BITE user comments - Oasthouse
Comments by Oasthouse
Typical Sam Smith's pub for the area, with no real ale and modern stained glass windows installed by Smith's in the late 1980s.
29 Jul 2016 19:25
The Flying Scotsman, Caledonian Road
Now returned to the original name, the Scottish Stores. No longer a strippers' pub with blanked out windows and weirdos hanging around the entrance. There are 7 real ales and 6 on keg; also Weston's Old Rosie.
A very good pint from friendly and efficient staff, but at a price: £4.40. There's a very nice interior which is Grade II listed, this is also on CAMRA's London Regional inventory of pubs with interiors of special historic interest; a great interior with wood panelling, inlaid with coloured painted panels of some sort; there's some some etched glass too.
Certainly worth a trip and now definitely the best real ale pub in King's Cross.
7 Jan 2016 21:32
This pub's interior is about as appealing as a drop-in centre. The barman was very surly and my pint from the cask behind the bar cost a small fortune at £4.40. It was also off.
I won't be coming here again anytime soon.
8 Sep 2015 18:44
Very recent refurb with blue paint and metal stools and just three ales. Now looks more like a cocktail bar or wine bar with virtually no customers.
No longer a great place - shame.
15 Aug 2015 19:41
No pub décor and a poor drinks' choice - Doom Bar or Pride, poorly kept.
Agree with the reviewer below: this is more like an upmarket Harvester for the nouveau riche and it's miles from anywhere.
25 Jul 2015 19:43
The Westport Inn, Kentish Town
Returned to its original name of The Gipsy Queen (after about 25 years) in June 2015 following a serious makeover. This is no longer the scary grotty estate pub of before, now rather upmarket with designer beer garden, homemade pasta and craft beer. The trendy crowd here now looks more like the type you'd get in The Stag up the road.
Overall image and ambience spoilt by a hideous IMAX TV screen.
5 Jul 2015 19:46
Depressing downmarket pub in an upmarket area. The place is like a bar at a railway station or airport. Dirty toilets with paper all over the floor and the lock was missing.
A dull interior, loads of TVs everywhere and a pint of Marston's Pedigree for £4.30. Drinkers seemed to come from the estates of Lisson Grove, not that there were many drinkers in here and who can blame them.
Best avoided.
17 Apr 2015 18:44
This once wonderful pub has just reopened after a major refurbishment.
Oh dear. This pub should be renamed the World of Leather Arms on account of its fake high back studded burgundy leatherette armchairs. Decorated throughout with magnolia paint, the whole job looks like a brand new Victorian-themed hotel bar; almost all the original character has been lost.
There's now no compelling reason to come here any more - very sad.
31 May 2014 19:46
Wow! What a lot of positive reviews posted by managers and staff...
My group of about 12 thirty- and forty-somethings turfed up here for one for the road as it had a late licence; I wouldn't ordinarily visit a venue of this type, but needs must.
This is a small shop conversion, narrow and not especially long - in short, quite a small venue. Staff wear white shirts with black waistcoats. The place is a little dark with printed 'wine label' wallpaper, high tables and chairs and empty picture frames; it had few punters, my group comprehensively outnumbering the other attendants combined; I'd surmise that this is hardly the most popular of venues in the area, even on Saturdays at midnight. Music wasn't deafening, but it was loud enough to make conversation virtually impossible.
Essentially this is a cocktail bar, the only beers on tap being Heineken or worse still, Amstel. I expect this place is more expensive than neighbouring pubs but as I didn't buy the round, I don't know how much it cost. My Heineken was tepid and tasted suspiciously as if it had been watered down (perhaps a cheaper and even more inferior substitute?) and my friend agreed. The lavatories open directly into the bar area which isn't particularly appealing. Worse was to come in the form of the black shirted security guards who patrol the length of the bar, like concentration camp guards. They even enter the loos, presumably looking for miscreants loitering within. There was one rather charming South-East Asian member of staff, but she was this bar's only redeeming feature. This isn't my sort of place anyway and this seems to be below par for the type. Indeed, as mentioned above, the lack of customers would indicate that there's better to be had in the area.
