A few years ago I used to live just down the road from The Angel. Back then, like so many other things hovering near Old Street Roundabout, the pub was a very different place to what it is now. Following a major sprucing up, the once scruffy old boozer has reopened as a really rather clean and cosy place to have a drink. It’s still a good pub to keep in mind for enjoying a proper pint (now with a craft beer selection), you just don’t need to worry about your shoes sticking to the floor anymore.
I paid a Sunday afternoon visit to The Angel recently – my first visit since in probably four or five years – and was surprised how light and airy it was. My memory was of an “old man bar” sort of pub. I’d define the new Angel as having a more feminine expression these days –with a touch of postindustrial chic to it and lots of “angelic” features to play up the pub’s name. Heck, I wouldn’t even hesitate to take my mom there as it now is for a Sunday lunch.
Oh and if you sit upstairs (more dining room-ish than pubby) during daylight hours, admire the natural light. Lovely.
What I liked about my lunch (Mom wasn’t there, but Kemey and I had an enjoyable visit) was the laidback atmosphere and opportunity to have a conversation without yelling at each other … and to have some decent pub grub in a pub that wasn’t grubby. My West Country beef burger with smoked bacon and melted Cheddar, served with burger sauce, onion rings and fries (£13, augmented with pig’s cheek for an extra £2) hit the spot, and Kemey said the same of her fish and chips (sustainably caught hake in a cider batter with pea puree, tartar sauce and “chip shop chips,” £11.50).
Beer selection impressed with a seasonal tap range and regularly rotating cask ales at this Cask Marque accredited watering hole where “regular favourites” include Doom Bar, Meantime, Brooklyn Lager.
Spiffy and pleasant and much less of a hipster wallow than anywhere else you’re apt to find in the area, The Angel is located at 73 City Road, EC1Y 1BD. Find out more at theangelcityroad.co.uk.
