NIGHTLIFE
Originally published on Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Up Your Street?
It's not often that I feel out of the loop. Comes with the territory, I guess. But would someone mind filling me in on just when Islington started becoming cool?
Sure, the Duke of Cambridge has always been a treat, if award-winning, organic nosh tickles your fancy. And I'm not denying that the Old Queen's Head is great for mixing up antique fireplaces with CSS DJ sets, or that the Elk in the Woods is a faux-quaint treasure. Even Anam was excellent when it first opened. Before falling. Hard.
So, when Barrio North opened last year, they pretty much had the 'colourful bar with cracking cocktails' section of the Islington market nailed. And that was that: a handful of great gastropubs, a smattering of quality bars, and an infinite wasteland of banal mediocrity.
But now, with the chaps behind the Old Queen's Head replacing the old Medicine Bar with an Art Nouveau-inspired cocktail joint, Barrio North gaining a sister members' bar on Upper Street in June, and cocktailian extraordinaire, Simon Sheena, rumoured to be opening an alcoholic oasis from the ashes of the old Itsuka, it looks I might have to rethink my Islingtonism.
Albert and Pearl - launches on 9pm Friday May 30.
181 Upper St, N1 1RQ