Small Beer — Restaurant in London

🚇 Hornsey 🍺 £6.00 Martina Lager

Small Beer is located in the bustling heart of Crouch End close to local landmark The Clock Tower. The nearest station is Hornsey mainline.

This pub is part of a Victorian parade of shops built in 1895. This converted shop has had a few monikers over the years, The Wishing Well, The Henry Reader and since 2017, Small Beer.

This is a simply decorated one roomed pub with a rustic feel. The servery is located at the back right with hand pulls on the counter and keg taps on the back bar. The decor consists of a bare boarded floor, exposed brick walls, industrial looking furniture and a few chalkboards.

The beer choice was excellent and offers a range of 12 keg beers from local London breweries and a few from around the UK. There are four cask ales and also no and low options. I decided on Martina Lager by Tottenham brewers @bohembrewery . I have had this beer a few times, it’s always good, price point was average. The food menu is a selection of pizzas, a Margherita costs a tenner.

We arrived around 2.30pm on a blistering hot Saturday afternoon in August. The pub was fairly busy with a few different groups of punters dotted about the bar. The atmosphere was chilled and relaxed with a convivial local pub feel. We decided to plot up at the beer ledge by the open window and take in the comings and goings outside. The service was first class, the team member who served us was upbeat, bubbly and friendly, she gave us a sample of their beer of the week, nice touch.

There are a couple of old sayings which both lend themselves to this fantastic establishment “Less is more” and “Great things come in small packages “. I absolutely loved it here, although I’m no beer connoisseur, I felt right at home with beer in hand. The simple surroundings, the easy to navigate beer selection and the friendly service made for a first class pub experience. @smallbeern8 is definitely one to add to your list.

📅 17th August 2024

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My old review was below.

This is my new review.

Lots have changed with the staff and the vibe.

Staff are a lot happier and that shows in the service and the customers reactions. The old Small Beer is back.

Great place to relax , good service , great pizza's and drinks.

Good selection of Craft Beer

👏👏👏👏

This place used to have class and was a high end craft beer with quality pizza establishment.

Oh my god how it has changed.

Staff that show the owners direction, exasperated, paddling like a duck on water.

Not for the first time in the last few months they have no pizza (this is what they are specialists at) or (something has broken) or they have trouble ( no door staff) for a late night drinking venue.

Staff changes on a monthly basis which for a local establishment with many regulars has lost many of those regulars. It takes ages to grow a business but seconds to destroy it.. hint hint

The direction of whoever runs this place is shocking. I guess it's money orientated direction overrides the long term quality of this great place.

I would guess in another year this place will unfortunately be even worse than its present direction.

As an ex business owner of similar places I've seen this path before, after I've sold it & normally the new owners are the ones to blame probably because they don't care (money is everything) as long as it supports something else. Eventually you see the downfall of what actually turns those pounds over. In this case it's the same owners which is very surprising.But when you see it obviously only cares about its sister pub it's not a surprise at all.

Honest review 👊 take it anyway you want to. But on a Saturday night at peak time, the fridge is broken. 😂 It's...

We have been here quite a few times but last night was the first time we received such rude service.

We had sat down at a tall table close to the bar, order drinks and pizza (£50)… when the pizzas came the guy told us the table we were sitting at was reserved, didnt we know. There was a piece of paper saying “DJ” - 7:30. We said if someone came we would move. The table behind became available we moved the “reserved” sign to it as we were nowhere near finished our food and drinks.

We then were told to move when the guy came back over and decided he needed the table back, even though there was a free table beside us. We went to move to the table we had moved the sign to, he told us we couldn’t sit there because someone else had ordered food there. We moved there anyway and the couple who had newly ordered food were fine to go sit somewhere else.

The waiter was fine to move us mid-eat… when the table was reserved for the “DJ” who only needed a table to drag up to the bar to play her set. So she could have taken the free table.

Another customer who had seen the whole thing came over and reiterated how rude he thought the whole thing was, no apology was given by the waiter.

We would of had more drinks but we were so disgusted we left.

I will probably think twice before going...