16 Mar 2014 18:30
This pub is drap and completely lacking in atmosphere, added to which there's no real ale.
No compelling reason to return.
11 Feb 2011 23:52
CLOSED - currently (February 2011) undergoing conversion to 'Roots at N1', an upmarket Indian restaurant.
7 Feb 2011 02:05
I was once about to order a pint of bitter here only to watch in horror as the slops' trays were poured into another client's glass.
We left.
22 Jan 2011 16:00
Recently reopened and much improved - now easily the best pub in the area after the Black Lion.
27 Dec 2010 03:22
Now known as the Westbury and is quite pleasant, especially now that all the pool tables have gone from the front area.
27 Dec 2010 03:20
Heavily live music-orientated, this pub is now known as the Wheelbarrow and is run by the same people as the Flowerpot up the road.
27 Dec 2010 03:10
Originally the Southampton Arms and formerly the Crescent, the pub's current name dates from around mid-2010 and is named in honour of the late jazz trumpeter and host or Radio 4's 'I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue', Humphrey Lyttelton; it's at the junction of Camden High Street and Mornington Crescent.
It's one of the better pubs along the Camden Strip (though this isn't difficult); a few real ales are available as is Aspall's on draught. The loos are good too.
27 Dec 2010 02:36
I spent many years visiting this pub enduring its painfully slow service from the mid-1980s up until its refurb in the late-2000s and was generally happy with it - nothing special, just a better-than-average (streets ahead of the miserable Duke of Hamilton up the road) sleepy back street boozer with a precocious (male) cat called Buffy and pre-fame local Ricky Gervaise for company along with a decent pub quiz.
It's now basically a restaurant. The eclectic interior has gone; the interior's left and right thirds are reserved exclusively for diners whilst the central third, half of which is dominated by the much shortened bar (with a dramatically reduced beer selection), is for drinkers, i.e. about enough space for four people huddled around a table.
In short, this is no longer a pub: avoid if you fancy a drink.
23 Dec 2010 08:04
Gertie Brownes at the Coach and Horses, Hampstead
CLOSED - now in residential/commercial usage.
23 Dec 2010 06:14
CLOSED - shut a couple of years ago and is now a French restaurant known as La Cocotte.
23 Dec 2010 06:09
The Southampton Arms, Gospel Oak
Amazing!
Little more than a year ago this was the kind of pub you crossed the road to avoid and boy, what an extraordinary transformation. Walking in is like travelling back in time 70 years. What is really remarkable is the phalanx of 12 old-fashioned beer pumps serving esoteric real ales and scrumpy with just one discreet lager tap; tastings are welcomed. This is certainly not the place to go if you want alcopops or a bottle of Magners.
Music comes courtesy of vinyl played behind the bar on a turntable (Vera Lynn perhaps?) and food is basic in the form of quality pies and pork-filled buns. There's a coal fire too. Service isn't a strong point but this is an unfortunate result of this pub's new-found popularity. For the same reason, it can get quite crowded and seats are hard to come by.
If you like period interiors and love real ale or scrumpy, this is the sort of place you must visit at least once, in fact this is now one of my top three favourite London pubs.
23 Dec 2010 02:45
A very nice unpretentious back street pub catering for NW5's more affluent customers, indeed along with the Southampton Arms this is probably the best pub in the area.
23 Dec 2010 02:16
The Lord Southampton, Kentish Town
Definitely a locals' pub and older locals at that.
At the time of visiting service was good (though it was almost empty), but I didn't take kindly to the flashing fruit machine and the TV showing Deal Or No Deal for no apparent reason. There was also an all-pervasive smell of disinfectant emanating from the loos. The interior is in serious need of a makeover and if only someone would do to this pub what was done to the Stag (NW3) just up the road a few years ago, it could be a really nice place. Sadly, I wouldn't be surprised if this goes to the wall...
23 Dec 2010 02:05
The Lord Palmerston, Dartmouth Park
Went here for the first time in over twenty years and it has been much improved - it was then a little intimidating. However, it's a little lacking in atmosphere and the drinks were expensive.
