The Oak & Pastor, Archway, N19

This is a nice, mid-sized pub with a dark, cosy interior, just a short walk away from Archway station. The pub has a single room set-up with dark floorboards, similar coloured tables and chairs and muted lighting, which all combined together quite well to create a nice homely and intimate feel. Seating is a mix of high tables and stools to the left and regular tables and chairs through the centre and to the front right. Windows run along the front and left walls with white tongue and groove panels in between, whilst a dull, bare wall to the right is only partly remedied by the addition of a large plain mirror. The small servery stands to the right of the room and has a back-lit panelled counter with curved ends and an attractive bar back with some nice stained-glass top panels and some modest chandeliers hung above it. A huge TV screen at the end of the bar was showing a muted football match whilst Bob Dylan tunes played quietly in the background. Beyond the bar, the room is even darker, with candlelit tables under bare brick walls decorated with mirrors and a few bits of retro décor. The pub’s most notable feature is a small, enclosed booth for two on the left-hand wall, which looked a bit like a confessional to me. The pub feels small but has a surprising amount of space and seating, although some overspill is available in the form of a few picnic benches outside the front door. There are three handpulls on the bar which were dispensing Sharps Doom Bar and Dark Star Hophead (£4.50), with the final pump unclipped. The Hophead was in pretty good nick, which was rather fortunate, as this was the last pint of cask ale I had prior to the enforced closure of pubs due to the coronavirus crisis. The barmaid here was very personable and explained that they have a minimum £5 spend for card payments, so I was pleased to find I had some cash on me for such an occasion. I visited this place in the evening and found the muted lighting and dark décor gave the place a really nice, cosy vibe, enhanced by a bubbly atmosphere and some decent cask ale. The place falls short as a destination pub but would certainly be somewhere I’d be happy to spend some time when I’m next back up this way.

A nice little pub, obviously much as Alan found it a few weeks before me,two beers were on, Doom Bar and Dark Star Hophead along with Rosie's Pig Cider, the interior was quite cosy and almost parlour-like, worth stopping for a pint.

The Oak & Pastor is a decent looking pub that is situated towards the top end of Junction Road and a short walk to Archway tube station. Once inside there is a smallish single oblong shaped room which runs to the rear,the bar is on the mid right side,the floor is bare boarded and the seating is tall tables and chairs on the left side and normal tables and chairs elsewhere. There were two real ales on the bar and a real cider,i had a drink of Dark Star Hop Head,which was a very nice drink,the other real ale was Doom Bar. There is a nice outside seating area to the front so you can watch traffic going up and down Junction Road. I quite liked it in this pub,one i could settle in. Pub visited 2/6/2017

Oak & Pastor official site, contains event details - oakandpastor.com

Oak & Pastor official site, contains event details - oakandpastor.com