuller's beers but if this is a free house I'd rather see something a bit more unusual as well.

An impressive-looking backstreet corner boozer (Georgian) with plenty of character inside and out. The exterior has been lovingly looked after and the gold painted ‘Rosemary Branch Tavern’ signage high up along the cornicing looks great. An L-shaped interior, with a dog leg off to the right which holds an extra, quieter, drinking room that was eagerly snapped-up by the shed-dwellers out crawling. Plenty of items of interest; two large-scale models of what I thought was a Junkers and more certainly a Spitfire hung from the ceiling and a large projecting clock above the bar. A real fire and heavy drape curtains gave the place a more homely feel than many of the other pubs sampled on the long days crawl. An upright piano was being played (with some level of skill) by a local which added an extra notch to the already fine atmosphere. Six pumps sported four ales, three Fullers and Butcombe. My Fullers Red Fox came out well enough. I’m unsure whether this actually a Fullers outlet or not but that line-up looks suspicious (the website has no Fullers contact so I maybe they just order beer from them). There is also a theatre located on the first floor, though I didn’t explore that far. I really liked this one and would have happily stayed had there not been the rigours of a crawl. I’d certainly do this one again; a little extra imagination on the ale front would have topped this visit off nicely.

This Georgian corner pub tucked away just off Rosemary Gardens in N1 turned out to be a bit of a ‘Brucey bonus’ on our crawl through N1, as I didn’t have great expectations on reading previous reviews. I think we caught it right as it was fairly lively on this late Saturday afternoon and one of the locals knocking out renditions of Pink Floyd anthems on the ‘joanna’ added to the ambience. And after some lively discussion we also concluded that the large model of the indeterminate German 2nd World War aircraft hanging from the ceiling between the two rooms was probably meant to be a Junkers Ju88. It was good to discover that the pub supports a studio theatre upstairs and I do hope that the thespians that utilise it are more accomplished than the prop makers appear to be. Also couldn’t work out if this is a Fullers tied house or they just take their beers. But three were available on the two banks of three hand pumps including the seasonal Jack Frost and Seafarers , but I went for the additional Butcombe Bitter which was kept well enough. Not a destination pub by any means but would not be concerned to utilise again when next in the area.

This Georgian Fullers pub apparently has a 57-seat theatre on the first floor, though I didn't venture upstairs to check. There was a piano for public use in the single, large ground-floor bar however, and it was certainly being used to mangle a few tunes when we visited. There were 4 ales on draft, all Fullers. I had a pint of Bengal Lancer which was in good condition but not the best I've had. Pub was a bit gimmicky, rather than traditional. A public apology goes to the person whose rice crackers I inadvertently stole – saw them on the bar in a dish and thought they were for general consumption. Restaurant food is also available. This is an irritation of all Fullers pubs these days – overpriced snacks in unhygienic bowls which promote misunderstanding as to ownership. Good for inclusion on a crawl.