Good Pubs on the Goblin: #1 Southampton Arms, Gospel Oak

Are you a regular on the once-ghostly railway that leaves Leytonstone High Road or Leyton Midland and crosses Walthamstow, Crouch Hill and Holloway? You know, the one that whisks you to Gospel Oak in less time than it takes to watch an episode of Grace and Frankie?

If not, you’re missing out: a world of north/east London delights awaits. So we hope that this new regular series will inspire you to hop on the train and explore somewhere new.

But hang on a minute, where the hell is Gospel Oak? You may not even realise it’s at the foothills of Hampstead, and a second from the splendour of Parliament Hill, with its art deco outdoor lido, bandstand cafe and – best of all – ace views over the capital.

That neck of the woods is also quite near where our first title Kentishtowner started five years ago, and so it makes sense to kick off our exploration of the line they call the Goblin (we kinda get it) at Gospel Oak station itself. We’ll travel east thereafter, until we reach Barking, just eleven stops later (Leyton Midland is seven).

Also leading the way on this linear pub crawl is the tiny Southampton Arms, a classic north London watering hole. With its simple, but in retrospect, obvious policy of vinyl-only, cash-only, and rotating ciders and ales, it somehow reinvented the things a lot of people like about pubs. Dark panelling, a long thin sharing table, white tiled back bar, pendant lights, austere Victorian portraits, and much-used piano (if you haven’t seen that in use, head there on a Wednesday). And it inspired their other boozer, the Howling Hops, which recently opened in Hackney Wick.

The garden is walled and conspiratorial; regulars will have smiled at the chalked sign urging users to leave by 10pm, “the leopard unleashed at 10.02″. And back inside, it’s always a pleasure contemplating which ale to pick: in fact, there’s something about the pub that encourages a certain libational adventureness. If that is, indeed, a phrase.

Ales and craft beers change weekly, but might include Redemption’s Trinity, Big Alligator, Dark Star’s Revelation, and mind-altering ciders, like the infamous Cider Bus. And there’s always local fave Camden Hell’s on tap too.

The food menu has never changed, and probably never should: sausage rolls, Scotch eggs, a cheese plate, pickled eggs. And baps crammed with piles of pork with tangy apple sauce and crackling, mustard punching the flavour even higher. Cheddar is deeply mature, the pickle fruity.

Oh, and we’re not saying anything new here. It’s won a slew of awards, yet the crowd is mostly low-key and unpretentious: on a Tuesday lunchtime visit, as an Ella Fitzgerald record croons (its scratches pleasingly audible), the pub’s well-rounded mature gents will no doubt be sighing over pints and pork, dogs dozing amicably at muddy shoes.

The only minor sticking point worth remembering is how busy it gets at peak times, so arrive at midday on a Saturday, or throw a sickie and head over there on a Tuesday afternoon.

Next week: we alight at Upper Holloway for a couple at Spoke.