Three Crowns, Stoke Newington, N16

A nice looking pub inside and out,now opened out inside and although it must have been an impressive place in the past I didn't think it was too badly modernised. Only three beers on Sunday lunchtime,Hackney Best Bitter, Tintagel Castle Gold and Harbour Special,I opted for the Gold which turned out to be off so moved on to the Harbour Special which was anything but Special so bad I left half of it,I didn't risk a go at the Hackney as there seem to be much in the way of cellarmanship going on here.Its a shame as I quite liked the pub but the beer was disgusting. A 7/10 has become a 4.

They had five ales on in here - Sambrook's Wandle; Hackney Brewery Best Bitter; Sharp's Cornish Coaster; plus the Tintagel Brewery pair of Castle Gold and Harbour Special (£2 a half). There's clearly a Cornish theme here with the open to view kitchen labelled the "Cornish Grill". I saw a chalkboard on the back wall advertising half a dozen starters and four main courses. The latter included ox cheeks with mash etc at £13.50, and onglet steak, peppercorn sauce, chips and salad at £13.95. This must have been an absolutely magnificent pub once, if the exterior, with its large frontage and polished granite pillars is anything to go by. But the inside's been completely trashed (the perpetrators would say modernised) over the years. It's obviously massive inside; the end room, labelled the "Saloon Lounge" has a large skylight, suggesting that it might have been used for snooker at some stage. The whole place is furnished with normal tables and chairs plus some sofas, with more than its fair share of those small, hard, recycled school or church chairs. Obviously there's some exposed brickwork, and too much use of indigo paintwork for my liking. When I was in on Saturday afternoon the place was very busy, and thus very noisy, with family groups. It felt as if I had blundered into a Nando's. The only thing I can think of to recommend this pub is the superb Tintagel Harbour Special. But maybe others like these raucus pubs, and good luck to them I say. This one is cetainly doing something right judging by the numbers in on Saturday afternoon, and the tables that were reserved for later in the day.

This must have been an impressive pub in its heyday.Large L shaped and now a nice modern interior.Lots of seating.Open kitchen to the front.Empty at 7.30 on Wed night.Band rehearsing in the basement and the vibrations were coming up from the floor into my feet.Weird feeling.Three cask beer Hackney-apa,Tintagel -castle gold and my Five points -pale ale.Top beer.Hate big empty pubs with barstaff wiping tables that don't need wiping,moving chairs and trying to look busy.

If the Wetherspoons up the road is where you can find all the ugly people around Newington Green on a Sunday afternoon, then the Three Crowns is where you will find all the beautiful young things and their precious kids and oversized buggies treating the place as if it is a restaurant, which in essence it is.. Gastro pub with the usual stripped back décor and basically totally set up for dining. Yes there are ale hand pumps on the bar dispensing the usual suspects of Doombar , GK IPA and Pride, and fortunately Castle Gold from the Tintagel Brewery, but this is not the type of place for just a beer whilst the kitchen is open.