Tapping the Admiral, NW1

Quite close to Kentish Town West station, but hidden away in a side street and not the sort of place you would find by chance. Unremarkable façade, but the interior of the 'J'-shaped bar is comfortable with pleasingly traditional furniture and decor. Offers an excellent range of beers and ciders from ten handpumps, including a fine pint of Franklins Smoked Porter. Well worth seeking out.

This is an unspoilt back street boozer of the kind that has largely disappeared in London. It's a small single bar corner pub with wooden floors right next to the North London Line viaduct. The surrounding area is a mix of gentrified terraces and newer council estates. As has been said before, it was once the Trafalgar but I am unable to find which of the Big Six brewers originally owned it. The earliest reference I can find is of it selling GK IPA and Abbot, so it appears to have been a Greene King house for a time and was later part of the Firkin chain, both surprising as it IS off the beaten track. On my visit seven of the eight pumps were in use with Dark Star Hophead, Adnam's Broadside, Redemption Felloship Porter, Twickenham Strange Brew, Windsor & Eton Canberra, London Fields Shoreditch Triangle and another London area brew that I failed to write down. It was quiet on my early afternoon weekday visit but despite this the two beers I tried were in superb condition, the Fellowship and Shoreditch Triangle both at £3.50 (inclusive of the 30p discount). There were leaflets on the tables advertising a Thai lunch for a fiver, which seems very good value. This is a "must visit" pub in my book, especially given that most pubs of this ilk tend to open late on weekday afternoons. Be warned though, although it is geographically very close to Kentish Town West station, there does not seem to be a direct route between there and the pub.

This pub is hidden away down some backstreets near Kentish Town station, in the sort of location you’d never stumble across, so it’s nice to know that the people who frequent it have made a bit of effort to seek it out. The pub has a distorted U shape layout, wrapping itself around a servery, with a wedge shaped right hand side, which affords a good deal more room than your normal U shaped pub. The left hand side has some nice comfortable looking seating options, a few old pictures on the walls and a selection of board games stacked up at the far end. There are a few stools and a drinking ledge at the front of the pub before the room opens out to an area where bench and low stool seating has been arranged along one wall, with some small partitioning screens between the benches creating booth-like sections. Near the front door there was a lit fire and I was very lucky to find a table right next to it, which made me a little reluctant to explore the pub fully. I did however, notice some mightily impressive brewery adverts on the walls, including a huge one for Truman’s above the fireplace. Above the hop-lined servery, the canopy had some words from Blake’s Jerusalem (the poem, not the famous hymn) written on it which had a bit of local resonance: Pancras and Kentish Town repose Among her golden pillars high, Among her golden arches which Shine upon the starry sky. Out the back, I noticed there was a decent sized strip of covered patio, with a fair bit of picnic bench seating. There was a mixed crowd in, ranging from a couple of rough blokes at the bar who got a bit lairy with me for no apparent reason, to an excessively posh group of young women who I ended up sat next to. A fine row of hand pumps offered Adnams Ghost Ship, Southwold Bitter and Oyster Stout, Dark Star Hophead, London Fields Porter (£3.50) Clarence and Fredericks Smoked Red and Twickenham Entire Butts. A left of mainstream keg range included the likes of Meantime London Pale. I gave the Porter a try and it was in fine form and served to me by a very friendly and welcoming barman. This place is easily walkable from Camden and makes an ideal pre-gig venue if you want to get away from the crowds and find somewhere to relax over a well kept pint or two. I was very impressed by this place and I don’t think it will be too long before I find myself back here again.

After being closed for a number of years this backstreet pub was re-opened relatively recently under its new moniker by the people who run the lovely Pineapple in Kentish Town. It doesn’t actually sit that far from the mainline rail station and is a 10 minute stroll from Camden Town and Chalk Farm Tubes (which made for a handy stop before Deacon Blue at the nearby Roundhouse), though being off the main drag you have to know where you’re headed and if you go a certain way you skirt round the edge of a 60’s estate that looks a little iffy in the dark. The interior has been fairly well done with a number of fairly eccentric knick-knacks on the walls (and ceiling – fans and chandeliers) that stay on the right side of interesting rather than twee…and I’m always a sucker for retro metal advertising boards especially when they’re from old and defunct breweries. The ambience of the place was nice, even if it was a little quiet for a weekday evening. The staff were friendly and very helpful on my visit though they forgot to mention the 20p CAMRA discount; mind you at £3.30 a pint I hadn’t really seen much of a scope for having one anyway in Camden. Four of the seven pumps were in operation and I had a nice pint of Redemption Fellowship, with W&E, Dark Star and Adnams also on. I followed that with a home-brewed winter warmer ‘grog’ which was nice if a touch expensive at £4 though it did come, oddly, with some sort of Zorro mask on the glass fashioned out of a napkin by the barmaid; whether this was standard or just her little touch I don’t know but it was fun nonetheless. There were also some ‘proper’ ciders and a more interesting keg selection than the usual. Food was offered, solid Brit-centric pub grub at a reasonable rate for the area. I was rather taken with this one and will try and make it the default destination when in the area, it’s certainly good for a calm pre-gig beer or five (especially seeing as the Roundhouse has a pretty poor bar). I shall be back…

The detailed descriptions below are accurate. Service is not only friendly but also very good, and although I was kept waiting, having arrived at the same time as a few other people, the person serving was quick to call for reinforcements and my presence was acknowledged, which is more than anyone had managed at the previous two pubs this evening. My beer choice was limited by the fact that I had to get back on my bike, otherwise I'd have been tempted to sample more than the Oldershaw Newton's Drop. I called again the next night, when two of the seven ales had changed, and on this occasion had the Dark Star Hophead. Both beers were in excellent condition. Having neglected to inform myself of the Camra members discount, I was happy paying £3.30 after the horrors of the ridiculously inflated prices that prevail down the road in Camden Town. I'll certainly be coming here again, if only for the opportunity to flash my Camra card.

A pub called the Castle originally stood here but was replaced by the current building in the 1850’s, known then as the Trafalgar in honour of Lord Nelson who often visited family in the area. The pub now stands tucked away in the back street estates just off the main Camden drag and isn’t obvious unless you are specifically looking for it. The pub has recently been renovated, renamed and reopened by the same people behind the Pineapple in nearby Kentish Town and has a Real Ale agenda at its core which, for the area, is a bold move. Externally it stands out as a survivor amid the neighbouring building and one side appears to have been a later addition making if a slight odd shape once inside. The drinking areas wrap themselves either side of a central bar and at the rear is small and cramped, covered patio area. The décor is quite plain with a mix of old and modern pictures, bare floors, half frosted windows, old road signs and candle decked tables. Despite its recent makeover it hasn’t gone so far down the line that it has lost all of its character. Generally there are 8 ales on the go with Adnams appearing to be a constant plus 7 rotational guest beers from micro breweries including many local ales. From my last visit I noted 2 from Redemption (Urban Dusk & Hopspur), 2 from Trumans (Runner & Swallow & Swift), Dark Star Hophead, Windsor & Eton Conqueror and one pump empty. Prices are reasonable for the area to start with (around £3.30 a pint) but there is a discount for CAMRA members (the website says 20p but they seemed to knock off 30p every time I waved my card at them). Foodwise they appear to have ditched the previous Thai food in favour of a more classic British menu with prices around £8-£10 for main courses. Service is friendly and the atmosphere seems civilized enough although it hasn’t been very busy on my brace of visits so far suggesting that word hasn’t really filtered out too far. Since Camden is hardly a hotbed for ale fans, if you find yourself in the area and at a loss, you’ll find this quite an oasis.