The Fox, Crouch End, N8

Steve of N21 left this review about The Fox

This is the new kid on the block in Crouch End as far as pubs are concerned. This building had previously been a keg wine bar, then a pizza restaurant until it was taken over by the Urban Pubs and Bar chain and turned into a pub, opening in January this year. That makes about 40 pubs across London now run by this small but expanding independent chain and some of their others include The Punch Tavern in Fleet Street, The Singer Tavern in Old Street and the Queens Head in Shoreditch, that was the former Goose Island bar.
Its all very smart and modern, that you would expect from a new build in Crouch End. You enter the corner door into the L shaped bar area with is modern, largely metallic bar, wooden floor, crème painted exposed brick walls, bar stools up the bar and wooden table and chair seating around the edges. Then you walk from here, past the kitchen, into a large restaurant space where the exposed brick theme is continued but this time with smart modern brickwork, and all the seating is plush padded seating befitting a restaurant area. This then leads onto a nice outside courtyard area butting onto Middle Lane, which was the only outside drinking area I could find. Both the internal spaces had copious amounts of period photographs of Crouch End and all sorts of other stuff giving the place a bit of character and although you cannot describe it as a traditional pub interior by any stretch of the imagination, I found it comfortable and did warm to it.
There’s lots of chrome keg taps on the bar with some interesting modern craft options, but there are also two hand pumps on the short side of the L shaped bar that could be easily missed. One of these was Hammerton N1 but reverse clipped but fortunately the other was dispensing a very passable Redemption Kazbek. The Keg offerings included the usual London brewers with the usual suspects from Camden, Beavertown and Brixton all present. But also Yes Session IPA from the Goodness Brewing Co. So, from not realising these guys were in Wood Green to bumping into their craft products twice in one day.
Its clearly aimed at your upwardly mobile of N8 and certainly fits the ‘Bar and Kitchen’ modern definition. But any building that turns into a pub is a positive in my book.

On 11^th August 2023 - rating: 6
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