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Small boozer with a fire and pew style seating, a long thin bar which leads to a small garden at the rear. The ale selection is constantly changing and comes from small independent breweries across the UK.
Following a short closure and refurbishment in Autumn 2018, the number of cask beers on handpump has gone down to 8 from 10, they are usually helpfully ordered palest on the left, darkest on the right. And the number of real ciders, from producers such as Burrow Hill and Turners, has dropped from 8 to 6. At the same time 8 lines have been fitted for keg beers.
The pub won the Greater London Cider Pub of the Year Award 2010 after earlier winning the Branch Award. After being the Branch Pub of the Year in 2011 it then went on to be crowned the 2011 London Regional Pub of the Year. For 2017 and again in 2019, 2022 and 2023 it is the North London Cider Pub of the Year.
On the food front no gastro, just good bar snacks, pork pies, sausage rolls, scotch eggs, roast pork in baps plus veggie options. The music is played on vinyl which is great, there is also live piano music on Sundays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays. No tea, no coffee but a bloody mary kit is behind the bar. Pub stays open to midnight most days. Pub quiz Monday. Nearest transport options - Kentish Town overland or Gospel Oak.
One star - A pub interior of special national historic interest
Listed status: Not listed
Three-storey building of London brick built 1938. There are two doors to the street and the left-hand door is in use, leading to an inner door which is marked ‘saloon’ in stained glass. There is attractive mosaic tiling in the porch. Inside the door is attached the number ‘1’. The pub has old dado railing on the walls to about one-third height. In the salon area on the left beneath the dado is stained or lacquered textured wallcovering. On the right there is old tongue and groove wood panelling below the dado, and beneath the large centre window between the two doors is plain old wood panelling. The bar counter is solid wood and appears intact possibly from the inter-war years.
Three-storey building of London brick built 1938 that has been owned by Camden Brewery & Courage in the past. This is a small pub reminiscent of an old ale house, although opened up to become a one-room pub. There are two doors to the street and the left-hand door is in use, leading to an inner door which is marked âsaloonâ in stained glass. There is attractive mosaic tiling in the porch. Inside the door is attached the number â1â, which reflects the requirement from licensing magistrates to number each section of a pub, a system which was in use until the 1950s.
Markings on the floor suggest a diagonally placed partition has been removed to create the single space, losing what would have been a small public bar on the front right and more generous saloon from the left hand door going back to the rear. There are attractive old pub mirrors, including one for Lacons ales, and pew-style seating. The long thin bar leads to a small garden at the rear.
The pub has old dado railing on walls to about one-third height. In the salon area on the left beneath the dado is stained or lacquered textured wallcovering. To the right in what would have been the public bar there is old tongue and groove wood panelling below the dado. The large centre window between the two doors has plain old wood panelling beneath. The fireplace on the left side has a hefty metal surround and glazed decorative tiling on its interior as well as on the fireplace hood. The flooring around the hearth is plain tiling. The fireplace is in Victorian style but may be a reproduction dating from an inter-war refurbishment.
The bar itself is solid wood and the counter appears intact possibly from the inter-war years. The bar back consists of intact lower shelving and is backed by white tiling with a frame of brown tiles, which are typical of inter-war interior refreshments, but no upper structure. There is a floor to ceiling screen at the rear also of wood, which creates a space for access to the ladiesâ toilets and to private space. The gentsâ is outside and still features porcelain urinal.
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This Pub serves 8 changing beers and 0 regular beers.
Southampton Arms, London
Source: National
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