Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 3 and Version 2 of Lexington, N1 9HS

A bar on Pentonville Road not too far from King's Cross Station, formerly known as Clockwork.

Not much has changed at this place since it was Clockwork (it changed names mid-2008). Inside is a large open space, with the bar on the street-facing side. There are some large seats with tables in a booth style along one wall, more seating on a raised area opposite the entrance (which is on Penton Street), including a DJ booth, and large tables in the centre of the room. There is also a couch area.

Upstairs is a large room with a separate bar, steps down to a stage area with plenty of room for audience to sit or stand, and a DJ booth in the lofty heights at the back of the room. Live music, comedy and other events take place on a regular basis.

The bar features no ale and not a great range of beer for that matter (Amstel and Guinness on draught along with one or two other basics). However, they have plenty of bottled beer, including a good selection of interesting, well-hopped American microbrewed beers (around £4 or more a bottle, though). The wine was drinkable, but the focus is definitely on spirits. A chalkboard behind the bar lists their many American bourbon whiskies on offer, including plenty of obscure single barrel producers.

There's a popular quiz night on Mondays sponsored by the Rough Trade shops, which features music tokens as the main prize, as well as bottles of wine for winners and second-place getters, shots and some packets of the 'crisps of the week' to the team with the best name. Entry is £1 per player, and it starts at 8pm. Ewan visited for the Christmas 2008 quiz, narrowly missing out on first place -- they offered free mince pies and sherry, as well as bonus presents at the end of the night, to all competing teams. The host keeps good control of the quiz, with plenty of humour, and it all works very well.

Clientele on that visit was very much music industry and indie scene types, with haircuts and fashion to match. Obnoxious perhaps, but not too unpleasant considering the bar is close by Angel Station in trendy Islington.

See also:

• Beer In The Evening comments
• Fancyapint review

Powered by OpenGuides 0.83mod.
Site design adapted from the Creative Commons Licensed “Naturalist” by Darren Hester.

The textual content of this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 licence.