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Picture of The Islington Town House
Image posted by Graham Coombs
Submitted on Thursday, 16th September 2021
With picture contributions to 5062 other pubs
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The Islington Town House, N1

13 Liverpool Road
N1
N1 0RW
Correct details

Served areas

Reviews of The Islington Town House (Average Rating: of 10) Add Review see review guidelines

Steve of N21 left this review about The Islington Town House

For reasons that I will not bore the good patrons of Pubs Galore about, last night we needed to visit a pub in London whose name started with the letter I, and it’s not until you do the research that you actually find that there are precious few of these close to the centre of London. Ironically there’s this one and the nearby island Queen, both walking distance from Angel tube station and we plumped for this one due to it being the closer of the two.
This is a much bigger pub than previous reviewers have given it credit for, as it is over three levels. The ground floor main bar and pub area is well described by Pubsignman below so I won’t repeat any of that. However if you were to traverse the large staircase to the right of the bar then initially you find yourself in an additional lounge section with comfortable padded seating and tables around its edges, which then leads down a couple of steps to a separate snug room area at the back. Then another staircase leads up to a further dining room that was roped off and not in use for our visit. The snug area on the second level can also be roped off and used for private functions, as can the top floor room.
We actually camped ourselves in the snug room as the weekly Wednesday pub quiz was taking place in the downstairs bar and they had The Arse* playing in Europe on the couple of muted TV’s (staunch gooner territory around here), neither of which we had any interest in.
Three of the strange garden fork handles had beer clips on them, so easy to spot that St Austell Tribute, Sharps Doombar and Solar wave were available. Unfortunately, the Tribute was flat and vinegary and had to be returned, and as this pub was one of many recently that we have visited where the in situ bar keep was unable to change an ale barrel, meaning we were on the Solar Wave for the rest of the evening. Fortunately, it stayed in good form.
Not one we will be rushing back to, but it serves a purpose and the largely younger demographic in the main bar seemed to be enjoying the pub quiz.

On 23rd February 2024 - rating: 6
[User has posted 2094 recommendations about 1985 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Pub SignMan left this review about The Islington Town House

Just a short walk from Angel tube station, this is a simple pub dressed up as something approaching a trendy bar. The place is fairly compact, operating out of a relatively small ground floor room, which is bare boarded, with large windows down the front and right-hand sides, neutral painted walls and the servery along the rear wall. Nice padded benches stacked with large cushions, run beneath the front windows and are supplemented by some rather strange looking low backed chairs. There’s a row of high tables with bar stools through the centre of the room and a few more to the right, where a couple of comfy banquettes can also be found. The bar has a timber fronted counter with a beautiful varnished top and rather ugly bar back that incorporates a row of taps on a fake brick backing board. Large blackboards above the bar back detail beer, wine and cocktail options and there are some unusual heavy duty lamps above the counter, whilst the ceiling has lots of exposed utilities. Perhaps the room’s most eye-catching feature is a series of striking light shades hung from the ceiling, which are seemingly made from pebbles. A couple of TV screens were showing The One Show, mercifully muted, and elsewhere, the wall space is occupied by modern paintings and portraits that have been liberally dotted around. Stairs to the rear looked like they might possibly lead up to another room, possibly a dining area, but I didn’t explore. Music was playing quietly in the background, but this quickly became lost under waves of Friday night chatter.
Approaching the bar, I noticed a row of fork handles where I would expect the handpulls to be, before noticing that one of them had a Taylors Landlord clip on it and that they were in fact used for dispensing beer - quite why they made this stylistic choice (which I think I’ve only ever seen in pubs called ‘The Four Candles’ previously), I have no idea. My pint of Landlord was actually in very good nick, but was served at a remarkably cold temperature. There were a couple of Camden beers on keg plus one from Beavertown and a slew of continental lagers, but most people seemed to be drinking cocktails, which caused some tailbacks at the bar at times. The barman here was very friendly, stopping for a chat and allowing me to take a reserved table for a group that appeared to have no showed.
This place was a bit too sterile and formulaic for me, despite a couple of quirky stylistic choices, and seemed better suited to couples and young professionals, who made up the bulk of the clientele. Having said all that, the beer was great and the staff were lovely, so you’re unlikely to regret calling in, even if it’s not the pubbiest pub you;ll find in this part of town.

On 26th July 2022 - rating: 5
[User has posted 3093 recommendations about 3093 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Graham Coombs left this review about The Islington Town House

My first impression was that the pub seemed smaller inside than expected, which I guess was mainly due to the excessive furnishings, cushions, table decorations etc. Various other bits of kitsch including the fork handle handpumps are still there, as is the appalling industrial ducting on the ceiling. Only TT Landlord on the clips, but yet again this was not on, so fall back to the Camden fizzy stuff. Much better pubs nearby.

On 16th September 2021 - rating: 5
[User has posted 3296 recommendations about 3233 pubs]


View more reviews of The Islington Town House (11)
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Pub location see interactive map of local area
Map location corrected by Steve C
Essex Road, 0.76 miles, 14 min walk (show)
London Kings Cross, 0.93 miles, 17 min walk (show)
Caledonian Road & Barnsbury, 1.03 miles, 19 min walk (show)
Latest updates View all updates for The Islington Town House, N1
23rd Feb 2024, 11:59
Review submitted by Steve of N21
 
26th Jul 2022, 19:32
Review submitted by Pub SignMan

Pub Details

Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.

  • Accommodation : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Bar Billiards : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Beer Festivals : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • CAMRA Discount : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Car Park : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Child Friendly : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Darts : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Dog Friendly : Yes last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Function Room : Yes last updated 26 July 2022 by Pub SignMan
  • Hot Food : Yes last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Jukebox : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Karaoke : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Live Music : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Live TV Sports : Yes last updated 17 April 2022 by Tris C
  • Micropub : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Pinball : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Pool Table : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Quiz Night : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Real Ale : Yes last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Real Cider : No last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
  • Wheelchair Access : Yes - Disabled WC. - last updated 14 September 2016 by Tris C
  • WiFi : Yes last updated 26 December 2016 by Quinno _
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