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Disappointment of the week with Real Ale Ray
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
Hope & Anchor, Islington, N1
N1
N1 1RL
Pub Type
Greene KingReviews (Current Rating Average: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about Hope & Anchor
Famous music venue in a classic pub which has been knocked about a bit. The ground floor bar has an industrial sort of feel, with fixed pipework tables and a recycled timber bar front. The walls, and indeed windows, are covered in flyers and memorabilia of past and forthcoming acts. The music part itself is downstairs, while upstairs there is a 50-seat theatre. 6 ales are on handpump, all from the Greene King range, plus some crafty keg and boxed ciders. Credit must go to Greene King for leaving this slice of musical and pub history relatively unspoilt.
On 4th December 2019
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3339 recommendations about 3276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about Hope & Anchor
A street corner Victorian pub owned by Greene King with very large in high plate glass windows ,with a 50 seater theatre on the first floor.The ground floor bar is quite small with high tables and chairs from scaffolding bars opposite the servery,some small high tables by the windows and a bit of seating in leather below the staircase to the theatre.There is room for vertical drinking which maybe necessary before a performance.Some small tables are situated on the pavement outside.
The muzak was gentle blues and there was a calm atmosphere on my Saturday afternoon trip.Posters describe what's on and there is a sign for a booking office ,in a front alcove.The bar has 6 handpumps offering GK IPA and Abbott,Old Rosie cider ,Doom Bar and TT Landlord (far too warm).15 keg taps but mainly multinational brands apart from BrewDog Punk IPA and Beavertown Neck Oil but nothing more interesting.
Bands used to perform here,and maybe still do.Pleased to see an early photo of The Specials on the far wall.
It's not much kop for the real ale fan,and the captive audience for shows maybe the reason for a lack of care.Not bad,but not enough to warrant a revisit.
On 19th August 2018
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
custodian 42 left this review about Hope & Anchor
Not a bad pub with some halfway decent ales, although I doubt I'll ever return.
On 19th January 2017
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1693 recommendations about 1691 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Hope & Anchor
Located on a busy main road a couple of minutes trot from Highbury tube. Doesn't look overly promising from the outside though there's a bit better to be had within. It's a single room with a light varnished wood floor. Hipster refurb central with a construction theme: grubby and paint splattered floorboards making up the bar frontage, scaffolding fixed tables and chairs, scaffolding lights etc. That said, it isn't quite as dire as it sounds. Upstairs is a theatre and live music is also advertised. Six pumps all operational; GK IPA, Abbot and Oompah with three guests in Dark Star Hophead, Milestone and Woodfordes Nelson, the latter of which inevitably had a GK twang to it and was served in a heavily pitted glass. It's probably a fair shout on a crawl but isn't up to muster to be a worthwhile destination unless you want the theatre upstairs. 4.5
On 25th October 2016
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5072 recommendations about 5055 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Hope & Anchor
I don't recall ever coming here and if I did, it must have been in the mid-1980s when I reached peak Upper Street.
This is a commanding pub with exterior granite columns though internally, it's smaller than you'd expect. Inside it's modern/conventional with high industrial furniture. Walls are a mix of bare brick with some wood panelling painted pale grey decorated with some old LPs and memorabilia, probably an allusion to the pub's former live music heyday. All this is lit by spherical lamps with filament bulbs. The floor is bare boarded with tiling close to the bar. There's a jukebox and unfortunately, a games machine. For a once famous music venue, sounds from the jukebox were surprisingly muted.
Ales: Greene King's Abbot, IPA and Oompay, Woodforde's Nelson's Revenge, Thistlestone's Oktoberfest and Hophead's Darkstar at a very affordable £2.05 a half and fine.
This isn't a bad place - if only it were more homely. Certainly far better than the awful Library but no competition for the King's Head.
On 20th October 2016
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1983 recommendations about 1949 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about The Hope & Anchor
First visit for 40 years but probably not much changes.Music pub then.Got hammered on last visit,smoked some dope then got violently sick.Great night.Not so good now.Quiet.Only the ghastly imo Green King family of beers inc GK -Rumrunner and Belhaven -Old Gold.Still got a bit of the old grunge style.
