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Disappointment of the week with Mobyduck
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Detail Pages
Archway Tavern, Archway, N19
N19
N19 3TD
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 3 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about Archway Tavern
The Archway Tavern has existed here in some form since around 1816 shortly after the arch over the eponymous road was replaced in 1812 with the infamous bridge designed by the architect John Nash. It had for a brief time in the late 2000s become home to the Intrepid Fox, following the closure of this legendary live music pub in Wardour Street, later to become something similar hosting Dusk Till Dawn until it closed in 2015 to reopen during the plague of 2020.
The pub's much changed interior features on the cover of The Kinks album Muswell Hillbillies, so a first in here the other day and it’s clearly a very different beast from that which the previous reviewer experienced. Firstly, the pub now looks out over a large pedestrianised area known as Navigator Square. The pub’s exterior seems largely unchanged with patio seating out front.
Inside, and there’s really nothing remaining of what must once have been a traditional pub, save for some cut and stained glass to the corner door panel. Gone are the electronic distractions and lavs are decent and modern; furniture comprises eclectic chairs and chunky wooden tables with high stools to the peripheral windowsills which double as drinking ledges. The floor is bare boarded and the walls have t ‘n’ g wainscoting painted slate grey with walls swaddled with pale grey paint; the ceiling is white. Lighting comprises simple spherical translucent white hanging lamps with similar mounted to walls. Décor is virtually non-existent with a few modern mirrors, a solitary print to a wall and a multitude of potted palms – all a bit plain. The bar back has mirror panels and seems modern, with shelves decked with bottles of multi-coloured spirits and liqueurs. The bar top has no real ale pumps but many chrome founts for dispensing the likes of Guinness and some cooking lagers but also locally sourced craft keg offerings from the likes of Islington-based Hammerton, Camden, Gorgeous, Muswell Hillbilly and Two Tribes. There are also 13 bottled and canned beers from BrewDog and Camden.
The crowd in here seems mixed in age and type, with some young hipsterish characters as well as some locals who’d perhaps overdone the sauce.
The barmaid was very friendly and helpful, delivering my half of Hammerton’s Panama Creature to my table for payment. It wasn’t too bad for craft keg but as with all from this fad, it was icy cold though improved for being allowed to warm up. It was also £3.50 which is really not on.
This place isn’t too bad but it’s a bit unhomely and sterile. The prices and lack of real ale mean that I doubt I’ll return, but for the craft keg brigade (and well heeled) it’s a welcome addition to the Archway pub scene after a gap of five years.
On 12th September 2020
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1983 recommendations about 1949 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Archway Tavern
This place has no real ale, but it does have 4 bog standard lagers, John Smiths, Strongbow and Guinness. I found the barmaid to be very friendly and I liked the fact that Sky Sports and Setanta could be seen on a plasma from anywhere in the pub. I was paying £2 a pint as I had wandered in between 5 and 8 which just happened to be happy hour.
It sounds pretty good so far, but alas it is a dump with some very unsavoury characters hanging around. It is certainly not somewhere I would recommend to anyone else.
On 10th November 2008
- rating: 2
[User has posted 5233 recommendations about 5201 pubs]