The Jolly Sisters — Restaurant in London

🚇Caledonian Road 🍺 £5.30 Cruzcampo

A Proper Oldschool North London Boozer.

The Jolly Sisters is located in the backstreets of Barnsbury just a stones throw away from Pentonville Prison. The nearest Tube is Caledonian Road, it’s a five minute walk to get here.

This pub was originally built in 1850 and started life as The New Queen's Head named after Queen Victoria. The pub closed in 1995 and reopened as The Jolly Sisters in 1999.

This is a two room pub which has a cosy smaller bar at the front and a slightly larger bar at the rear. The decor here is faux Tudor which matches the exterior of the building. The walls are painted white and clad in black rough beams, there are also beams that run across the ceiling. The servery is brick built, has a small hatch and Arsenal memorabilia across the gantry. One of the standout features of this boozer is the leaded stained glass which bears the Whitbread deer’s head trademark. There is also a dartboard, a fruity, a jukebox and a large screen TV.

The beer line up was straightforward and included mainstream brews, Guinness and no cask. I decided on a pint of Cruzcampo, my pint was top notch, price point was reasonable at just over a fiver. The pub doesn’t serve food.

We arrived just after 12pm on a Saturday lunchtime on new year’s eve eve. The pub was quiet to start off, then about half a dozen or so punters arrived. This is an intimate locals pub so you’re not too far away from joining in the conversation. We had a bit of a natter with the Guv’nor who was friendly and welcoming. Celtic v Rangers was on the box which grabbed a bit of our attention throughout our pint here.

Across London the oldschool local boozer is the type of pub most at risk. Gentrification, mortality and succession, demographic changes, shifts in culture, the cost of living crisis, property developers are all challenges that these pubs have to overcome to survive.

The Jolly Sisters is a fantastic locals pub that is full of characters and character. We all left here with big smiles on our faces. This is a must visit London Pub.

ℹ️ Info correct on...

Really nice local pub tucked away in a residential area. Despite not being local, we ended up here as it was a good half way point to meet friends.

Most of our group were loud Scottish people, and we were still made to feel very welcome by the landlady, so 10/10 for hospitality!

Very pleasant atmosphere on a Saturday night, and although I didn’t play I noticed there’s a dart board with enough space to actually play which is...

The good thing about the internet is you can find out about pubs you never knew and never would know they existed and thanks to the internet I discovered the Jolly Sisters When I entered the pub I was given a warm friendly greeting from the landlady and the down to earth locals had no issues with a stranger entering their boozer Long may the genuine Londoners like these people and real old school pubs like...