Highbury & Islington

The Famous Cock

259 Upper St Islington, London, N1 1RU

Date of Visit : 13th October 2005
Approx. Time of Visit: 5.45 pm

Route Used: Jubilee and Victoria from CW
Distance Traveled : 9.54 miles

Guests: 3
Clientele: Pop ins, young adults
Pub Number : 083

Characteristics	Rating	Comments
Ambience		Slightly smoky in places, busy with a reasonable amount of chatter
Facilities		3 x TV, 2 fruits, 1 ItBox and a big screen
Ladies		Hot faced girl leaving her fish, 2 poorish barmaids but plenty of student types

OVERALL

A rushed visit that eventually turned out to be worse than first thought

Due to unforeseen circumstances (my selfish parents going out for dinner and not being able to pick me up from the station), this evening's outing turned into just a very brief trip to the orphaned Highbury and Islington station. After meeting up with Guest 3 en route, we immediately found the Famous Cock right next to the station exit on the right. A million gags have probably already been told, but needless to say we thought of our absent guests and how they would crave for The Cock, famous or not. After taking some time to get served, I pretty much necked my way through my pint whilst Tim and Guest 3 took their time. The pub is on a corner overlooking the street and is well situated for meeting people at this station (in fact as I left I heard a girl on her phone arranging to meet a friend there). Otherwise apart from a very red faced girl (the heat, not Tim this time) who left half of her fish and chips behind, there was not much to be said for this brief visit. 

Update: After I had left, the following disgraceful events occurred, making us revise this pubs original overall score down from a 3 to a 2: 

"As Guest 3 got to the end of her first and only Adnams we noticed huge amounts of sediment at the bottom which looked like wood chippings. I kindly went to the bar on the way out, in no way looking for a refund and said to the American barmaid: 

me: just to let you know there is a lot of sediment in this glass - its the Adnams
her: well it will just have to stay there, I'm too busy at the moment
me; (to a now crowded bar) I was just letting you know so its not sold to anyone else in this state
her: *shrug of the shoulders*
me: I'm not after a refund...it's been drunk... I was just telling you to check the barrel. 

Now its the Infamous Cock and I would never return." 

Harsh words indeed. Perhaps we would have better luck at West India Quay....?

{Home}{What's New?}{The Pubs!} {How It All Began}{The Running Challenge}

{The Drinking Challenge}{Tim's Column}{Gallery}{Links}