The Winchester, Islington  

With the unimaginatively titled, 'Bar & Dining House' a distant memory The Winchester has settled into being one of Essex Road's less frenetic bars, compared say, to the perpetually rammed Old Queen's Head. Agrarian style old floorboards have been nailed to the walls, creating a look not dissimilar to the nearby 'Elk in the Woods' and on the evening we visited, the food and cocktail menus looked interesting enough and were tagged at the usual Essex Road prices. Musically, they were playing it safe with pleasant but unexciting middle-of-the-road music, but perhaps the DJ Bar in the basement may have served up something more challenging later. Incidentally, the very same basement also offers up a free post-ironic Monday night film club (Transformers, anyone?). We can't imagine their description of being a 'boozing lounge' will impress Daily Mail readers much, but the twenty somethings lounging on the leather sofas seemed happy enough.

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