The Phoenix of the pubs: The Hawley Arms

2 Castlehaven Road, Camden, London NW1 8QU

As quite a lot of you very likely remember, early 2008 Camden Town experienced a massive fire that ruined the east side of the market and seriously compromised the future of the whole charismatic London premises. Last weekend I realized that this side of the market has recently being opened again, even in a bigger shape than it ever had, as a real Phoenix emerging from its ashes.

One of the casualties of the terrific fire was Hawley Arms, one of the best pubs in the area. It reopened 9 months after the fire, with more strength and even a better vibe than it had before its closure. The owners even campaigned in Glastonbury (today, Festival of Festivals) in order to solve some bureaucratic issues related with the situation of the ladder that allows the access to the first floor of the pub, and the publicity they got was really worth it, as they were permitted to reconstruct the pub just as they wanted. I’ve been there several times since and, I can promise, this is a neat pub.

Pretty famous for having as local patrons the likes of Amy Whinehouse or Kate Moss, the atmosphere is really Camden-like in this place. One very good point, though, is that the tourists presence is less substantial than in other similar places in the main street. The fact that is not located on the main street itself, but just 20 m around the corner as you cover the Camden Lock bridge, really helps on it.

The distribution, as introduced before, consists basically in two different storeys. The ground floor is the main one, and includes a long bar and several tables and sofas to chill out, as well as a jukebox with fairly good tracks on it. The first floor is smaller, and is where the party takes place on the weekends: I’ve been there a couple of times for early beers and there is a fairly good mood there. Also there is a nice terrace on this first floor, which invariably was completely packed every chance I tried to have a drink in it. A real pity, particularly now that summer is starting to finally take off.

So, yes, this is a pub in Camden, and as so, it has some of the classic flaws that define them:

- Bartenders more worried to look like pop stars than in serving timely pints to their clients.

- Overpriced drinks, even if the situation wasn’t particularly bad here. I got the feeling that I was being charged more for the sake of not being a trendy Northlondoner, but maybe I’m wrong in that.

- Overcrowded, even as like I said before the situation is worse in some other places in the area.

They have several beers on the tap, including some guest ales. I cannot talk about the quality of those, as I went for lager, but I’ve read in some other blogs that the keeping of the beer is not as good as it should be. Shame on them if this is the case.

About the decoration, well, you cannot expect ancient stuff in a pub that was burned one year ago, can you? There are several signed vinyls, band posters and general pop music memorabilia, which is always a good thing to cover brand new walls J.

In a word, if you time your visit right you may get a pic of Kate Moss in the place, while if you don’t you’ll just be in a not too bad pub very likely quite squashed with high prices but vey good music and vibe. Saturday nights are good there. And at the end, it is completely up to you if that is enough or not…