please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Great pub, I used to use it when I lived in the area in 2001/2002. I now live in Winchmore Hill, so these days I only come down for big Arsenal matches as I know there will be a good atmosphere there.
Its a bit rough and ready, but I like that - a proper Irish boozer - and I have never been made to feel unwelcome there despite not really being a local anymore.
I can see a day when pubs like this are a thing of the past, the area is becoming more middle class every year - and there are no more working class Irish immigrants coming to the area - now its mostly Muslims who don't drink and so don't frequent pubs.
Enjoy it while you still can!
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Great, noisy, family type place. Amazingly cheap, friendly bar staff, great place to watch the football. Nice vibe.
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Proper Irish boozer, great people, cheap beer and they show every Arsenal game :)
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I like the Boston, the Guinness is superb.
Can be a bit rough and ready,but its part of the make up of the place.
I have been using this pub off and on for 22 years
(back then it was for a few pints and then up stairs to see rock legends like the Business and Indecent Exposure)
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The Boston is my local and I wouldn’t swap it for the world. It’s nice and cheap and I’m in here for most footy matches (especially Liverpool).
The wife moans about how often I spend in here but at least she knows where I am. It’s not like there’s any totty to cavort with!
Only complaint is it doesn’t have one of those little rainbow flags outside.
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We went in there some time ago and met a man called John Hickman who thought he owned the place. We got up and left as all he would do was boast about how much he gets in benifits and spends it in the pub. As for the people moaning about the kids, go elsewhere and pay almost double. You can't knock The Boston when its so cheap. You will get a few undesirables because of the price. If it was a tenner a pint you would only get the breed of bankers that have moved into the area. And with them, it wouldnt be a CD they were offering out of a bag it would be a line of coke. So, at just over one fifty a pint its definatly good value for money. As for the kids, its an Irish pub and they are family orientated.
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Only worth going to if you're going to the excellent Dirty Water club on a Friday evening next door, or if you're in the area and its the only place open as its got a late licence.
Otherwise stay away unless you like fights and karaoke nights.
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Extremely cheap guinness - #2.40. Extremely smoky. No proper ale. Dirty Water Club next door is recommended for bands on a Friday night.
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This is my local boozer im in there basically every day and all weekend and is the best pub in London. You find yourself getting caught up in some great sessions here and it hassen't given in to the gastro pub take over. It has cheap drinks and the people in there are quality. I agree with some comments if your not a local and you dont know any one in there try another boozer. The fights just add to the atmosphere. The staff are top quality too.
Its everything you want from a boozer sport, darts, pool, kareoke What more can you ask for. In fact im gonna pop in there now and have a nice cheap pint and a beef and tomato roll. Lovely
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decent, solid boozer. much needed in the area
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Bog standard boozer - not too good; not too bad. Wouldn't go out of my way to visit it again, but there are worse pubs in the area.
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Agree with the last comment, on the surface it's not got a lot to recommend - no ales and a rough and ready feel. But in a way it has a nice independent old-boozer feel to it. And it was capped by watching a young east asian lady flog rip-off DVDs out of a carrier bag to the punters!
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I agree with Slipperduke - gowever I think that's kind of what gives the place it's charm...
I used to work up the road from here about 5 years ago and it's good to see that not much has changed!
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Best place i know of for a late night cheap pint - The karaoke competition is good for a laugh and the regulars add a certain je ne sais quoi. Great
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I went here to watch Arsenal - Sp*rs a couple of years ago and there was a near full on riot when the enemy scored. Watch a bit of 3pm Saturday footy, but look out if it's a north london derby, you're a t*ttenham fan and you've just scored! Great pub, they'd do a great trade in riot gear if they bothered to stock.
anonymous - 7 Oct 2006 23:34 |
go there to watch champions leagues games because they ahave a different one on each tv. other than that nah. if you aint Irish you get dodgy looks
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This pub is sort of like the friendly, but mentally damaged, person who accosts you in the supermarket.
You'd never describe it as being impressive, but it's fairly harmless and clearly barking mad.
It's full of mad old Irishmen, mad old slappers, mad young chavs, mad young chavettes and the occasional bewildered looking stranger. They tend to have all the TVs tuned into Celebrity Ice Dancing and turned up and you can always hear someone screaming in the background for some reason.
One to avoid unless you're in a sympathetic and understanding kind of mood.
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HELL HOLE.. nunny girls kids and just one to menny old wanna be men ..... if you can get passed this pub just keep walking ,,,
anonymous - 20 Apr 2006 20:34 |
THE BOSTON IS THE BEST! LOVE IT!
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Fairly grotty late-night boozer. Strange mixture of old Irish drunks, students, blokes in baseball caps playing pool and people who just need a drink post-11.20pm. Relaxed atmosphere where your generally left alone.
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absolutley brilliant pub. i love the club next door too(the dome).
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A great spit and sawdust boozer and immune form the souless gastro pubs with people sitting in armchairs reading the Guardian.Recommend going in there when the Arsenal are playing has a community feel to it
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I use this pub most nights as I am lodging down here. A definate case of a pub you need to get used to, it's bark is worse than it's bite.Good for the footy, thats if you can watch more than one match at a time. Bar staff could be a bit quicker and the larger colder.
gerry - 3 Nov 2004 12:44 |
what happened to the tall dark good looking irish barman i think his name was john can anybody tell me what happened to him
ted - 11 Oct 2004 03:16 |
This is the best pub in N.19 - forget the rest, come to the best, the atmosphere is terrific especially friday nights with the karaoke.
