User name:

Password:

Login


Sign in with Facebook


Not already a member?
Join our community and - Rate & review pubs - Upload pictures - Add events JOIN for free NOW


Chat about:
New pub visits 2024 with Brainypool on the Pub Forum

The Worlds End, Camden Town, NW1

174 Camden High Street
NW1
NW1 0NE
Phone: 02074821932

Return to pub summary

Reviews (Current Rating Average: of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Bucking Fastard left this review about The Worlds End

It's easy to make a quip about this pub given it's name and tourist location but there are surprising features.The best part is the traditional looking pub entrance opposite the tube .There is a classic island bar,pleasing wooden dividers,a traditional feel and limited seating , a dark moody colour scheme with music to match.Not too busy either,yet no handpumps just the usual keg offering with Beavertown Gamma Ray seeming the best option at £3.99 the half.
However there is a wide corridor with a private attractive staircase beyond which is a vast back bar situated in a covered former courtyard and with a substantail lower side lounge in another fomer building.The bar here is also an island and also keg only,a single handpumps stood felourn and unclipped.There is a Staropramen tank ,with a mezzanine level looking down on the tank and the throng below.There are seating booths to the side,lots of exposed brickwork and bouncers on the side doors to this back area.Merchandise for sale,pub grub and staff rushing around this was a very busy area.Popular with younger drinkers.
A pub of two halves,I would stick to the more traditional front but the lack of real ale might temper any temptation to return.

On 29th October 2023 - rating: 6
[User has posted 2709 recommendations about 2709 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Pub SignMan left this review about The Worlds End

Popped in for a quick pint ahead of another Underworld gig, only to find all handpulls have vanished from both bars and a pint of Beavertown Neck Oil costs £6.95 I like this place, but find it increasingly difficult to justify a visit.

Original review 2nd November 2014, Rated 5
This huge pub on an island site opposite Camden Town tube station, was built in 1875 and expanded in 1988 from a much smaller venue into the 1000+ capacity pub we find today. The pub was previously known as Mother Red Cap in reference to an infamous local woman whose cottage once stood on this site. Trying to get a feel for the pub in one visit is quite a task. On my recent visit, I entered through the station side entrance into the smaller bar where an island servery dominates a carpeted area with large windows on three sides. The servery is dark wood and there is a decorative moulded ceiling and some modern floral wallpaper. A nice fireplace stands on the end wall with fixed bench seating down one side and a mix of sofas and cosy looking booths down the other. The front corner has a series of high shelves displaying ancient looking ceramics, books, sewing machines, radios and the like. Moving through a rather spartan mid section with a few high tables and stools, you pass a lower level seating area with tub chairs, butterflies in display cases on the walls and a similar dark wood/floral wallpaper theme. You eventually emerge into the vast main bar area with flagstone floor, lots of high tables or barrels with high stools and a high, gabled skylit ceiling. Several old iron beams and pillars run around the room giving it a bit of a sense of history. Over to one side, a shop window style wall has been constructed, displaying various odds and ends and referencing the Mother Red Cap name, whilst an old pub sign is suspended above the bar and large modern art pieces line the walls. Stairs lead up to a mezzanine area with sofas and standard seating looking down over the bar. A loud rock soundtrack played throughout my late evening visit and the pub has its own live music venue, The Underworld, downstairs, where you can normally catch some good music at the heavier end of the spectrum.
On the bar, just the two ales - Greene King IPA and Morland Old Speckled Hen - plus a fairly mainstream keg range with Brooklyn Lager the stand out option. My pint of Hen was served by a gruff, disinterested barman and wasn't really up to much, although it was marginally better than the keg bitter I had to make do with in the Underworld later that evening.
It's hard to know what to make of this place, as it's far too big to be able to get a fully formed picture. I get the impression that there are some spots you could bag here that might make it feel a bit more pub-like, but the poor beer, surly service and raucous environment will be off-putting for many. I shall continue to use this for the occasional pre-Underworld gig pint, but otherwise this is worth a visit to marvel at the scale of the place before moving on.

