Chapter One

rainbow_carnage

We went into Chapter One last week for the first time in years. It was completely empty. The barman was having a ciggie outside. Couldn't blame him, as he clearly didn't have anything else to do.

We used to go there all the time two refurbs ago. Back then they still had those wooden schoolhouse chairs. The drinks were always overpriced (£7 for a large Mount Gay and ginger?!) but they made up for it with a decent snaks menu. You could pick any 3 things off the menu for £10. The portions were big enough so that that could be dinner for 2 people.

Chapter One was never my favourite bar. It tried too hard to be something like The Birdcage in Stokey and failed miserably. But it was tolerable, and they did have a 12:00 or 12:30 license. It served a purpose. Now it's just sad.

jandb

What's the lighting like inside? From the outside it looks like Blackpool in October.

Colette

My heart sinks everytime I think about Chapter One these days.

rainbow_carnage

It's hideous. It looks like they were going for trendy, but instead it looks like cheap plastic sci-fi. It keeps changing colours. Crap IKEA couches that are neither comfy nor attractive.

We were there for less than an hour. Couldn't stand it any longer.

I'm surprised that they are still in business these days. Whenever I walk by, it looks empty. The high prices don't help. A round of 4 spirits and mixers came to £27. Soho House is cheaper than that. Not to mention that there's a Wetherspoons a few doors down...

emily

Chapter one will make you a cup of tea at 12.30 on a sunday night, meaning I won't have anything bad said against the place.

andy

It's great. No matter how much there seems to be a consensus, pretty much everything o SGR has at least one person prepared to defend it.

David

Although most things in Stroud Green tend to get a majority kicking from this forum, which might be wrong of me, but feels like venues suffering in comparison to busier areas/central town. I love living here and big part of that is down to the non-chain random nature of the high street and its venues. Rough with the smooth and all that. The mere fact there _is_ a place to get a fresh bagel should be lauded. A _choice_ of pizza places? WIGS? Two gastroish pubs to eat in yet other old boozers for the mix, tonnes of restaurants. Its all there. Need more? One of the best bus/tube hubs in London. Erm, I've forgotten what my point was.

andy

I think your point was, that despite your essentially curmudgeonly nature, you are actually fond of SGR.

It was your Henry V moment.

David

Lollard heresy, where's that delete button.

dion

It is the 'I love Stroud Green but it is still a bit shit and not posh' paradox.

David

Posh is far more enjoyable to dip in to rather than live in. I've lived in a few fancy locations and while the coffee is good and the scenery just so, they do tend to lack a bit of spark. And they never have a Jai Krishna on the corner, that's for sure.

Bobby

The day Stroud Green becomes posh is the day I start looking at flats on Hornsey Road.

Liz

This turn this thread has taken makes me feel very reassured. I don't really like the posh bits of London - other people rave about Hampstead or wherever, but I always feel a bit out of place there. My preference for slightly-on-the-scummy-side-but-actually-pretty-nice places became clear when I was driving back from Somerset a couple of Christmas's ago. As soon as I hit the Westway and got a good view of Sheps Bush (where I have also lived - I think it's quite similar to SG, though I appreciate that this may be controversial), my little heart sang. Sad but true.

dion

Shepherds Bush is where the other big Woody's is. Does Woody's make areas good, or is Woody's attracted to good areas? @Liz - yes, Hampstead is just full of old, rich people and boring young people.

poxy

Back on thread...

Even though there never appears to be a great deal of folk in Chapter One there's often a staggering amount of empties in bags on the pavement come collection time.

David

Whenever I've gone past its empty unless I'm going past c.11pm-1am on the weekend and its packed out with what I can only describe as reminding me of a South London impromtu rave in some run down pub c.1992. I'm presuming the empties come from that one/two nights a week/(month?).

rainbow_carnage

So, has Chapter One shut for good? I can't remember the last time I've seen it open.

tosscat

I think so, never mind.

krappyrubsnif

I met Gerry, the owner, on my street yesterday. It's reopening in a few days. He says it's going back to 'what it used to be' before the redesign with 'Irish music and such'. My neighbours will not be pleased because they felt their front garden was a regular extension to the bar's toilet facilities after midnight.

I quite liked the place though.

Krappy

rainbow_carnage

Thought we'd give Chapter One another go. Went in last night. We were the only people there. The dance music was totally inappropriate for an empty bar on a Wednesday night. Mariah Carey on the telly.

The wine (cab sauv) was a bit shit, and I'm still not a fan of the Ikea leather sofas.

Trying to think of something positive to say, but nothing comes to mind... oh, I kinda like the wallpaper. And at least we didn't have to wait to be served.

krappyrubsnif

That's why I like it.

N4_bandit

Chapter one just doesnt look inviting.
I saw a bloke covered in Blood outside the Larrik last night. The Cops were giving him a nice helping hand.

David

Really? What time? I was in there, it was quiet & empty (but they have broadband and my Virgin internet has been down for over a day now)

unaesthetic

we keep having to phone virgin and yell at them. it doesn't help that their tech support is essentially roy from the IT crowd's taped message: "have you tried switching it off and back on again?"... they don't seem to know when there are faults in their own bloody network, and don't understand that not everyone who calls to complain that their bloody service is down again is a technophobic ignoramus.

injoke

i constantly had problems with my virgin broadband, and for the money you pay the speed really isn't all that.

my free broadband from sky is a comparable speed to my old £30 a month connection from VM. streams video fine, downloads films in 30 to 40 minutes, i've never looked back.

sophie

our virgin broadband was down for four separate 24hr+ periods in the two weeks running up to my dissertation deadline last month. i ended up living in my lab as i couldn't work at home, i rang them up and sounded tearful and they credited our account with a tenner. i was so cross. but they told us that the problem was only affecting us and one other house in our road, so it wasn't a high priority, i wonder why everyone else seems to be having problems in this area too.

sophie

p.s. i like chapter one. i've never considered not getting a cocktail in there. every one i've had has been really really good.

krappyrubsnif

Can't complain about Chapter One, as local bars go.

I hired it for a party a couple of years back. It was the right size, we had a jazz quartet and eighty or a hundred people. They put on a big spread of food. I got free drinks there for weeks afterwards.

I like the owner, Gerry (Jerry?), he's a gent.

ShaunG

Also a virgin customer, also no broadband (and it does happen far too frequently). I've bullied them into a £10 rebate in the past, but it really doesn't make up for the huge irritation.

matt

I got a free month from Virgin when mine was off for about a week. I got through to heir Executive Office - it helped knowing what I am talking about and they fixed the fault at the exchange

David

Mine's back up now so it was sort of 30 hours-ish. I've not had any trouble for a few years so I'm not overly concerned. Will let this one slide, but the moaning will start in earnest if it happens again.