Kentish Town Pubs | Featuring Taylor Swift (well, sort of)

A tour of pubs in Kentish Town in North London, which has a handful of well preserved Victorian pub interiors. Taking in:

Most of these pubs are listed in CAMRA's inventory of historic pub interiors:

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction / Pineapple
3:36 Southampton Arms
6:24 Bull & Last
7:48 Bull & Gate
9:22 Taylor Swift?!
11:01 The Assembly House
12:28 Outro

[RichardReid-lc]

I agree with you about the recent explosion of acrid grapefruit flavoured blond "ales", they are killing off proper bitters, miles and strong ales.

[imafilmbuff]

Both the Southampton Arms and the Pineapple are great pubs with a wonderful selection of beers, I actually visited them again only a few days ago at the time of writing. I would also suggest Tapping the Admiral towards the borders with Camden, it has a wonderful Victorian era interior with many nautical related nicknacks, a fine beer selection and a pub cat named Nelson, rather appropriately.

[argopunk]

In '88 I went to see Desmond Dekker and the Aces and in '98(?), The Flaming Lips at the Town and Country Club/Forum. We got off the Tube and headed straight into the first pub, which had to be The Assembly House. Nice to see it again.

[paulturner]

At last!! I’ve found someone on YouTube that actually loves pubs and appreciates a good pint. I’m from Birmingham and like you like to go to ‘proper’ boozers! Coming to London on October 5th for a pub tour!!
Keep up the good work mate!👍🍺🍺
Paul

[torquemaddertorquemadder]

Nice to see the Southampton. A regular for me for a few years, after it opened in its current guise. A game-changer. That full bar of hand-pumps seemed to set a higher standard for how delicious and fun fresh beer could be than could all the bottled, kegged, canned and carbonated novelty 'craft' beer-o-pops in the world; the simple 'pie-and-mash-shop' style interior easy to relax into after those first sips of beer. A magic nowhere else quite matched.
Surprised to see the dreaded kegs have crept up the bar since. Haven't been there for ages due to moving but the memories are Legend.

[practicaliching]

The Southampton Arms looks more like the old bars in the upper midwest in the states than any of the other pubs shown so far. Especially in the upper peninsula of Michigan or northern Minnesota. Definitely my kind of place. Excellent job Tweedmeister.

[alanpreston]

Ahh many a happy time spent in the Southampton Arms .. thanks Tweedy 👌🏻

[andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

Hello Tweedy. What a surprise to find not only cracking pubs, but also simply fabulous Georgian and Victorian streets and alleys in Kentish Town. You show that some of the best bits of London can be found off the tourist trail. Thank you so much for sharing. 👏👏👍😀🍺

[jimwulstan]

George Orwell probably visited a few of those backstreet boozers, I think his 'down and out' book was inspired by Camden's
Rowton House Hostel for the homeless. I had cause to use the East Perth Rowton House myself in 1971.Happy days.

[johnsharp]

Thanks you a very damp Tweedy for yet another interesting group of pubs. This time they are completely new to me. Kentish Town in the 50s and 60s was a very tough area. I had a cousin based at Kentish Town police station as a dog handler and I think he was kept busy. It is great to see some of the lovely Georgian streets that have managed to survive. The Pineapple looks a lovely pub and the best of those you visited and the back of the bar area is magnificent . Some of the others are fine buildings, with wonderful ceilings and glass screens, that have been over-modernised and clearly designed to attract the younger generation. In modernised pubs I dislike being presented by an array of unknown (to me) craft beers which could be good, indifferent or undrinkable.

[fredshred]

Wow the Assembly House has changed, used to have two pool tables in the front bit and was a stark looking pub no decorations really.You could say a drinking mans pub. Landlord was an Irishman and so where most of the customers. Had a big hall /bar round the back. This was in the 80's though. Wait for my bus 134 or 137 can't remember exactly. Had the option of getting off at Highgate if the bus was going to Finchley, then pop in to the Woodman for a pint and watch for the bus going to Muswell Hill. Sometimes it would be a rushed pint as I had to finish the pint quick and then dash to the bus stop before the bus could make the turn at the intersection and trundle down to the bus stop. The Bull and Gate was more a music venue type pub as was more or less next door to the Town and Country Club, another music venue.

[WCUKProductionsLtd]

Some nice shots of the sort of streets that are real London. I am loving this latest Tweedy iteration, but the addition of Taylor Swift to the mix has elevated the experience to a whole new level!

Liked the look of The Pineapple and as unlikely as it is, if I were ever to go to Kentish Town, I'm going there.

[HarryBooth-owlb]

These videos are brilliant mate, watching from liverpool keep them coming 👍

[vlloyd]

Hey. Thanks for showing us inside The Pineapple. I’m going to try & ‘bully’ my partner into going there tonight. We both love old boozers. (Especially hidden back street pubs). We’ve been to quite a few!! We’ve both agreed, that so far. The King Charles I, Northdown St in King’s Cross is definitely our favourite. Lovely staff & an ecclectic mix of regulars. Quite a few of them got together & invested in the pub. They actually saved it from some greedy property developers too. I hate those people. All they think about is money. They don’t give a damn about the community!!! I love to sing jazz & i sing there sometimes. They have loads of live music. Thanks again. 🍺🍷🥃

[pauljones]

great channel, man, really fascinating and valuable imo

[DrDSCT]

Really enjoying your videos. Would be great if you could do a bit more detail about the types of beer available in the different pubs. Cheers.

[Dismas]

The food at The Pineapple is SO GOOD. One of the original pubs to serve Thai food. Really cheap for the quality too.

[alangalaxy]

I've only just come across your channel, I'm loving it...I can't wait for you to do Camden. Nice to see the Bull and Gate mentioned, I played there many times in the 80s when it was a major hub for up and coming acts. At the same time there were many iconic bands emerging from there, the likes of Blur, Suede, Pulp and The Manic Strret Preachers all cut their teeth on that stage. Unfortunately my band, The Wigs, got absolutely nowhere!

[leonidmironov]

Bull and Last is nice enough as a dinner place, but agree on the ales selection - not up to snuff. apparently it was one of the "original" gastro pubs? As in thats where the move started.... either way they should enhance their tap offering. Especially now that Duke of St. Albans has reopened 300 yards up the road with a much better drink selection (bother proper ales and grapefruity ones!)

[caracoates]

I enjoyed your videos. My husband and I are planning our second trip to London. We are in over 40s so we are not interested in partying, but our goal is to enjoy some local beers and take in the history. One idea I have for video is pub etiquette. My husband is from Australia so we are familiar with pubs, but they are different there. Do you always order from the bartender? Is there a time frame that is more suited to an older crowd i.e. how to avoid throwing up 20 year old's? What is the standard theme for tipping?