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North London News
by John Cryne
On a recent Branch crawl around N1, yet another
cider outlet was spotted. The Eagle, Shepherdess
Walk has added Weston’s Vintage on handpump
together with a range of bottled ciders. Indeed,
the whole ale dispense has undergone a bit of a
transformation. The pumps that were previously on the side
bars and hardly visible from the street, have been moved to
a more prominent spot on the front serving area. Four ales
were on – Moorhouse’s Black Cat, Cottage Tawny, Highgate
Bee Zone and Mauldon May Bee. An impressive range
and the newly Cask Marque-accredited manager says his
plan is to steer away from the ‘standards’.
Just the other side of the canal, the Narrow Boat, St Peter’s
Street had two beers from the relatively newly set up Purity
Brewing. Actually, only the Pure Gold, a 3.8% golden ale,
was on, the Pure UBU having run out before we arrived.
The latter is a 4.5% premium, amber coloured beer. Hopefully
both will get a bit of a run, for more information go to
www.puritybrewing.com . The pub also makes a big play of
its imported beers such as Stiegl Goldbrau and Maisels
Weisse.
Weston’s Organic also now seems to be a regular at the
Island Queen, Noel Road and once again is supported by a
range of bottled cider; Pride was the only ale on. The final
pub on our crawl was the Charles Lamb, where the high
standards of cask beer continue to be maintained –
Fuller’s Chiswick and Taylor’s Landlord were on tap.
It appears that the Backpackers, 126 York Way, N1 has
reopened as the Cross Kings with late night opening to
2.00am on Friday/Saturday. It’s described as a bright and
breezy pub with a basement for live music and home
cooked food. Courage Directors on tap.
The King’s Crown, 184 - 186 Pentonville Road, N1 has
become the Long Hope. No other changes have been
reported.
Finally in N1, Martin McQuilten at the Talbot, 109 Mortimer
Road writes to let us know that Taylor’s Landlord is now
the house beer, with a different guest ale every week. At
the time of writing it is St. Austell Tribute to be followed by
Summer Lightning. In the past Martin has had Sharp’s
Atlantic IPA, Tanglefoot, Old Hooky and Brains SA.
Sounds well worth a visit!
We have also heard from David Jump that the Birdcage,
58 Stamford Hill, Stoke Newington has Hop Back Summer
Lightning and Taylor’s Landlord as its regulars.
So often we hear of pubs being converted to restaurants,
it is nice to hear of something going the other way. The
Garden Ladder, 501 Green Lanes, N4 was formerly an
Indian restaurant, converted about five months ago. This
is a true free house being run by Simon and Susanna
Walters, who commented, “We have Directors on all the
time with 1 or 2 guest ales, recently Adnams Broadside,
Bombardier, Deuchars IPA, Paradise Ale, Coopers Butt,
Spitfire, Pride of Pendle etc. We do not rotate but choose
by customer request and personal experience from all
that is available.” Sounds good to me.
The GBG-listed Coronet, Holloway Road; N7 will be holding
an Oakham Ales beer festival over the period 23rd to
29th July. A reported 63 firkins will be on sale, with all the
normal Oakham range plus a ‘Coronet’ badged beer
brewed for the festival.
Up in Cricklewood it appears we have our first gastro pub!
The Windmill on Cricklewood Broadway has undergone
the full treatment. Out have gone the Mr Q’s pool, the ugly
banners and all the other tat and in has come the standard
gastro-fit, with a large outside drinking area at the rear (in
good readiness for the smoking ban) plus a bed and
breakfast facility. If this bears a passing resemblance to
the Black Lion in Kilburn, then go to the top of the class,
as it’s run by the same people. Sadly, they have yet to get
their real ale quality off the ground. On two recent visits,
the Adnams clip has always been turned around, and the
Bombardier has been respectively off and a murky porridge.
Let’s hope they can get their act together as it would be
great to welcome another cask beer outlet in NW2. In
case of disappointment, you could far worse than repair to
GBG listed Beaten Docket, directly opposite, where, on
this visit, guest ale Marston’s Old Empire was in tip top
condition. Happy drinking.
John Cryne
Reproduced from the Full Pint, Issue 41.
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