Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Disappointment of the week with Quinno
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Racketeer, Kings Cross, WC1
WC1
WC1X 9LR
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 4½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Racketeer
There's still no real ale on in here, just four keg fonts with little discs affixed to the counter in front of them to let you know what beer it is. Fine if you can get yourself right in front of them when it's not busy, as was the case when I was in on Friday afternoon, but it might be more tricky when it's busy. The four were all "craft" beers which I didn't recognise, and I went for the Purity Helles Lager at £5.30 a pint. They obviously do food as I saw some menus on the bar counter, but I didn't scrutinise one.
This is now no longer the backstreet boozer that it once was. It's now an aspiring upmarket pub - there are no TVs, one-armed bandits or games machines in here. All furnishings are traditional in a way, with no tall tables/tall stools just bench seating and normal tables and chairs, although the table at which I sat was marble topped which is a bit unusual.
The latest refurbishment has revealed some more original Victorian features. The original signage for the Carpenters Arms is now revealed on the exterior. The floor tiling on the left of the interior - presumably for the Saloon Bar judging by the exterior signage - has been revealed by the removal of a carpet, and the woodwork and wall tiling at the back on the left is exposed to view by the removal of the kitchen that used to be there. The pewter topped bar counter is more modern work, but the bar back (which is probably now shorter than it originally was) is old. To the right of the servery are old mirrors to the right and left of the entranceway to the more modern extension at the back. In this room at the back is an old mirror, resited from the wall near the entrance on the right where the staircase down to the toilets has been added. Visiting the toilets is a bit like a journey to the crypts, with its narrow corridor and rattling of the tube passing underneath. There's another lounge-like room down here.
But the outstanding heritage feature in my opinion is the array of large and decorative mirrors on the left hand wall, with wood frames and surrounded by Victorian tiling decorated with foliage and vases.
I was the only person in at Friday lunchtime, but I expect that it's a very different place in the evenings judging by the reserved signs on the tables. This is quite a nice pub, but a decent real ale would be a massive plus.
On 8th January 2020
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Racketeer
Recently reopened, renamed and marketed as 'An independent, neighbourhood cocktail bar in King's Cross. Relaxed elegance in an intimate setting, outside seating and a tiny walled secret garden.' This part of King's Cross has yet to be - and perhaps never will be - gentrified. This was a down-at-heel locals' boozer but no longer. Most of the Taylor Walker regalia has been retained, but with plain glass panes to the TW lanterns. Inside, the bar is now central, metal-topped and minus the pot shelf. Gone too is the awful sticky-back brick skeuomorph plastic. The games machine has also been consigned to the skip, but happily the wonderful mirrors, glazed wall tiles and floor tiles, probably encaustic, are on display to fine effect; the remaining floor is bare boarded.
Furniture is conventional with green leather(ette) banquettes to the perimeter. Lighting is as muted as the music.
The old Taylor Walker panes are displayed by the stairs. Descending to the loos one is presented with some rather bizarre partly candlelit catacombs, like something out of an Edgar Allan Poe novel. All that was missing was the Pentagram of Baphomet, and a blonde haired young woman tied to an alter, with a cloaked, dagger-wielding Charles Gray looming over her.
Back to reality and ales - none. Four chrome, unlabelled founts dispensing Purity's Lawless Lager, Veltin's Pilsner, Siren's White Tips IPA and Purity's Long Horn IPA, all priced between £4.80 and £5.95 a pint! This is Kings Cross not Kensington.
The Racketeer has the potential to be a good pub; some real ales would get the mark up to at least a 5. That and a soupçon of human sacrifice.
On 8th September 2017
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1982 recommendations about 1949 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
peter ashworth left this review about Carpenters Arms
Although I could not see any signage I think The Carpenters Arms is now The Racketeer
On 7th September 2017
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2318 recommendations about 2275 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Isabel Jarrett left this review about Carpenters Arms
One of the worst pubs I have ever had the misfortune to visit
Think the BBC comedy series 'The league of gentlemen' and the 'this is a local shop for local people' and you aren't far off
A seriously rude barmaid, who had no interest at all in the customers, and had absolutely no customer service skills unless she personally knew the people who wanted a drink.
A place devoid of atmosphere and heaven help you if you want to use a card to pay for drinks - I watched her humiliate two perfectly polite customers who wanted to pay for drinks with a card for less than a tenner, when they said they didn't have any cash on them she suggested they go to a charging cash point round the corner making the cost of two pints over £5 each, when they declined she made a big drama of pouring the drinks down the sink in front of them. After they left she made some seriously derogatory comments about them to her cronies at the bar.
A couple of minutes later she happily accepted a card for a £3.80 pint from one of her friends and even gave them cash back.
There are much nicer venues, unless you like pubs that are stuck in a time warp in the 1970's - try the Northumberland, The Calthorpe, The Queens Head, or The Luca
On 15th May 2016
- rating: 1
[User has posted 1 recommendations about 1 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about Carpenters Arms
Pub sign still has Taylor Walker branding but nothing internally backs this up as currently being a TW pub. 2 real ale taps both off.
On 29th October 2015
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
E TA left this review about Carpenters Arms
A downmarket corner bar near King's Cross, there is no real ale here. The welcome wasn't particularly friendly, the customers were a bit aggressive and there isn't really anything that makes me want to come back. Best left to the chippy locals.
On 12th December 2013
- rating: 4
[User has posted 3280 recommendations about 3245 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Carpenters Arms
Refurbished pub with bare-brick walls and big windows. Retains a few features of note, including the tiling around the line of large mirrors and some traces of the former old-era Taylor Walker ownership. Also has a few benches out front. O'Hanlons Firefly available from one of two handpumps. Appears to operate as an old-fashioned local, with the dart board in use when I stopped by.
On 26th September 2013
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8086 recommendations about 8086 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pete Dewing left this review about Carpenters Arms
We stumbled upon this pub after going for a walk from Kings Cross after dropping my Mum off for her train up North. My wife loved it especially since they served Red WKD (the 28 yr olds drink of choice!) I settled for a pint of Fosters Cold Draught. Really quiet pub with the speakers pumping out 60's music and the 6 people inside consisting of 2 pensioners and the Barmaids family! We sat outside on the benches on the pavement with another couple.
All in all a lovely find , very pleasant for a Sunday afternoon drink not too far from the major Stations and there is a nice Vietnamese Restaurant 5 minutes walk away on Kings Cross Road. Traditional London pub well worth a visit :)
On 20th September 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1 recommendations about 1 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about Carpenters Arms
On the face of it, there isn’t a great deal about the Carpenters that warrants more than a passing glance. The single room interior looks a bit like a continental café bar with a fully opening frontage onto the busy street. Some remnants of the old tiling can be found but what really stands out is all the exposed brickwork that looks very neat and tidy but which on closer inspection turns out to be plastic! There is a raised corner with a dartboard and trophy collection and a few nick nacks over the bar but little else of obvious interest. The beers are pretty basic with just the one ale available on my recent visit, London Pride at £3.10 a pint which is about par for the area. There are a couple of benches outside if you don’t mind the traffic but it will get you away from the awful piped radio music. To be fair, the place is a better option than some of the tarted up bars around the station area and is fine for a quick, quiet pint before moving on.
On 30th April 2010
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Philip Carter left this review about Carpenters Arms
Not much going for this pub. Has real ale. Been in twice in two days, one lunch time, one evening. Only 3 people in there and one of them is the bar staff. It must have been so boring, the evening barmen served me then started playing solitare.
On 24th January 2008
- rating: 2
[User has posted 757 recommendations about 720 pubs]