NW3 Bar & Kitchen, NW3

Horseshoe shaped bar serving 4 real ales. sports and entertainment memorabilia on the walls.

I popped in here on Saturday evening, which was my first visit since the watching a World Cup game in 2006, and found this pub to be cleaner, but essentially the same as I remember. It is still U-shaped with a big bar area that limits the seating that surrounds it and there are still plasma screens everywhere for watching all levels of football. To be honest I was never really a huge fan of this place as it always seemed to attract a dodgy crowd, but I was glad to find it how it was as I was expecting some gastro monstrosity after the pub had changed its name last year to Havers from the more traditional Haverstock Arms. In fact the only real difference that I noticed was that Thai food is now served and some of the dishes that I saw looked and smelt pretty good. The bar is stocked with standard draught products and there are four hand pumps, but two off these were off leaving Adnams and Wandle. The Guinness was on good form and the barman was friendly enough. The walls on the left hand side of the pub are adorned with pictures of the governor posing with different celebrities and this place used to be Chris Evans’ local when he was doing TFI Friday. If memory serves me correctly the governor was the barman on that show. There are a couple of advertisements up for live music that is played every Friday and I think it is pretty much guaranteed that there is a late licence at the weekends. There are lots of picnic tables covered by awnings either side at the front of this corner pub. There is a £60 a night B&B upstairs that would explain a large northern contingent that is usually present in the pub and from past reports I have gleaned that you get what you pay for. Now that all of the pubs up the hill in Hampstead have given up on Sky the pubs in Belsize Park and South End Green are becoming visited a lot more than they were and I can see myself returning here in the near future, but I wouldn’t bother if no football was on.