Part of our Best Pubs in London microsite. Is your local listed?
Well now, this is an unexpected charmer. The Old Ivy House is a small Shepherd Neame pub a little too far up Goswell Road to attract City workers and Barbican visitors. They should perhaps make the effort, because this is the best all-round pub for some distance.
The beer range is uncharacteristically broad for Shepherd Neame. Yes, the chain's stalwart casks are present and correct, but the place has a range of kegs beyond most of its brethren. The real treat here, though, is the atmosphere of the place. Warm, inviting, and idiosyncratically decorated — we suspect the latter facet is to appeal to students from nearby City St George's.
The pub's riches are plenty. Try the Friday night jazz, perhaps with an Indian meal from the tandoor. Visit in the winter and enjoy the real fire, or turn up in summer when the doors and windows are thrown open for a continental feel. Comedy, drag, quiz night, board games... is there anything this place cannot do? Any pub whose afternoon playlist includes Pink Floyd, Belle and Sebastian, Duran Duran and Neil Young — while James Bond plays on the TV — is OK by us.
The pub's website claims it's "in the heart of Clerkenwell", which is a bit of a stretch. But the place is so good that it should be in the hearts of Clerkenwell, and beyond.