On 15th June 2022 - rating: 4
[User has posted 3102 recommendations about 3102 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Tris C left this review about The Worlds End

I came here once, before a New Year's Eve party around 1991 so thought that another visit was in order. It's much as I vaguely remember it, though it has been smartened up.
The pub was originally called Old Mother Red Caps and dates from 1631, rebuilt in the mid/late-19th century, expanded and renamed the World's End in 1989.
This pub isn't big inside because it's *vast*. Some pubs have a two-bar format, this is more a two-pub format, with separate island bars separated by a hike, flagstone floors, lowered drinking zones and an upstairs mezzanine drinking area. At ground floor level there are break-out areas. As mentioned, the pub has recently been redecorated with a smart gold lettering on black frontage and Victorian interior that seems to have been influenced by the Midland Grand Hotel (St. Pancras Station). There are slender columns with elaborate capitals, some bare brick walls and some covered with recreation Victorian wallpaper; the overall effect is slightly overwhelming.
Some of the flooring is part carpeted, part bare boarded. Muted Pink Floyd played over the gramophone and sadly, there are some games machines. I may have imagined it, but the pub actually seems to have a number of shops incorporated into it, including a tattoo parlour! You can also feel the vibrations from the tube trains when they pass beneath.
Ales: Greene King IPA and Moreland's Old Speckled Hen at a steep £2.70 a half and not great.
This pub is definitely worth a visit on a quiet early evening, early week visit, but I wouldn't touch the place on a Friday or Saturday evening and I wouldn't want to spend the whole evening in here.

On 11th October 2016 - rating: 4
[User has posted 1956 recommendations about 1923 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Worlds End

A Camden landmark, certainly, but not much to write home about as a pub. Two bars, one a large island, with an additional mezzanine seating area. Old Speckled Hen and Bombardier (£3.70) on handpump. Perhaps worth it for a short spell of people watching, but not a place to hang about in. NB - Review dates from August 2011.

On 21st January 2012 - rating: 5
[User has posted 8066 recommendations about 8066 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Steve of N21 left this review about The Worlds End

Cannot improve to describe the pub or the ambience of this place over previous reviews, so wont try.
Except to concur that if you are in Camden for any event it's well worth a drink in here first as it will be an experience probably unlike most other pub going experiences.
On a weekend night you can find most forms of human life in here, as was the case last night..

On 19th June 2011 - rating: 4
[User has posted 2094 recommendations about 1985 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Roger Button left this review about The Worlds End

One of the best known pubs in the area and whilst it probably won’t rank among the greatest pubs you will ever visit, it is a place that should be experienced if you find yourself in the area. Its location near the tube station, make it an ideal base camp for the many and varied attractions in the vicinity although its size means that arranging to meet someone here is difficult at the best of times and especially tough at peak times when the place does get extremely packed.

The main bar is these days housed in what was an old flag stoned courtyard that has now been glazed over. Around the edges are fake Victorian shop fronts that give the place a Dickensian feel. A spiral staircase leads to a mezzanine balcony with additional seating offering a bird’s eye view of the hordes below. An opening at one end leads to a food counter (“Foodstuffs”) and off to one side is a sunken room labeled as a “dining room” but not this label appears to be a bit misleading. Furtehr on is what was the original pub with its own separate bar and many original features including a fancy patterned ceiling and a couple fireplaces. Some of the wall displays include old picturesm, certificates and stuffed animals.

The beers are very mundane with the usual kegs and lagers and just 2 ales, a very pricey Bombardier and Old Speckled Hen (£3.40 on my recent visit). Being Camden, you can expect a mix of customers with a good proportion of Goths, Punks, Metalheads and general weirdos but in all my visits I have never seen any trouble or had any hassle.

Down in the basement is the excellent Underworld live music venue hosting mainly punk, metal and indie bands.

The Worlds End may have its faults and detractors but for me it is an integral part of the Camden scene and the area would be a less colourful without it.

On 6th May 2010 - rating: 6
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Quinno _ left this review about The Worlds End

Stuck my head round the door for a quick look - didn't hang around as there was no ale as far as I could see. A sign outside attempts to lay claim to some sort of pub size record in the UK (though there are a number of places that also say that). It certainly is quite large, spread over at least two decent-sized rooms. Clientèle were of the extreme Camden variety – soiled tradesmen, chavs, weirdos and duped tourists. Prices looked expensive from where I stood.

Not my bag and to be honest, I doubt it'll attract many visitors who do their research as this is obviously a bit of a tourist trap for the dollar/yen.

On 5th June 2009 - rating: 2
[User has posted 5050 recommendations about 5033 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Steve C left this review about The Worlds End

This place is madness!

There are more tattoos and piercings than you can shake a stick at, and that's just the women!

It takes an age to be served and when you are the pint is thrust in your general direction and slopped on the bar. No airs and graces needed in here. The tourists look on in amazement supping on there ½ pint of warm beer whilst there passport is stolen by some thieving scumbag. You would think that this is a scathing review, but this is how the pub is purposely run and the owners seem proud of this fact. I think that it is meant to be a cool pub by not being cool – The Titty Twister of the lower leagues.

Not one for me I'm afraid, even back in the 90s when I was a little more adventurous.

On 30th September 2008 - rating: 5
[User has posted 5179 recommendations about 5148 pubs]