The White Lion

TescoPigeon

Nowt wrong with Masala Zone. How about a Bill's cafe, very middle class

kreuzkav

@ Tesco Pigeon. Two words.  Class cleansing. Good work.

conformable_kate

actually I rather fancy Scruffy Utopia. Though to be fair I wouldn't be within earshot of the yodelling nights.

conformable_kate

PS @miss annie - I buy quite a lot of books from bookshops - and quite a lot more from charity shops. I do try and dodge amazon because of their appalling employment and taxation practices, but someone recently told me abebooks is a subsidiary, which does make it harder when I need a particular book urgently...

Mirandola

Masala Zone is rubbish. Go to Drummond Street. <br>

krappyrubsnif

Côte

miss annie

Abe books, Lovefilm and Good Reads all belong to Amazon. Have you tried ordering online from high street shops? Most do next day service.and free delivery. *promotional message* Waterstones do click&collect where you get the online price if you reserve online and collect in the shop (you can collect same day!).

therattle

I buy books from Foyles, usually. I tend to be in Soho reasonably often. <br>

Four Eyes

<font face="Arial, Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal;">Love it or hate it the White Lion is closing for good on 24th Jan. <a href="http://www.urbanpubsandbars.com/">These guys</a> have bought it. </span></font><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: normal;">Even though I've moved out of Stroud Green, I'm very sad about this. Yet another hipster bar with mismatched furniture and 'craft ales'. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: normal;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: normal;">End of an era.</span></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: normal;"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: normal;"><br></span></font></div>

Sutent

Pints at urban pubs are >£4..  I wonder if red faced people will go there

krappyrubsnif

I will email the company as a representative of 'The Mayor and Corporation of Stroud Green' asking them not to throw out the historic photos.

Ali

<p>It would be good to preserve them some how.</p><p> </p><p>The WLM as one of Weathersoons fisrt "big" pubs.  The refurb that put in the currant config was the start of the decline.</p><p>It will need a complete gut out </p>

Papa

I can't see the White Lion's regulars being happy about that. <div>I know this is a sweeping generalisation but that sort of clientele is definitely being squeezed out of pubs in the area.</div><div>That's a shame.</div><div> </div>

verga

Hold on a minute, I thought we wanted independent businesses and not national chains?<div><br></div><div>Also, Wetherspoons clearly have closed this pub because it is one of their least profitable (why close a profitable pub? well, maybe if they are selling the freehold, but they would sell the freehold and remain a tenant) - so maybe the pub isn't as popular as it is made out to be?</div>

NorthNineteen

Good that it's not going to be vacant! I feel mixed about this, we have so many pubs like Urban Pubs already and I worry if it will affect places like Stapleton, WB Yeats and Hopsmiths...  I do like the Wheatsheaf in Tooting though.<div><br></div><div>Wonder where the regulars might go.</div><div><br></div><div>The White Lion has a fairly decent number of customers during the day but compared to other pubs on SGR it is quiet during weekends and evenings.</div>

gardener-joe

...

Papa

I want independent businesses, small chains and good quality stuff. So, for me the White Lion change is to be welcomed.<div><br><div>I do, however, have an element of sympathy with those who spend a lot of time in there, probably have much lower incomes than me, and are about to see their favoured cheap drinking and socialising spot vanish.</div><div><br></div><div>Could be good news for the Park Tavern and Nick Nickelby, casting yet more aspersions that the the White Lion regulars probably don't want what the other now more upmarket local pubs offer.</div></div>

Fin

<p>Urban Pubs (who Four Eyes says above have bought the WLM) are the same guys who were behind the purchase & refurb of The Dairy back in 2009. They sold it, along with 10 other pubs they owned, 2 or 3 years ago and are now having another go.</p><p>Do with that what you will!</p>

krappyrubsnif

No reply yet from Messrs Urban, so will leave it a bit and try again. I advised them to introduce themselves to the locals on here.

gardener-joe

...

NorthNineteen

What was the Old Dairy like before 2009?<br>

Ali

<p>It was an Old Dairy that was being used as a garage.  You can still see where the horse stalls used to be.  During the development they  put  a roof over the court yard where the bar is.  </p><p> </p><p>I was at the first  night absolutely rammed !</p><p>The room on the corner used to be the dairy shop but was the  Crysolis ( I think) hardware shop whcih relocated to where Ivory is on SGR.  That went bust the hardware shop a little up the road  bought the old stock. It also bought the stock from the West Indian Hardware shop that used to be where the Atom  is. He moved  close to where Crysolis used to be and also went bust.</p>

krappyrubsnif

I'd like to know what the layout was and where the loading bays were. I worked in a dairy one summer. Best thing was to (accidentally) drop an entire stack of 5 crates of milk - 60 bottles - over the lorry side. Quite a noise and makes quite a mess.

Arkady

Was the Old Dairy really opened as late as 2009? That's when I moved to Stroud Green and it already seemed like an institution. I vaguely thought I'd visited it in 2006 when I first moved to the vicinity of Finsbury Park.

Ali

<p>Dig into the archives!</p><p>It opened in 2007</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.stroudgreen.org/discussion/445/the-new-old-dairy/p1">http://www.stroudgreen.org/discussion/445/the-new-old-dairy/p1</a></p><p>It is quite interesting to read the blog from back then as there are quite a few pages on this</p>

verga

But it was still a pub before 2007 - not a garage - it reopened as a latest reincarnation of a pub.  <div><br></div><div>Maybe in the 90s it was something else?</div>

gardener-joe

...

Ali

<p>Maybe checking  Islington  planning records can reveal when it became a pub</p>

Sutent

I can't imagine bovine on stroud green

Arkady

@Ali - that old thread is great. Lots of people winging about paying 3:20 for a pint - if only!