The Island Queen

Etched glass, original gin palace features and a propensity towards palms, the Island Queen is quite literally one-of-a-kind. The only pub in Britain bearing the name, the Island Queen is as original as the pub’s own website likes to point out. Located on an Islington backstreet, it’s a surprise to step inside the large pub and find a place that pairs classic tradition with a sort of contemporary extravagance.

Great beers include a range of cask ales and craft brewery offerings and a traditional food menu serves up classic fish and chips, steak and ham, egg an chips. Visiting on a Saturday afternoon, we can see no better time to savour the Island Queen’s cosy comfort. It is exactly the sort of place you want to take a group to spend a lazy afternoon. Big tables, fairy lights and worn-in furniture provide the pub with warmth – and there’s an open fire for some literal heat. Full of character, the collection of bookshelves, statues and faint tropical touches make the Island Queen a gem. Not so much a diamond in the rough – since it is in the heart of Angel – but one perhaps lying just on the edge of the rough, hiding in plain sight among other more ostentatious gems of Angel. You get what I mean.