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Disappointment of the week with Mobyduck
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Detail Pages
The Camden Eye, Camden Town, NW1
NW1
NW1 9NX
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Camden Eye
A V-shaped corner pub with an optical theme: various opticians' test equipment is on display. The little bar counter seems fairly original but seating is now mainly high tables and metal stools. An upstairs room was signed but not visited. On handpump were Laine Bestest and Marston's 61 Deep, along with a smattering of craft taps. The condition of that sampled was not wonderful.
On 29th October 2019
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3339 recommendations about 3276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Camden Eye
Directly opposite Camden tube station and the Camden Underworld, this pub sits in the crook of a junction and looks like it's going to be a huge pub like the World's End over the road, but in reality it's a very compact triangular shaped single room set-up. The room is bare boarded and has high table and stool seating filling up the majority of the space opposite the servery, which runs along the back wall. The bar has a dark wood counter, which runs in an L-shape, having turned 90 degrees at its left hand end to run into a small side area that has enough room for a single table under some plain mirrors. The bar back is quite attractive and is broken up by the presence of a zebra-striped dumb waiter. The walls have been painted in fairly dark shades and decorated with a repeating series of quite pleasing circular portraits. A large mural showing the junction outside with the pub as the focal point adorns one wall and there were a lot of fairy lights, glitter balls and other such kitsch decorations around the room. A TV was showing muted coverage of a basketball match - possibly a pub first for me - whilst some fairly loud music played away, as is the norm in most Camden boozers. Elsewhere I spotted a stag's head mounted on one wall and some casks labelled 'Camden Eye Ale' on top of the bar back. Stairs lead you down to the toilets and the staircase has been lined with black and white portraits and an old Halfway House pub sign, which refers to the pub's original name.
On the bar, six handpulls, but only three in action offering a choice of Robinson's Trooper, house beer Camden Eye Ale (apparently brewed by the Camden Brewery) and a rather enigmatic clip that just said 'Waters Pale Ale'. Turned clips for Fullers London Pride, St Austell Tribute and Wadworth Horizon at least demonstrated that there was no great loss in only having half the pumps in action. I decided to play it safe and went for the Trooper, which was in pretty good nick and I should mention the staff who were extremely friendly and helpful, including one chap who vanished for a good five minute in an attempt to get me a packet of crisps (I got the feeling he nipped to a nearby shop).
I generally find Camden is full of pubs with a bit of promise but no inclination to strive for excellence and this pub falls neatly into that category. The beer was very promising given previous reviews and there was the usual nice buzz you expect from pubs in this part of town. I'd happily return but at the same time, I could just as happily interchange this pub for any of around a dozen others in the vicinity and not really notice the difference.
On 8th March 2017
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Camden Eye
Once the Halfway House and one of the oldest pubs in the borough going back a good few hundred years, though the current building was probably rebuilt in the 1920s or '30s.
Previously I'd thought that this was a slightly upmarket food-led pub but it's neither of these things, with a very small bar (at least at ground floor level) with hopeless live music (a Lithuanian guitarist and singer who could neither play guitar nor sing). The place is bare boarded and sport played on the TV with the sound down, ambient sound provided by loud music prior to Pavel's arrival. There's a slightly touristy crowd, which is no surprise given the pub's close proximity to the tube.
Ales: Caledonian Deuchars IPA, generic Camden Eye, St. Austell's Tribute, Fuller's London Pride, Watney's Pale Ale and Robinson's Trooper at £2.30 and fine.
There's nothing to recommend this place, but then there's nothing to recommend Camden Town so on that basis, visit if the urge beckons.
On 6th October 2016
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1983 recommendations about 1949 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Camden Eye
Small, wedge-shaped pub with an upstairs lounge (never visited). Limited seating in the bar, most on bar stools at annoying high tables. As is almost compulsory in Camden, it hosts regular live music (but on a tiny stage in this case). One positive change since my previous visit in 2011 is the doubling in the number of handpumps to six. Better still, all of these were on this time, with the seemingly regular Deuchars IPA and Wainwright supplemented by Butcombe Bitter, Flying Scotsman, Wychwood Dogs Bollocks (£4.30) and Old Peculier. Yes, it is both expensive yet crowded, but the improved beer selection mean that the rating is worth increasing by a point.
On 28th November 2013
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8086 recommendations about 8086 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Camden Eye
Just over from the World's End lies what, from the exterior, looks like quite a large pub. Inside it's actually rather smaller than the outside might suggest.
I noticed the Cask Marque sign on the way in and thought that maybe I was onto a good thing as I saw three ales (Deuchars IPA, Bombardier and Batemans – all sparklerised). I had a half of both the Batemans and Deuchars. Sadly they were both in very poor condition and at £3.30 a pint pretty pitiful. My annoyance was exacerbated by the ludicrously misleading signage to the bogs which points to a locked door. Ha ha ha, oh how I laughed.
Don't bother - give it a couple of minutes slipper and you can be in at least three places a lot better than this one. If you have to find somewhere near the tube to wait for your fellow gig-goers, try the Spread Eagle instead.
On 5th June 2009
- rating: 3
[User has posted 5072 recommendations about 5055 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Camden Eye
This is a small boozer packed with lots of high tables and little standing room. In fact the only notable standing room is at the bar. Deuchars, Bombardier, Guinness, Strongbow and 3 lagers were available on my visit.
Unsurprisingly it was busy during my visit at 19:00 on Friday evening and the staff were overstretched. Someone had puked at the bar after downing a short and the barmaid sorted it out after a while by putting some blue paper over it. It was still like this 30 minutes later when I left – Nice!!!
It was my first time in here since the name change and I wasn't very impressed.
On 29th September 2008
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5233 recommendations about 5201 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Camden Eye
In its previous life as the Halfway House, this was one of Camdens biggest dives, a pub of little merit but bags of potential, inhabited by dropouts and zombie like weirdos. The building was originally a prison and you could sense it! After a brief closure it reopened as the Camden Eye and is now a far better proposition on all fronts.
The pub is well positioned, wedged into a road junction in the middle of Camden and is handy for the market, the High Street and the numerous local music venues. The interior can best be described as compact, a small single room bar with a tiny stage at one side and barely enough room for half a dozen small tables. A window seat almost comes with a guarantee for some interesting people watching as the punks, crustys and Goths come pouring out of the tube station or the World’s End pub opposite. The general ambience is more that of a contemporary bar than a pub but it does have a wide reaching appeal.
There were 2 Real Ales (Bombardier and Deuchars on my last trip) and wines also seem to be a prominent feature. Some of the music borders on the obscure but it is quite an eclectic mix and there are also flat screen TV’s either side of the bar. There is also a lounge upstairs (the intriguingly named Kissing Lounge) but at the time of writing, I haven’t ventured this far. The pub does naturally get busy but I have never had a problem with service and whilst you wouldn’t want to spend a whole evening here, it does make a convenient meeting point.
On 22nd July 2007
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Philip Carter left this review about The Camden Eye
Previously called The Halfway House, see my photo. All the greenery has gone. Sells real ale. Not a very big pub, but the bar is crammed full of tables, not much room to move about, so if you visit and want more than one drink, sit close to the bar. WiFi available.
On 27th January 2007
- rating: 6
[User has posted 757 recommendations about 720 pubs]