Islington Arts Club, N1

I read the previous reviews with a bit of a wry smile and know exactly where they are coming from, and for the pub traditionalist, what they have done to this former Victorian corner pub is a complete travesty. But this is trendy Upper Street, full in the teeth of the gentrification which has swept through Islington and made Upper Street completely unrecognisable from the street which still holds the record of providing the most frightening evening of my life back in 1981 when I was caught up in all the silliness at the height of the riots sweeping the UK. So the trick with a lot of the establishments on Upper Street is to consider them to be trendy cocktail and wine bars and then you will get The Library. Whilst walking back to the tube station we were attracted in by the blackboard proclaiming half price Happy Hour on all cocktails and I entered with no preconceptions of this being a normal pub visit. As others report this is the place to take your good lady to and gaze into her eyes across the Tee light candles, if you can see where her eyes are in the gloom of the dark interior. Or for the young and trendy things of Islington Borough to meet in after work and make a couple of bottles of Pinot Grigio disappear. But for someone who the expression of young and trendy has not been applied for many moons I did find something of interest when approaching the bar. Although there is still nothing interesting on the taps they have caught the Craft Ale fever and a large chalk board above the bar details a decent range of bottled beers now available. These included brews from Bristol beer factory, Brewdog and the local Beaver Town Brewery. The wife was happy with her two half priced cocktails and I was happy with a couple of bottles of Punk IPA and BBF Independence, so the dim ambience and wine bar feel of the Library was fit for purpose for our visit, but suffice to say not one I will be dragging the lads back to for a session..

Originally the Angel & Crown but having had a series of trendy name changes (the Cedar Room, the Lush Bar, Independence) it has now settled on the Library which was quite apt given my previous visit here when the bum to seat ratio came out firmly in favour of the seats. My recent visit found it populated enough not to get a seat but not over packed although a couple at the bar before me walked out, clearly fed up with the wait to be served. There loss was my gain as I was served immediately upon their departure although given the choice at the bar, this may not have been a good thing. Being an ale free zone, I decided to go adventurous and opted for a pint of Leffe Blonde for which my fiver was still 6 bob short and since I don’t normally drink the stuff I can’t say whether this was good value or not but my general feeling suggests the latter. The interior has little going for it, in fact it is quite a dingy place consisting of a knocked through room with bar at the far end. At the front is a raised stage area (in the process of being set up for some live music) and by the main door, a DJ Booth. To be honest, I only popped in as my previous visit was some time ago and didn’t warrant a review and I wanted to get an update to present a fair and current reflection of the place. I can now say it’s still as dismal as before.

This pub is on the busy upper street but once inside here it was very quiet just like a library so they got the name right. Getting served here was easy as there were about 7 bar staff and one customer,there were no real ales on here with the only bitter being John Smiths smooth rubbish so i had a Guinness. This is not my sort of pub.