Londesborough, Stoke Newington, N16

This is a fairly conventional mid-Victorian corner pub in a standard Stoke Newington backstreet. Not surprisingly it has been made over to a certain extent, though not painfully so. The floor is bare of course and there are chunky old school tables and conventional wooden chairs. Naturally bare brick and grey paint clichés abound, but there are some vestigial polychromatic glazed tiles to remind the drinker of better times past. The bar frontage is traditional too, with deep field panelled bare wood. To the walls, there are some film and sporting event posters. On high, lighting comes from some attractive steel chandeliers. On the bar there are pies of some description which aren’t covered in any way, so I’d rather not be the one to eat them, though there’s real food too, probably served in the spacious rear of the pub. Music played over the gramophone, but at a sensible level. The bare staff were friendly – one unused clip thereafter Harvey’s Sussex Best and Purity’s Mad Goose at £4.60 a pint and in very good nick it was too. This is a decent pub, probably the best of the three in this enclave. It’s not as made over as the Prince and has better beer and lacks the rough edges and sport orientation of the Shakespeare – worth popping in, but not worthy of a special trip.

Official site of Londesborough - www.thelondesborough.com

Official site of Londesborough - www.thelondesborough.com