On 25th September 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about The Hope & Anchor
Interior as described below. 3 real ales and food served. Live music,comedy and theatre advertised. Pity I was 30 years late visiting this pub.
On 19th March 2014
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Hope & Anchor
This is, at first glance, a pretty unremarkable street corner pub, just a few minutes from Highbury and Islington tube station. The interior has a typical bare boarded main room, modernised in recent years, but still with a few hints of a traditional layout. The servery is located in the rear right corner of the ground floor room, which has been filled with standard tables and chairs, excepting a few banquettes around the perimeter. Large arched windows flood the front and side of the pub with plenty of light and the décor is fairly low key, with patterned wallpaper on the walls to the rear and a couple of framed LP's on show on the back wall. Stairs lead up to an art-house theatre, whose productions were being heavily promoted throughout the pub. In lieu of a traditional rear garden, a few picnic benches have been set out on the quiet side street running down the left hand side of the pub. Arriving late in the evening, loud music could be heard emerging from a basement bar below, and it is this long established venue that turns an unmemorable visit into something of a pub history lesson. With virtually nothing to give the game away in the main bar, The Hope and Anchor played a huge part in the 1970's London music scene, paving the way for 'Pub Rock' acts, before becoming a champion of the emerging Punk Rock scene of the late '70's. The Strangers recorded a live album here and a compilation album recorded in late 1977, featuring the likes of XTC, The Only Ones, Wilko Johnson and, bizarrely, Dire Straits, reached number 28 in the UK album charts. Many household names appear to have played here down the years and Madness filmed their 'One Step Beyond' video in the pub. A trip up the staircase to the toilets reveals a smattering of memorabilia, from which I spotted old tickets to a Skids concert and a framed record titled 'Don't Let the Hope Close Down', featuring The Pogues among others, which was recorded back in 1984 in reaction to plans to shut the venue down.
Back in the bar, reeling from the surprise at finding such a rich history in such a bland pub, a pint seemed like the best plan, so it was a bit of a let-down to find Morland Old Golden Hen, Greene King IPA and Elgoods CXXX as the only ale options. The latter was a fairly uninspiring pint of best bitter poured in comical fashion by a rather inept barmaid.
I found it remarkable that the pub doesn't make more of its musical heritage, especially as it is still putting live music on, but perhaps that's a sign of the quest for a bland corporate approach to pub design that the likes of Greene King strive for. This place is interesting, but only when you're imagining what it was like 30 years ago. In the hear and now it's just another average London pub and that is a real shame.
On 5th March 2014
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about The Hope & Anchor
The Hope and Anchor is a corner pub and having read about it said to be the birth place of Punk Rock.
This is a Greene King tied house and once inside here the pub was quite basic and the area i sat in had bare boards,there were two real ales on the bar i had a drink of GK IPA which was drinkable but nothing special the other beer was Abbot.
On 6th February 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Hope & Anchor
Decided to pay a visit for old time’s sake the other evening to this legendry pub for probably the first time in 25 years. I didn’t catch Madness, but my best experience was seeing the Stranglers in ’77.
Really good to see it still going as a music venue for mainly unsigned local bands. And although the decor is now more in keeping with the modern bland plain style of Upper Street establishments, that’s not such a bad thing as even with my rose tinted glasses on, it was still a shit hole back then.
In my gigging days here it used to be a dodgy pub in a dodgy area with some decidedly dodgy and colourful characters. None more so than the group of long haired drop outs I remember , who used to dye their hair multi bright colours, and dyed their long haired dog (Afgan if I remember correctly) to match. Nowadays the only dyed hair you’ll probably see on non band days will be expensive highlights from the Salon up the road.
The ground bar area is well described by Roger below and the upstairs room, as well as the pool table, has a really well equipped Juke box and is a good place to get an elevated view of Upper Street.
Even GK IPA is a major improvement forward on the beer front, but there are still better pubs closer down towards the Angel, so only stayed for the one.
On 18th July 2010
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2110 recommendations about 1992 pubs]