It's okay if you're a local but to be honest I'd prefer the short walk to the Southampton Arms, Bull & Last or Dartmouth Arms.
23 Dec 2010 01:54
The Gloucester Arms, Kentish Town
Still plucking up the courage to go in, this pub looks, at least from the outside, like it has a good claim to be 'NW5's Most Scary'.
23 Dec 2010 01:48
An interesting back street boozer, notable for the foliage which cascades down over the ground floor's exterior almost to the point of covering it. It's also a reasonable place to go for a quiet drink if you want to get away from the Kentish Town strip.
23 Dec 2010 01:37
The Dartmouth Arms, Dartmouth Park
Slightly glitzy interior with an unusual copper bar top.
A good place if you're a local or happen to be in the area, but I wouldn't go out of my way to visit this place.
23 Dec 2010 01:25
Very gasto-orientated with good - though overpriced - food.
Decent atmosphere makes for a welcome retreat after a walk on Hampstead Heath.
23 Dec 2010 01:15
CLOSED - On 24th November 2010 a planning application was lodged to convert the pub into 8 self-contained flats along with 168m2 of office space.
23 Dec 2010 01:01
The Duke of Hamilton, Hampstead
I once caught the barman here pouring the contents of the slops trays into my glass, though this was about 20 years ago; I vowed never to go again.
WIth the slops fiasco a distant memory, a recent visit has determined that despite being surrounded by wealth, this historic pub still remains resolutely downmarket and joyless with precious little to recommend it; now that the White Bear down the road is more restaurant than pub, head up the road to the Holly Bush and experience a real pub.
15 Dec 2010 05:38
The Haverstock Arms, Belsize Park
This pub is inexplicably downmarket given the area; with an interior refit and under the right stewardship it could be as good as its location.
The smell of dissinfectant (possibly emanating from the lavatories) is overwhelming as is the audio-visual assault from all the TVs. The presence of the SIr Richard Steele, the Hill or the Washington all a short walk down the road (and the Stag up the road) means there is no credible reason for visiting this place.
15 Dec 2010 05:05
Contrary to popular belief, this pub is not closed but is periodically open as a private hire venue.
This pub was originally the Eton and took its current name from the now defunct Adelaide Tavern at No.1 Adelaide Road, opposite Chalk Farm underground.
15 Dec 2010 04:09
Formerly the Queens Arms, in late 2010 the bar area was gutted and the windows and doors were boarded up.
15 Dec 2010 03:59
The Black Horse, Upper Holloway
Closed and surrounded by hoardings as of 28th April 2010.
15 Dec 2010 03:48
Reinvented itself and reopened in May 2010 as the Tufnell Park Tavern, an upmarket gastropub and far cry from earlier incarnations.
15 Dec 2010 03:44
Reinvented itself and reopened in May 2010 as the Tufnell Park Tavern, an upmarket gastropub and far cry from earlier incarnations.
15 Dec 2010 03:42
The Islington Bar, Caledonian Road
This pub's original name, the Prince of Wales, has been reinstated.
15 Dec 2010 03:09
The Lark in the Park, Islington
Originally the George IV, this pub is now called Whelans and looks decidedly closed.
15 Dec 2010 03:06
This pub is currently being used as the site office for the Ardmore Group which is responsible for the construction project to the rear.
Once the project is complete, the intention, according to the Hackney planning report, is to reinstate the pub.
15 Dec 2010 02:53
This pub reopened on 10th December 2010 as the Star of Kings.
15 Dec 2010 02:16
The Duke of York, De Beauvoir Town
According to CAMRA this pub is boarded up pending conversion to residential or demolition to make way for same.
15 Dec 2010 02:01
Reopened on 10th December 2010 following refurbishment and is now known as the Star of Kings.
15 Dec 2010 01:51
The Star of the East, Limehouse
Recently given a very expensive makeover to turn this place into a destination gastropub and very swanky it is too.
Four real ales and upstairs dining room with views over Canary Wharf.
Nothing like the ropey boozer of old.
8 Apr 2019 19:27