For what it’s worth, here’s my thoughts on the world of drinking in said region. As I am not very good with maps I am hoping all pubs mentioned fall into the catchment area but this is a very tricky part of the world to navigate as whenever I come out of Old Street I am 100% guaranteed to go the wrong way.
Anyway – first pub is (I think) the Red Lion near the 333. It was exceedingly packed when I was there but it wasn’t bad – my companions seemed to approve of the jukebox in particular. Unfortunately our table was right in front of the fag machine so our peaceful drinking sesh was not very peaceful.
Verdict – OK pub.
Second drinking experience was my effort to get into Home bar on Charlotte Street on a Saturday night. It too was exceedingly packed and also very noisy. Didn’t stop for long enough to have a drink and I don’t know if I would bother trying again.
Verdict – This place doesn’t belong in Pumpkin Pubs as it was about as far from a pub as it’s possible to get.
Third and final drinking experience – New Year’s Eve 2000 in the Bricklayers on Charlotte Street. Guess what – it was exceedingly packed and operating a ‘one out-one in’ door policy. It took half an hour to get served (this is not an exaggeration). When I first arrived they were playing the latest Spice Girls album and then Music by Madonna (not sure how this fits into Sosho cool – is it ironic or not?). However the decorations were nice. Very nice indeed.
Verdict – Hard to judge properly as it wasn’t really a normal night.
Final verdict – the drinking establishments of this area are exceedingly busy. This is because there are many clubs and people need somewhere to drink first. So I figure there must be an optimum number of pubs / bars required to service the needs of the clubbers and this area has not reached that number. And it’s not good enough.