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Detail Pages
The Camden Assembly, Chalk Farm, NW1
NW1
NW1 8AN
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 4 of 10) see review guidelines
hondo . left this review about The Camden Assembly
As described by Pub Signman not one for a session.
On 5th October 2023
- 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 Camden Assembly
This is the ground floor pub space for the Camden Assembly live music venue which is perhaps best remembered from its heyday at the centre of the Britpop movement, when it was known as the Camden Barfly. It was a bit of a basic boozer back then but has been spruced up and now has more of a cocktail bar feel to it. For all that, the scuffed floorboards, unusual, patterned ceiling tiles and exposed brick walls remain as a reminder of its proper pub days, but there are now smart banquettes down either side of the room and a run of high tables and stools through the centre. The bar is to the rear and has a pretty cool glazed tile counter front with a pewter top and glazed brick bar back. TV screens above the bar continuously looped promotional material relating to cocktails, happy hours and the like, with no mention of beer, and the décor was pretty basic, with very little visual distraction in sight. A surprisingly loud Hindi soundtrack played throughout my stay, masking the sound of the bass from the venue above. The venue itself is upstairs and accessed via a separate entrance down the side street – it’s a pretty decent space with its own bar, so don’t make the same mistake as me by coming here for drinks first – they won’t let you take them up with you.
There’s no cask ale here unsurprisingly, and the most exciting keg options were probably Brooklyn lager and Shipyard Pale, with the latter clocking in at £6.00 a pint. There was only one person manning the bar on my mid-week evening visit, so despite the place being almost completely empty, it still took 15 minutes for me to get served thanks to the complex cocktail orders going in before me.
This was a real disappointment and a bit of a sorry state for a pub whose name will resonate with generations of music fans. I can’t really think of anything positive to say about this pretty sorry pub-going experience and won’t bother again if I come back for another gig here.
On 24th April 2023
- rating: 3
[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 Assembly
We'd never been to what was once the Monarch later Barfly before and neither of us care much for live music venues, but this is the mainstay of Camden Town; if you can't stand the heat...However, we only went here because we thought it was a specialist beer rather than music venue. Wrong. It's still a music venue but rather than being an artisanal beer venue, it doesn't sell real ale at all. The closest it could manage was Goose Island IPA at £2.80 a half.
Beverages are dispensed from chrome fonts and there's an illuminated craft beer and lager menu behind the metal-topped bar in the manner of a cinema fascia. The floor's lacquered, walls are bare brick with some industrial wall lights, thereafter illumination is provided by pink tea lights on tables; it's painfully dark in here and music is loudish. Furniture is both conventional and semi-industrial along with peripheral leatherette banquettes. Some weird 'arty' sculptures are applied to the walls and the ceiling is covered in ceramic tiles, punctuated with circular aircon vents. Glasses are plastic.
As Mr. Button writes, this is one for the Camden Weird Brigade.
On 4th October 2016
- rating: 2
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Barfly
Good as a live music venue, but pretty poor as a pub. Small low platform in the 'L'-shaped main bar, with a proper little stage in the rectangular upstairs room. Very basic furniture and decor. No real ale, with just a small bottle of vastly overpriced Old Speckled Hen available from the fridge. Overall, don't bother unless you are going to a gig... NB - Spectacularly re-painted (although temporarily, I guess) in 'Movember' 2012.
On 9th December 2012
- rating: 4
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about Barfly Club
Part of music's toilet venue circuit. As a pub it is pretty awful, with bland and overpriced beers, gloomy decor, uncomfortable seating. Only the weirdest member of the Camden weird brigade would find it appealing. The fact of the matter is that no-one goes here just for a drink (except the Camden weird brigade) but for the bands, who play in a tiny room upstairs with a bar serving an equally expensive and uninspiring choice of beers. The Barfly is today what the Marquee Club was in the 60's and 70's - a starting point on the road to riches for many a great band and a graveyard for several others. Many a great band has passed through, some on their way up, others on their way down. For a packed gig you won't see a thing but it is fine for the preverbial 2 people and a dog gig. The Barfly, like the old Marquee that I used to frequent regularly, is a dump. I love it.
On 4th November 2005
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]