What even is North London ?
Crudely, an upside town triangle stretching upwards from King’s Cross through the vast expanse of Islington, taking in the Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur support on the way to those hilly bits that Madness drove about in a car that wasn’t quite a Jaguar, I guess.
And very specifically NOT including Euston. That’s in NW1, so you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see if the Signal Box is featured Paul.
Picking five in North London was really tough,
and entries in N1 are notable by their absence. I’m sure you’ll advise me.
But I start where you start, or more likely end, your Big Pubby Day Out in the Smoke.
Included because for some GBG tickers, a final pint of ESB is actually a legal requirement.
But also, which other pubs give you a red carpet ?
Or such comic potential as folk trip over suitcases on the way to the bar.
But it’s a ritual pint that pays off with a pint of ESB as smooth and chewy as any ESB anywhere,
which you’ll regret when you realise the loos are broken.
From the centre of the outskirts of the “county” (it really isn’t),
Included because, although it’s changed hands and been taken over by Greene King, it’s a lovely looking building and everyone should make space in their itinerary for bucolic Barnet*.
Good grief ! That’s almost a banker of Landlord ! That Keighley Klassic gets everywhere.
For a town pub, there was good banter between staff and punters;
“Pint and a half of Abbot”
“In the same glass mate ?”
Chap pretends to ask his friend if that’s OK. “No, two glasses please”
It was funny at the time.
Back into “town” for Stoke Newington, which I can’t pretend I’d ever understood or warmed to.
Until this one;
I read that 88% of beer sold in North London is Guinness,
which is nonsense because one in five pints in the Army & Navy was Fosters.
“Have a sip of Fosters. Take your glasses off. Have another sip” advised one bloke to his mate, the way you’d try and convert a philistine to Plum Porter.
Live music, Old Boys discussing Chris de Burgh, some heritage features I missed, an odd pub game;
From the Irish Pub to the micropub,
Winchmore Hill – Little Green Dragon
an award winner too, National Pub of the Year (congrats to the Tamworth Tap, by the way).
And it deserved it for the beer (Signature, NBSS 4), and the warmth of the welcome,
and while some micros can look a little samey and sterile, this was “busy” and lived-in.
A real community gem, and your only reason to go to Enfield apart from the Wonder, which I couldn’t remember.
And finally, the craft beer pub in the place you can never picture on a map;
A very typical North London street, too.
I’ve mentioned recently how good London staff are, better than ever, and that trend continued in Small Beer, where I never felt like the Old Codger in the young folk’s bar. But then, I’m barely middle-aged as I intend to be around until Bass is the best-selling cask beer again.
Perhaps they’ll sell it in Small Beer, ironically, but for now the Two by Two will do for those of us who treasure our pint of murk.
Right, over to you for a sixth.
*Joking
retiredmartin 
I would nominate the Charles I, King’s Cross. I used to enjoy the eccentric landlady who would turn off the jukebox at the wall, whenever someone put on a song she didn’t like.
And I know people who would nominate the Wenlock, the Rosemary Branch and the Coronet.
In a way, I admire the GBG editors for taking London postcodes literally when creating the sub-regions. But a ‘North London’ without Camden and Kentish Town is a nonsense.
And following their logic surely, surely West CENTRAL and East CENTRAL postcodes should make up inner London (there isn’t a stand alone ‘C’ postcode).
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It’s all a bit of fun, but I agree about the oddities which took Soho out of Central and split North London in two. The case for a separate NW London section is weak. That doesn’t affect CAMRA branch structures of course.
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“It’s all a bit of fun” and that’s why it’s better on here than that discourse site.
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