The Shaftesbury Tavern, Archway

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(3 reviews)

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FancyaPint?'s review...

The Shaftesbury Tavern had been toddling along for a long time as a standard, unexciting but harmless local's pub before it shut last year. The trouble, we suspected, was the location; somewhere betwixt Archway and Crouch End it wasn't near enough to any major areas to garner enough trade for somewhere so uninspiring. However, it has now been reborn having been taken over by the Remarkable Restaurants group - a team who own a nice gaggle of pubs in east and north London. The turnaround is impressive. Many previously hidden Victorian details have been brought to life; the large rear room has been given some cosy booths and a lovely tiled floor, while the dark wood and bench seating suits a pub like this perfectly. At the bar is an impressive range of ales, along with Czech beer Litovel and the food coming from the kitchen looked great. Service is friendly, if somewhat slow and the clientele was an even mix of ages and creeds. A Monday quiz will hopefully encourage some early week custom (even if it was undersubscribed on our last visit), while the excellent free jukebox might encourage them to come back. Overall, a pub reborn - we wish them success.

Review: 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

Reviewed by redcat 08 Dec 2009 Helpful? yes/no

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n19drink
Reviews (3)

21 Aug 2010

Indeed very well done up. And the beers are great.

But this pub has a number of things to improve: First, the acoustics is horrible. Especially the back room feels like having a chat in a bathroom. The jukebox fails every 5 minutes and is then usually followed by awkward moments of silence. And during those moments you realize that the lady behind the bar on a Saturday night is just too present when she's screaming through her cell phone while she should have been filling up someones glasses. I think this pub is just too big for the number of people that it usually tenders. I live around the corner and have been coming back a few times to give it a second/third/fourth chance, but it still hasn't impressed me.

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09 Aug 2010

I'd been keen to visit this pub since its renovation and finally got in there yesterday afternoon. The renovation is one of the best I have seen - where so many pub makeovers have strived to hide the original features and decor, the renovators here have been totally faithful to the original Victorian building. Indeed, venturing into the back room - with a fantastic sunroof - is a little like walking back in time. There is a good array of ale and decent European lagers. A large (but not over-bearing) TV shows sport but is not too intrusive (if you want to talk, however, you can always venture into the aforementioned backroom). Clientele - as befits the area - is fairly mixed and very relaxed. The staff are attentive and polite and the food is reasonably priced and looks good (I didn't eat there). All in all, a really decent pub. It is - as the summary admits - a little out of the way but is easily reached from Finsbury Park, Holloway, Archway and Crouch End. It's well worth the effort, however.