The Army & Navy, N16

The exterior is all quite traditional but the Guiness signs outside indicate it's Irish orientation.The interior is worthy of inspection with a small right front section with a darts board and the route to the beer garden.The main body of the pub has a L shaped bar and throughout the flooring is laid to carpet.There is a stage in the corner apex,the ceiling has an interesting finish while the three flatscreens were on mute for the Test match,while the muzak was gentle.A fruit machine was evident but there are also some interesting original features in this 30's design.There is another dartsboard at the far end. The welcome was friendly ,and the regulars greated each other as they arrived,it's a community boozer for the local Irish but that theme is not overdone and I didn't see a tricolour anywhere. Of course there is no real ale,so the best option seemed to be Beavertown Neck Oil (£5.70) alongside Gamma Ray. If you enjoy pub heritage this place will please you,sadly the lack of ale limits it's offering.

Visited by us for the first time last week and unchanged since the previous reviews, this is an A. E. Sewell hostelry built for Truman’s in 1936, featuring the brewer’s motifs to the exterior: the name and eagle logotype along with bow window looking like a florist’s display. Also featured are less attractive aftermarket signs advertising Moretti, Fosters, Heineken and Guinness, for this is an avowedly Irish pub. The building is also Grade II-listed and features on CAMRA’s heritage list for having an Interior of Regional Importance, typical of Sewell’s other ‘modern’ or ‘improved’ pubs which feature his trademark white Vitrolite ceilings along with Truman’s mirrors and their beers advertised; some leaded stained-glass windows are still in place. The floor is carpeted and there’s a small, raised stage area to one end; furniture is traditional and low with velour upholstery. There are brick fireplaces, sadly blocked off but the interior features much brown lacquered wood with some bare brick. The bar back is original and features a scrollwork wrought iron pot shelf; it’s all very evocative of the 1930s. There are almost too many TVs to count, showing the football from multiple angles; a projector screen also seems to exist. Easy listening played over the gramophone. There’s a beer garden which is home to the young incomers, a far cry from the much older customers in the bar area, the two of us constituting the exception. There’s a sea of illuminated chrome founts on the bar but there’s no real ale that I could see, so I plumped for a pint of Guinness at a very agreeable £4.10 and in decent nick, poured by a very friendly barman, delivered by an equally friendly barmaid. This pub is worth a look on the heritage trail, but there’s a better example of Sewell’s work just up the road from here – the Rose & Crown – which sells a selection of real ales, none of which are bathed in a green glow from the TVs.