Shaftesbury Tavern re-opens!

TescoPigeon

The Shaftesbury Tavern on Hornsey road finally reopened this weekend. I popped in for a couple of jars before dinner and was pleased to find an excellent selection of brews and a convivial atmosphere. Food menu looks good too, if limited. Today being Sunday, roasts were flying out of the tiny kitchen and had sold out by 4pm (I'm not surprised, judging by their size!). A welcome return of this N19 institution. I think if we get a few more middle class bastions like this popping up (eg. that new coffee shop/bakery on Fairbridge Rd by the carpet shop) Hornsey Road might just become a place worth visiting rather than passing through!

Arkady

I went to the opening on Friday.  Pleased to see they haven't buggered around too much with the interior.  Excellent beer selection.  They did have to stop taking food orders by 19:00 though due to the rush!<div><br></div><div>That did mean that I had an excuse to go to the truly excellent Balti King restaurant opposite, though.</div>

NappyFox

I'll have to pop down there. Was going to go on Saturday actually but my mates b*ggered off before I had the chance!

TescoPigeon

Ha, some friends! Yeah I recommend it for a decent pint though. I think they're going to have bands playing and that, let's hope it's a success. Arkady, Balti King always looked pretty sketchy to me! Reminds me of a horrible place I used to go when I was at uni in Sheffield. Might pop in if they do a decent Jalfrezi!

R&J

Have they got more draft lagers on offer than before? Last time I was in there (pre furb obv) they only had Litovel which I'm not a big fan of

Sutent

I went there last night for a pint. They have some good ales and it was a very different crowd to what it was like before. Very young and majority female. The menu looked interesting and some good vegeterian dishes

Arkady

Many, many draft largers - especially if you include all the craft ales.<div><br></div><div>Agree Sutent - the dining room was like a creche on Friday night.</div>

TescoPigeon

Me and a few pals are heading down on Saturday evening to test out the beer properly (and one of them will likely harass those females you speak of). We should make it an informal SG.org social!

Mirandola

You know what, you're much more likely to meet a nice lass if you don't go down the harassing route. Also, it's a lot more fun for the lass.<div><br></div>

Papa

Glad the Shaftesbury's back open. I really liked it before, a decent pub on a stretch where they are sparse. They were also great when we hired the back room for after  my daughters' baptisms. Looking forward to checking it out.

Mirandola

I can confirm it's lovely.

Sutent

The staff are very nice too. Smiley friendly and good service. I had to wait 6 seconds to be served...

Papa

Went for a pint on Saturday evening. It doesn't look very different inside, but that's good because it was nice already. <div><br></div><div>Good selection of ales and craft beers, decent looking and not expensive pub food menu, nice staff, nice atmosphere. Welcome back the Shaftesbury.</div>

ADGS

Too full for my tastes now, which I can forgive what with them needing to make money - but a bigger problem is that the service has deteriorated markedly. On Saturday they almost gave me the previous customer's change, and then we left before our second because there was no grasp on who had been at the bar longest and my friend understandably lost patience. 

Papa

That's a shame ADGS. I went back in on Wednesday night for dinner with the wife. Food was good and decent value, service was good and friendly too. It wasn't too busy though - that always hampers a pub or bar, especially when it hasn't had much time to get up and running.<div><br></div><div>I must admit I am always torn between my desire for places to make money and my desire for them to be just empty enough to cater to me. </div>