Tiella at The Compton Arms: Rustic Islington Italian is the definition of ‘good things come in small packages’
Sundays in winter are for canoodling in cosy pub corners, nursing food babies (and possibly hangovers) and bemoaning the approaching doom of Monday.
Somewhere that’s “two minutes from a bus stop… on a side street, and drunks and rowdies never seem to find their way there”. Hidden, but only to those that don’t know where to look. Preferably with “a clientele that consists mostly of regulars who occupy the same chair every evening and go there for conversation as much as the beer”, the latter of which should be as diverse as it is plentiful. A small garden and Victorian architectural features are also a must.
That was George Orwell describing his (and my) ideal pub in Islington, which, against the odds, is still going. Whether he’d loathe or secretly love its reincarnation as a, dare I say it, gastropub playing host to a rotation of London’s coolest residencies, it seems a good place to start. That no elbowing through throngs of Arsenal supporters so close to the Emirates Stadium only adds to its appeal.
