The Old Dairy on Stroud Green Road holds two quizzes each week. Their music quiz is held every Thursday but we were there on a Tuesday for the general knowledge quiz. The crowd was youthful and lively (i.e. brash and drunk), with the exception of a very conspicuous pub starer (older, dishevelled, half of bitter) who was traipsing around before the quiz started.

There were five rounds of ten questions (News, Pictures, Music, General Knowledge and Top Ten), one pound per person for entry. “Men with Beards” was the theme of the picture round. The music section was a Bits ‘n’ Pieces round and worked well because the quality of the PA was excellent. I imagine this is a godsend for their music quizzes. For the Top Ten round, you had to name the top ten, in any order, of the category they gave you. This time it was the top ten gold medal winning nations at the Commonwealth Games – damn you Fiji!

Sounds fine so far but the Old Dairy quiz turned out to be rather an uninspiring experience. The geography of the pub caused the most problems. Because the pub is full of corners and snugs, it was all too easy for teams to cheat, as the chorus of ringtones proved. The quizmaster herself was tucked away in snug and responding to questions from a disembodied voice over the loudspeaker didn’t add much to the atmosphere. There were also the usual gripes – huge teams, a few dodgy questions and a bunch of quiz bastards scooping the prize (booze?). It’s not one I’ll be returning to in a hurry. The music quiz might be worth a go, if it wasn’t one of a hundred quizzes in the area being held on a Thursday night.