Unlike the first two instalments in this series, we admit we’re on shakier ground as the ‘Goblin’ pulls into Crouch Hill. It’s a lovely, leafy area, that’s for sure, but not somewhere we “know” that well.
Having said that, you could spend a pleasant-enough Sunday wandering up to nearby Crouch End, with its smart, clean shopping parade and clutch of cooler joints on Park Road (we particularly like the canine-friendly counter-dining at Heirloom).
But we digress. In fact we digress quite a long way. Because this series is all about watering holes within a bottle’s chuck of the useful Orange line.
There’s a clutch of joints you could consider alighting on the platform – I mean, the Stapleton Tavern is perfectly nice and directly opposite – but the the Old Dairy is something a little more special. And it’s owned by the same people who run two decent boozers in Kentish Town that we frequent – The Vine and The Oxford.
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As you’d expect, the building once did what it’s name suggests: it was an, er, functioning creamery, and those activities of yore are commemorated in the “milking” murals on the outside walls.
Inside, meanwhile, it’s pretty damn spacious hangar, as you’d expect a Grade ІІ-listed building of this nature to be. Exposed brick walls, a barn-like main bar, and a more contemporary restaurant and private dining room all compete for punters’ tired arses.
We’ve only eaten Saturday lunch here, I admit, which was a low-key, typically gastropub affair, with mains around £10-15 – you know, lamb rump, smoked haddock, chicken thighs, that kind of thing – and a laidback north London crowd. Oh, and plenty of kiddies pulling apart fish finger sandwiches and scattering the contents on the floor.
We guzzled a hearty house red – it was a chilly day – but craft beer fans will make a beeline for the 5 cask conditioned real ales, or bottles, cans and draft from 20 different breweries. There are more than enough options for a skinful anyway, before you stagger the few steps back to the station for the short hop home.
Next time: Things hotten up as we hit Harringay Green Lanes.
7 thoughts on “Good Pubs on the Goblin: #3, The Old Dairy, Crouch Hill”
Big fan of both the Southampton Arms and the old dairy despite the fact that in the SA a very drunk old man tried to give me a table dance. (Am ex Kentish Town now relocated to Leyton).
kentishtowner HeirloomN8 Stapleton Tavern across the road is good too.
graham_hitchen HeirloomN8 Yes. As we say in the piece.
Harvey Griffiths, was it The Old Dairy that you said went through a cycle of being closed down, revamped, reopened and then closed down again every few years?
The Old Dairy is where Owen works. He used to be at the Stapleton, which used to change name every two years or so.
I used to live round the corner form these pubs before I moved to E11 with my other half -was roudnd that stomping ground yesterday -Jay Hoonjan this may interest you x
Leytonstoner next stop has to be TheSalisburyPub on Green Lanes – great beer choice, with a quick snack in Antepliler en-route!