81 Holloway Road,
Holloway,
London,
N7 8RT

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Hooray for Holloway Road!

It may be the poor neighbour of Highbury and the homogenous chi-chi-ness of Upper Street; it may be rather frightening in the dark; it may go on and on for miles in an apparently chaotic manner; but it’s damn cool. And yes, if you must know, I do live there.

I am therefore in an unarguably good position to tell you that when you have got out at Highbury and Islington tube and turned left – yes, really, left, away from Upper Street, you can do it – The Bailey is where you will want to head.

This end of Holloway Road is catching Islingtonitis, but battling bravely against it with all the scruffiness it can muster; and venues like The Bailey are the result. The regulars are still trendy, and rather smug about living in North London, but just that reassuring bit less wadded – and a bit younger, too.

Instead of couples with designer prams shooting serrated-edged looks at anyone with a cigarette whilst jigging up and down babies in expensive striped hats, here you get large groups of twenty-somethings getting the lagers in and thinking up names for their pub quiz team.

So, any old local with a few more hooded tops then? Well, yes, in a way. There’s no concept behind the Bailey – it’s a plainish, darkish bar containing a pool table, serving some very nice Thai food, decorated with various theatre posters. So far, so random? Well, the cheapness of the food deserves mention, and I recommend the sweetcorn cakes and green chicken curry.

Yet it’s nothing tangible that makes this a good pub. The real reason why it’s so popular is that the atmosphere is great here. The Bailey is not pretentious, not overpriced, and not trying particularly hard to be cool – it’s just frequented by some pleasant and reasonably good-looking people.

A fashionable bar that doesn’t require credit cards or lip gloss – now that’s got to be a good thing.

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