Tamil Crown, London

On 16 May 2024 we were informed, "There is no cask ale on a Monday or Tuesday 2 Hand Pumps but no beer."

This pub has re-opened after a long period of closure in November 2023 - a sister pub to the Tamil Prince - with 2 Purity beers on handpump. Our reporter visited on 02/12/23 with two Purity beers: Mad Goose and Longhorn. The place has been opened out a bit with the addition of an open kitchen servery. They have their own lager, but the barman didn’t know the brewery. The interior was divided into a bar area and a restaurant part. The bar counter looks new.

"The Charles Lamb is re-opening next Thursday as the Tamil Crown and is a sister pub to the Huntingdon Arms which is now called the Tamil Prince. The focus is on Indian food, with seating upstairs, and someone we know nas already booked a table there. Unlike the Tamil Prince however, the blurb says that Cask ales (plural) by Purity will be available."

The following text was written when the pub was the Charles Lamb;

Small street corner local hidden in the south west corner of Islington close to City Road and Upper Street. Despite being a small pub, it still has two distinct rooms, and the leaded windows look original. A lot of work has been put into restoring the pub, from the old wooden flooring, to the etched glass shutters that can be pulled down between the smaller room and the bar. The pub consists of a corner bar in the the main room, with one side of the bar also opening to the smaller room. The smaller room has a gas coal-effect fire, making it very comfortable and cosy for those cold winter evenings.

Established in 1839 as the Prince Albert in what then was Alfred Street, the pub was renamed in honour of Charles Lamb, the late 18th/early 19th century English essayist. Best known for his collected essays entitled 'Essays of Elia', published in 1823, he also provided the name for the road on which the pub stands ("Elia" being the pen-name Lamb used as a contributor to The London Magazine).