The Nags Head, Walthamstow, E17

When in the Walthamstow area I would definitely recommend a detour to the old Walthamstow village section with its decent restaurants and pubs, especially as the new Wild Card Brewery now complements these. Of the three pubs in the Village, the slightly quirky Nags Head remains my favourite and every time I visit I feel more at home here. This time it was just for a quick one early afternoon before visiting the aforementioned new Microbrewery and it did not disappoint. A congenial chilled Saturday afternoon crowd were in and a couple of good halves of Redemption Trinity and Colchester Brewery Double Brown Ale were enjoyed. I know this pub isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it is mine and gets an extra mark for being consistently good on my visits.

It doesn’t seem that this pub has changed in any material way since the previous reviewer’s visit, although when I was in on Wednesday there was no sign of any cats, nor did I get to meet the landlady. The food is still Italian themed, with a full range of pizze available (from £6 to £10 or so). I had a Parma ham and cheese ciabatta which was a good quality snack for £6. Apparently this was good news for the young (and apparently hungry) barmaid as this meant she could get the chef to make one for her as well! Real ale is clearly important here as well, with Timothy Taylor Landlord; Sharp’s Doom Bar; Castle Rock Harvest Pale; something called Black Diamond (a dark beer with a light citrus taste according to the clip); and Dartmoor Brewery Jail Ale (a strongish 4.8% rich brown ale in great nick) all on, with an Otter clip reversed. As well as a range of the less usually seen lagers, they also advertised Pimms and something called Flossie’s Summer Floozie, incorporating marmalade vodka (!), and elderflower pressé. This is now a single-room pub, with a couple of sofas, but is mainly furnished with normal tables and chairs. Said tables are covered with red velvelette tablecloths, presumably tipping a hat to the Italian theme. Madam La Zonga’s lounge is still apparently a going concern upstairs on Thurs/Fri & Sat evenings, but on other evenings the room is apparently used for other activities such as pilates, life drawing and wine tasting. Other things worth mentioning are the beer garden at the back, the picnic benches at the front, the free wi-fi, and the fact that there are parking restrictions, although the pub will sell 2-hour permits to customers for £1. The child restrictions still seem to apply. This pub is set in the heart of picturesque Walthamstow Village, and I reckon is something of a hidden backstreet gem. But perhaps I’m a bit influenced by the presence of five ales, including the excellent Dartmoor Jail Ale following my poor beer experiences in preceding pubs. I don’t expect to visit Walthamstow too often, but if I did I would be happy to visit this one again. I really wouldn’t mind having this one as my local.

I have to say I was much more taken with the Nags Head than the previous reviewers, but then a lot of that was due to the fact that I am a cat lover and my kids have grown and flown and therefore I would rather not nowadays share a pint with other peoples, but have no problem with the pub cat deciding he wants to use my lap as a seat. Therefore a quirky pub that celebrates cats and is so openly child hostile is fine by me. The slightly quirky interior based around the central bar is as described by the reviewers below and provides plenty of areas to sit. I can understand why the focus on cats could be off putting to some. As maybe the various rules signs dictating what you can and can’t do. And for parents these include “Children are not permitted inside the pub”, but are “welcome in our heated garden to the rear” as long as they are long gone by 7:30pm. And “You can park your bikes and pushchair's at the side entrance where there are designated bike ramps”, and you get the feeling you would be in big trouble if you put your bike anywhere else. The front of the pub has a number of tables and chairs and there is a spacious garden at the back of the pub, with fairy lights strung in the trees to make the more pretentious local residents feel comfortable. The garden is accessible from the bar or for those with small people, by the side access. And there is a function room upstairs which I didn’t venture into, badged as “Madame La Zonga's”, with silhouettes of ladies of a dubious nature in the windows which are lit with a red glow at night to try and give it a bit of an edgy feel. But don’t worry, you won’t be finding a knocking shop above a pub in “the Village”, they are all well away, above shops back behind the Walthamstow High Street. And on Sunday they have a resident live Jazz band called "The Stowaways" who play from 5pm until 8pm. Food is served and is Italian themed and mainly Pizza’s. But we didn’t eat here as we were visiting for the beer. And on that front alongside Peroni, Kozel, Hoegaarden, and Pilsner Urquell on draught there is six real ales on the go, which for our visit were TT Landlord, Deuchars IPA, St Austells Tribute, Hook Norton Lion, Colchester Brewery Burton Pale Ale and the truly excellent Mighty Oak Oscar Wild, which from what I could make out seems to be a fairly regular feature. The couple we tried were well kept and the Oscar wild was as excellent as it should be. Good beer? Yes. Quirky and different from the normal? Yes. A characterful landlady? Apparently but not in for our visit. A good pub to go to ? Well I guess that will be down to your personal taste. But I liked it and I will be back.