Marquess Tavern, Highbury

pub details:

let's meet here
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location:

Highbury

address:

32 Canonbury Street, N1 2TB

phone:

0871 984 1578*
* calls cost 10p/minute, click here for more about 0871 numbers.

nearest stations:

Essex Road Railway station
(290m) - zone 2

Canonbury London Overground station
(650m)

Highbury and Islington London Underground station London Overground station
(660m) - zone 2

Drayton Park Railway station
(1.2Km)

Caledonian Road and Barnsbury London Overground station
(1.3Km)

bus routes:

38, 73, 271

how to find it:

From Essex Road mainline cross New North Road at the lights and take the 2nd left up Canonbury Street. The pubs soon on the right. From Angel, turn right up towards Upper Street, then take the right fork along Essex Road. Continue along Essex Road until you come to the junction with New North Road, then follow the above instructions. From Highbury and Islington, cross to the far side of Highbury Corner and take Canonbury Road for 10 minutes until you reach Canonbury Grove on your left. Pub is at the end.

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picture of Marquess Tavern T he Marquess Tavern feels surprisingly off the beaten track, considering how near it lies to Essex Road's mob of bars. A magnificent unspoilt Victorian building, it boasts a comfortable front bar with original wood panelling and a back room (probably once a games room) which claims an impressively high ceiling. When the management changed a while back the emphasis shifted more towards gastro, with the aforementioned back room transformed - with the help of some white emulsion - into a dining room. An expensive dining room at that: prices hover in the mid-teens, excluding requisite side dishes at additional cost. Still, service remains down-to-earth, and friendly - we were there all afternoon on a Sunday, and always felt welcome. There is still beer here, with a small range of Young's beers on tap, accompanied by an impressive range of more exotic bottled beers can also be found. The changes seem to have attracted an audience, as the place gets very busy - there are a lot of families that use it, including children. It feels more like a country pub now, in some ways, than a pub in central London, probably because of its backstreet location - Islington's weekend visitors simply don't see it. It's doing a grand job and the regulars obviously like it this way - can't say we blame them.