London’s recent infatuation with Guinness has been incredibly well documented over the past couple of years, so much so that tired jokes about ‘splitting the G’ are infinitely more likely to solicit eyerolls than amusement these days. But if you do happen to be a lover of the black stuff, this narrow little Irish boozer is often touted as one of the best places to enjoy it in the capital.
Its tiny facade hides a deceptively large interior decked out in all the paraphernalia you’d expect to see in an Irish boozer – tricolour flags, Six Nations paraphernalia, hurling sticks, Guinness-branded everything – with a large beer garden out back that’s busy year-round thanks to ample heaters. Like all good Irish boozers it hosts regular trad music nights during the week, and shows all the major Irish sporting fixtures.
If Guinness isn’t your thing, you might not be left with an awful lot of choice; there are no ‘modern IPAs’ here, just one good old fashioned pale ale and a few commercial lagers, and as far as we can tell the wine list pretty much just runs to ‘red’ or ‘white’, but we doubt you’ll really notice what you’re drinking after a couple. It’s the sort of place where you pop in for ‘a quick one’ mid-afternoon and end up stumbling home at closing time after bumping into somebody you haven’t seen in eight years and/or making life-long friends with the group on the table next to you.
No wonder its diverse clientele – a perfect balance of Irish expats, cheerful auld fellas and sentient Real Housewives of Clapton memes – always seems to be having a great time.