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Disappointment of the week with Mobyduck
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Submitted on Saturday, 17th October 2009
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Detail Pages
The Charlotte Despard, Archway, N19
N19
N19 3TX
Served areas
⊙¿⊙ ɯɹoʍoƃuoq
@TheGunnersPub @Tweet_Dec Sunglasses and an earpiece
7:46 PM Jun 13th from Twitter for Android
Reviews of The Charlotte Despard (Average Rating: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Charlotte Despard
It would seem that this is a relatively modern conversion dating from around 1984, originally Marler’s Bar, then the Dog, previously the Settle Inn, this name arriving in the 2000s and as mentioned, it was named after the suffragette whose name was taken for the adjoining street in this rather unprepossessing location.
Ignoring the publicity reviews, the pub appears a bit scruffy, not least because of the many blacked out windows and I won’t bother describing the interior as you can do a 360° tour on Google, with photos on their website. Suffice to say that the colour scheme has changed, with grey wainscoting to white walls with modern lighting and a megavision screen to the right-hand wall. Décor comes in the form of trendy prints and books in shelves and an LGBTI+ flag, whilst customers were young and a bit studenty; a white and ginger cat mooches about the place too.
Ales amounted to just an unused pump, then a reversed ELB Cowcatcher clip, then local Hammerton N7 at £2.40 a half and ok, served by a very taciturn barmaid (landlady?) who told me that it was cash-only, without warning; when will pubs realise that if they have a payment preference, it must by law be clearly displayed, though fortunately I had – just – enough cash to pay. If she reads this, perhaps she’d like to explain why the website says ‘cash or card’?
This is a bit of a depressing place, with vastly superior pubs in Highgate, not least the reborn Winchester a few hundred yards north of here, the obsession with sport and feeble ale choice being disincentives to making a return, not to mention the misinformation regarding payment.
On 14th January 2023
- rating: 3
[User has posted 1983 recommendations about 1949 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Charlotte Despard
This is a mid-sized, partly modernised pub on the Archway Road, on the corner of Despard Road which, like the pub, takes its name from the British suffragette Charlotte Despard. The pub has a split-level interior, all of which is bare boarded and has half panelled walls with plain painted uppers. You enter to the lower front section which has the servery over to the left and a row of big pillars through the centre which break the space up in a very effective manner. Tables and chairs run in rows either side of the pillars and there are some comfy sofas and hard pews to the far right, with a pool table filling some dead space in the front right corner. The bar has a fairly high counter with a nice panelled front and a pub cat sat proudly at the far end. The bar back is a somewhat plain affair, livened up a little by a colourful, backlit Vedett sign. A step or two take you up to the rear part of the room where pew, bench and chair seating serves a number of tables in what feels like the pub’s cosiest spot. A TV screen on one wall remained off during the course of my stay, a couple of well stocked bookcases have some interesting items in them (I spent most of my visit thumbing through a Gary Larson book I found there) and there is a fun ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ art print on the back wall. You ascend again for a very small rear right area with a sofa, dartboard and inactive TV screen. Lots of miscellaneous breweriana can be found dotted around the whole pub, which was soundtracked by some fine post-rock tunes, incongruously mixed in with 80’s pop hits.
I’d hoped to find some decent beer here, two handpulls had reversed clips and the third seemed to be out of action altogether, which was a real shame and meant I had to pick one of the craft keg beers from their modest draught selection. I forget what I picked, but it was nothing particularly out of the ordinary. Service was a bit brusque and there were only a small handful of other customers in attendance.
I thought this place had the potential to be a great pub, so was very much let down by the lack of cask ale, the surly service and flat atmosphere. I’d be interested in checking the place out again if I could be sure they had some decent beer on, but may well resort to alternative nearby options in the meantime.
On 9th July 2020
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The Charlotte Despard
Now open again after a period when there appears to have been some dispute with the landlord (owner of the premises). Judging by the review posted in December 2010 by the landlord (operator of the public house) nothing much seems to have changed in the interim.
There are five hand pumps, serving a cider and four ales, two of which were local Sambrook Wandle and Redemption Pale Ale, the others being the now ubiquitous Sharps Doom Bar and the almost equally prevalent St Austell Tribute. I had the Wandle for my first pint, which was refreshing but a little too hoppy for me to have a second, so I had the Doom Bar, but this was unfortunately a little tired, though still OK.
The music was just a little too loud for me to have a comfortable conversation with my daughter, though the sofa and arm chairs near to the kitchen provided some respite, the nearest loudspeaker being sufficiently distant to make shouting unnecessary.
On 23rd October 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3733 recommendations about 3470 pubs]
View more reviews of The Charlotte Despard (6)
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- Official site of The Charlotte Despard - www.thecharlottedespard.co.uk
- The Charlotte Despard blog - www.thecharlottedespard.blogspot.com
- Facebook - The Charlotte Despard
- Twitter - ⊙¿⊙ ɯɹoʍoƃuoq
- CAMRA WhatPub :: The Charlotte Despard - whatpub.com
Crouch Hill, 1.09 miles, 21 min walk (show)
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Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 13 January 2023 by Tris C
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 13 January 2023 by Tris C
- Beer Festivals : No last updated 13 January 2023 by Tris C
- Beer Garden : No last updated 09 July 2020 by Pub SignMan
- Car Park : No last updated 13 January 2023 by Tris C
- Darts : Yes last updated 13 January 2023 by Tris C
- Function Room : No last updated 09 July 2020 by Pub SignMan
- Hot Food : No last updated 13 January 2023 by Tris C
- Jukebox : Yes last updated 13 January 2023 by Tris C
- Karaoke : No last updated 09 July 2020 by Pub SignMan
- Live Music : No last updated 13 January 2023 by Tris C
- Live TV Sports : Yes last updated 13 January 2023 by Tris C
- Micropub : No last updated 09 July 2020 by Pub SignMan
- Pinball : No last updated 09 July 2020 by Pub SignMan
- Pool Table : Yes last updated 13 January 2023 by Tris C
- Quiz Night : Yes - Tuesdays 8.30. - last updated 13 January 2023 by Tris C
- Real Ale : Yes - GBG 2014. - last updated 13 January 2023 by Tris C
- Real Cider : No last updated 09 July 2020 by Pub SignMan
- WiFi : Yes last updated 13 January 2023 by Tris C