Laura - 21 Jun 2004 01:24 |
i remember it opened very late, which is a GOOD THING
anonymous - 2 Jun 2004 16:14 |
this pub is of the best pubs i have been 2. the friday nights r very good n fun, the drinks are very cheap compare to most pubs.the staff r very nice, the pub is big and nice. i highly rate this pub A+++++++++
Niall - 19 Apr 2004 20:34 |
A class little pub, not as rough as people make out. All types ine here and a god vibe
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be there manny time, if you have kids out on a friday and a sat night just look here and you will find them,good fun on a friday seeing all the wannabes thinking this is the night for them, i can`t sing but i would not get up just to let every one no it,but its good to see so menny oldy and kids in one room , can be rough so times.
keith f - 22 Mar 2004 13:18 |
There's something unique about this pub that makes me smile... being on the site of Victorian Baths, the shape of it and looking in from the outside, the electrifying and unpredictable rough-but-very-friendly and welcoming atmosphere, bygone memories of table-football thrashings (bring it back!), but best of all the Karaoke on a friday night, which is a scream and feels exactly like being a contestant on The Generation Game - all jolly good fun!
Bert - 23 Feb 2004 10:54 |
we love the boston, the bar staff are gorgoeus, especially the little blonde one who cant pour guiness to save her life!
jamie - 27 Jan 2004 20:55 |
The Boston is a place one must master. Like anything important it is difficult and intimidating at first, but once mastered is as rewarding as it is addictive
Lukey G - 4 Jan 2004 17:38 |
Great for watching Arsenal games in, cheap beer, friendly people, and hasn't been colonise by any trendies yet. Apart from :)
Barry Apple - 16 Dec 2003 18:58 |
By no means the best pub in the area. I think the Admiral Mann on the other end of Brecknock Road's a better pub, and the Pineapple in Kentish is better. They have real ale which the Boston does not, and they attract a more peaceable clientele. Try out these other pubs and see for yourselves.
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Truely awesome. Life in all its glorious and decrepit splendor for everyone to see.
Plus late bar + cheap pints.
Steve - 18 Sep 2003 17:44 |
go in there, have a cheap pint, laugh at/merge with the elder-irish, eventually get depressed, your laughing
3 or more convenient entrances/exits
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been using pub for years,never seen a fight yet.beer is only £1:60 mon to fri till 7pm.food is cheap, staff can be great or grim.great place for late beer.
goonerob - 6 Aug 2003 00:01 |
good for footie on the multiple screens but that's about it. It's full of seedy old men and other dodgy folk.
jim - 19 Jul 2003 15:47 |
5 large screens for sport.
quiz machine/game.
pool table.
dart board.
teams for both pool and darts play in local leagues.
barry cerasoli - 7 Jul 2003 16:58 |
what about the pool table?.
karoke on Friday night? holiday for 2 to win'''. Disco saturday
night and live Irish/rock music
Sunday evening.
barry - 4 Jul 2003 14:40 |
Father Jack Hackett would fit right in. A melting pot of Anglo-Irish co-habitation, all home nations games played on a multitude of tellies. Nice crisps and a spanking new sign befitting such a palace.
Mickey - 8 Apr 2003 15:36 |
My favourite local, and don't I love it - lively bunch in here plus there are loads of tellies so you can't fail to miss the football.
Right next to the bus and tube as well, so convenient.
Chris - 8 Apr 2003 14:03 |
On the subject of celebrities - Sylvester McCoy sometimes drinks there as well.
Joe - 7 Apr 2003 14:31 |
I thought it charmingy quaint. Proper English like. Warm beer, hotly dressed mature ladies serving behind the bar. It's great!
Juan Kerr - 4 Apr 2003 17:06 |
Full of red faced, peanut brittle wino's and the stickiest carpet in town.First timer may sense undertone of apocalyptic menace,but this soon washes away with the guinness!every arsenal game on the plasma screens.Also top celeb hang out.Recently spotted Trigger and George Dawes watching the gunners
Mike - 4 Apr 2003 15:53 |
Cheap pints, late licence, surly staff, scary old Irish drunks and disgustingly filthy toilets... what more could you possibly ask for? One of the last bastions of integrity and tradition in North London. It should be a National Heritage site.
Joe - 3 Apr 2003 17:03 |
definately the best 'proper' boozer in north london - don't forget your shell suit though.
john reeves - 3 Mar 2003 19:09 |
Uggh!!!
Used to visit that pub when dragged kicking & screaming by "friends" desperate for a drink after 11. The atmosphere is however quite uninviting and intimidating at times, and fights and arguments amongst patrons are never too far away. Do not visit on your own at weekends or late at night.
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The only pub I know where the bar staff are usually as inebriated as the customers. Unattractive, unusual decor and strange customers only heighten the idea that you have stumbled into one of the best boozers in the world.
Words do not do it justice. If this pub was a dog you'd want to hug it but be a bit frightened as to where it had been
rooey - 5 Dec 2002 10:45 |
This is one of my favourite pubs in North London. It isn't a pretty place or particularly trendy, just a proper Irish boozer. Friday night is karaoke night and it is one of the most entertaining nights you can have. Very friendly atmosphere and pretty cheap Guinness.
Richard Crawte - 4 Dec 2002 12:19 |
sorry that should have been attractive matches COMMA occasional tramps. the kind of matches u light cigarettes with.
keith - 24 Oct 2002 15:55 |
top quality, open late, attractive matches occasional tramps
keith chegwin - 24 Oct 2002 15:36 |
