The Hen & Chickens Theatre Bar, N1

Despite the name, this is a cosy traditional pub, with mainly tall tables and a welcoming feel, with a pub theatre upstairs in the old pool room. The exterior is also nice, with hanging flowers and a good old illuminated Bass sign. Sadly the only ale on offer was London Pride, which was a little disappointing having waited for the place to open (evenings only Mon - Thurs).

This pub was absolutely heaving when I was in at about 6.30 PM on Wednesday. But we managed to get to the bar to see that they had Doom Bar, London Pride, and Adnam's Ghost Ship on handpump. Nothing as good as the selection the previous reviewer found in here, but the Ghost Ship tasted good. This was the last of several pubs to offer some little reader thing when we wanted to pay, but we used money anyway. But I did learn that one shouldn't stand in front of the card reader at the bar, because it's constantly in use. It really is a theatre bar, so I guess gets busy with theatre patrons. I did notice the bit of old tiling by the corner, and the mirror above the fireplace was an attractive piece. Not so sure about the exposed brickwork, which when exposed in pubs is rough old stuff that was never meant to see the light of day. There were lots of (but not exclusively) tall tables/tall stool in order to maximise the limited space available. The crowd in there seemed to be having a jolly time, and it's good to see a well patronised pub in full swing. But of course it does have a very prominent corner-site location. It's OK, but not the best pub we visited in the area that day.

Right on the busy Highbury Corner,this theatre bar is quite small but has it's charm.A square room with armchairs infront of a fireplace ,a drinking shelf running under a front window,high tables opoposite the modest bar,and a raised booth to the side.There is some original internal glazed tiling around the apex door ,and the entrance to the theatre is roped off.Some very limited space outside for vertical drinking and smoking. At the bar there are 3 handpumps offering on my trip Sharp's Manu Bay,Redcastle Red Lady and London Brewing Beer Street (ok condition but BBB).Pub grub mainly pizzas,standard kegs ,selection of gins it was proving popular on Saturday afternoon and had a decent boozer atmosphere but could easily get packed before Arsenal home games.

Decent enough one room pub with the bar to the rear. Three hand pumps with one at 5% ABV. Rest keg. Reasonable start to the afternoon crawl.