The George Shillibeer, London N7
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
North London: Other locations – Holloway
Contemporary pub (Butcher & Barrel)
Carpenters Mews, North Road N7 9EF
T 020 3218 0083 w www.thegeorgeshillibeer.co.uk f shillibeers
Open 1100-2300 (0200 Fri, closed Sat-Sun). Children welcome.
Cask beer 5-6 (Fuller’s, changing often local guests), Other beer 4 keg, 10 bottles, Also 20 wines.
Food Upmarket pub grub, Outdoor Front terrace in yard, Wifi. Disabled toilet.
Mon-Tue food promotions, Wed live jazz, Th quiz, Fri 80s DJs, big screen sport, board games, functions, weekend private hire, adjacent to theatre.
The wedge of London between Islington and Caledonian Road once flourished in the presence of the huge Metropolitan Cattle Market, which became a bric-a-brac and antiques market before vacating for Bermondsey just after World War II. With the market site partially rebuilt into a grim social housing estate and the rest becoming rather desultory parkland or industrial units, the area took on something of a decaying and marginal character until relatively recently.
Now the park with its surviving market clock tower has been done up, the estate is being regenerated and the Pleasance Theatre – an outpost of the famous Edinburgh Fringe venue – provides some cultural cred. The theatre occupies part of a large Victorian industrial development at the back of the market that was once a factory making horse drawn buses and later a depot owned by London General, one of the predecessors of Transport for London. Its conversion in the 1980s into the Busworks, a modern office and workshop complex, was an early sign of a turnaround for the area.
Also incorporated is a pub, the George Shillibeer, its name honouring the man who ran London’s first bus services, which meets the needs of local workers, theatregoers and people from further afield attracted by its offbeat charms. It’s a big barn of a place, its former industrial use clearly evident from the bare brick walls and high ceilings, but it’s well divided into several pleasant spaces on various mezzanines and raised floors. It’s become even more comfortable since being refurbished by Butcher and Barrel in Autumn 2011, and the beer range has notably improved too.
Fuller’s London Pride is the regular cask beer, while guests might come from smaller, more local outfits like By the Horns or Red Squirrel as well as the likes of Brains, Sharp’s or Thwaites. London Fields and sometimes Camden Town supply the keg beer alongside Anchor and Brooklyn, and there are a few bottles of interest too, from Cooper’s, Nils Oscar, St Peter’s and the like. A highlight in an unpromising area – although the background music can get a bit loud and it’s private hire only at weekends.
Insider tip. Weekend hires include a long running monthly latex and PVC party run by the London Fetish Fair – a somewhat radical alternative to drinking real ale in cardigan and sandals!
Underground Caledonian Road Cycling Links to LCN+ 6 7 14
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