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Colours, N1
N1
N1 6NU
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Colours
Music venue with a basic, split-level bar to one side also open to all. Limited seating and even less decoration inside, but there is also a small patio seating area with a view across Hoxton Square at the front. No cask ale of course, but an unexpectedly reasonable selection of vaguely crafty beers from a row of 12 keg taps on the bar-back (and I went for the Hobgoblin IPA (£7.10) in the end.)
On 17th March 2024
- rating: 5
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen
This is a large modern bar and live music venue in one corner of the eponymous Square. You enter via a nice front patio seating area with a decent amount of seating which must make it a pretty good spot to bag in warmer months, into a raised front seating space with sofa and other such lounge furniture in a compact space under the front windows. The walls here are bare concrete and there is a large ‘Orange Buffalo’ sign, which appears to be a reference to the venue’s kitchen. Five steps take you down into the main bar area with the servery along the left hand wall and a drinking ledge opposite. The bar has a wood plank counter front, ivy-lined gantry and stylish modern bar back, all very much in keeping with the venue’s trendy aspirations. Various food and drink options are listed on boards above the bar and another ‘Orange Buffalo sign advises you to order food from the bar. Modern art adds a nice splash of colour and vibrancy to an otherwise rather plain space before you pass the end of the bar to enter a rear space that appears to be in use as a formal dining area. This space offers mixed seating options and was pretty busy on a gig night and included a fair few vertical drinkers, so is perhaps not that formal after all. To the right, a passageway leads towards the gig room and toilets, passing the kitchen on the way, with a few more stools available along a drinking ledge. Loud dance music was playing on my mid-week evening visit and the gig venue to the rear right of the building was a decent space with a nice high stage to the rear and a bar down the left hand side that appeared to offer pretty much the full draught range from the main bar.
Sadly, this range does not stretch to any cask ales, but several overpriced keg beers are available in its place. These included Trumans Roller IPA, Revisionist Craft Lager and Crate Pale Ale (£5.60), plus an reasonable bottled beer range in the fridges. The Crate Pale is a nice enough session beer but way over-priced, so just the one pint had to suffice at this show.
I liked this place as a live music venue and will definitely look out for shows here in the future, but as a bar, it didn’t really do a lot for me. Other than the nice front seating area, there was nowhere here that appealed as somewhere to settle down over a few beers, and with no ale and expensive keg, there’s nothing to draw me back here other than the possibility of another gig.
On 5th March 2019
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen
As described in the title, this is a bar and kitchen but also has a live music venue thrown in for good measure. The location, overlooking the square, is enviable and the outside seating would certainly be a draw in the summer. The bar is a long, dim and relatively narrow affair with a focus on high-end keg (Freedom, Camden), bottles and spirits – not cheap (Camden was £3.80pp). No ale or proper cider to be seen. Bar staff weren’t the most clued-up and service was slow and haphazard. A restaurant is off to the right, serving up Mexican-type food. I sampled this with Mrs Quinno and, a slightly longer-than-usual wait notwithstanding, found it to be better than expected with prices (in my mind) more realistic than the bar tariff and the staff rather better at customer service too. The music part is pretty good, I saw Ultrasound in there and it was a tidy venue - though the bar issues and prices put me off getting more drink so it was a dry gig for me, unusually. By observation I suspected that I wasn’t the only one.
Whilst I wouldn’t call it an essential experience, it’s worth popping in if you’re passing on a nice summer’s day (not many central London pubs have decent outside drinking arrangements) and have a few quid to burn. Should you be going for a gig, fill up at the Old Fountain first.
If the kitchen and music part didn’t exist, I’d be rather less generous on the scoring.
On 20th April 2012
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5081 recommendations about 5064 pubs]