The Compton Arms

Chris D'Sylva cooked here and left to open Dorian, Four Legs cooked here and left to open The Plimsoll and Tollington's, Dara Klein cooked here for almost two years and left to open her own Tiella, and the kitchen they were all squeezed into is small enough that Time Out's food editor remarked on two adults fitting inside it.

Why go

The landlord's real skill is picking who cooks. Five residencies have run this kitchen since 2019 and four of them turned into independent restaurants, which is a strike rate no London pub group can show. Rake holds it now, a Cornish-fish and whole-beast operation from Jay Claus and Syrus Pickhaver that reads classic British recipes through a modern lens (Hot Dinners). Time Out's Leonie Cooper describes their food as "ruddy-faced British gentleman food, rethought for people who don't own a cottage in the Cotswolds or even a Barbour jacket" (Time Out). The front bar stays a bar the whole time, so nobody has to eat to be here.

Order this / avoid

• Order: the ray wing tenders on a crumpet. Cooper thinks it will end up being Rake's signature, and JancisRobinson's Ben Colvill called it "an iconoclastic triumph" and clocked the debt to American chicken and waffles. Browned oysters rarebit, deep fried cockles on skewers, and the fat chips with curry mayonnaise.
• Avoid: Monday and Tuesday, when the kitchen is dark. Children after 7pm, which the licence no longer permits. Trying to book for drinks or for more than six.

What locals & experts say

• Leonie Cooper, food and drink editor at Time Out London, five stars out of five for Rake: "It's a winning dish in a line-up of endless hits." ref
• Heidi Lauth Beasley, The Infatuation, 7.9 out of 10, on the pub itself: "The Compton Arms is an Islington pub that's perfected the art of the cool, whiff of gastro pub residency." On the current kitchen she is harder: "The exceptionally salty XXL ray wing tenders suffocate its crumpet foundations and the braised cuttlefish is all chew, minimal flavour." ref
• Ben Colvill, JancisRobinson.com, on why the pub keeps working: "Much rests on the skill of the host venue in nosing out real talent. And the Compton Arms has an exemplary track record in that regard." He was less kind about the fryer, finding the beer-battered cockles' "light rock-pool character having drowned in the industrial fat fryer", and about a Bourgogne Aligote the wine list could only describe as "FRA 2023 12.5%". ref
• Max Venning and Brodie Meah of Top Cuvee, in Time Out's Chef's Specials in 2020, when Four Legs held the kitchen: "a firm favourite where our friends Four Legs are cooking what's surely the best pub food in London right now." Four Legs left in 2022, so read this as a vote for the pub's programme, and note that they disclosed the friendship. ref
• Michelin, reported by Time Out's Amy Houghton: Rake @ the Compton Arms entered the guide in March 2026, with inspectors saying each dish was "designed for tucking in and putting a smile on your face." That is Houghton relaying the guide, not reviewing the pub. ref

Good to know

• Where: 4 Compton Avenue, N1 2XD, on a backstreet behind the Union Chapel where Islington runs into Highbury.
• Kitchen days: Wednesday to Friday evenings, Saturday lunch and dinner, Sunday until about 4pm. Monday and Tuesday there is no food.
• Booking: the snug and the garden take reservations through Resy. Drinks are walk-in, and no booking is taken for a party over six.
• Licence: children cannot be in the pub after 7pm following a recent licence amendment, which rules out a family dinner and is stated on the pub's own site.
• The Orwell thing: Top 50 Gastropubs and JancisRobinson both name this as the model for The Moon Under Water, Orwell's 1946 sketch of the ideal pub. Orwell ended that essay by admitting the place did not exist, so enjoy the story and judge the pub on the kitchen.
• Hygiene: rating 5 for the pub, inspected 21 August 2024, and a separate rating 5 for "Rake at Compton Arms", inspected 19 February 2026 ref.
• Listing: carried by Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs, on a page that still names Tiella as the resident kitchen ref.

Jeff's take (his words)

Nothing from Jeff here. The saved-places export carries this row with an empty Note column, so jeff_note stays empty and nothing is attributed to him.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

should-visit — Worth rearranging an evening for, because of what this kitchen keeps producing rather than what is on the board tonight. Five residencies have passed through a kitchen two grown men can barely stand in, and four of them went on to their own rooms: Chris D'Sylva to Dorian, Four Legs to The Plimsoll and Tollington's, Dara Klein to her own Tiella. Craft here shows up as a programme, and a landlord with that hit rate is doing the buying that a rotating tap list does for a beer bar. The current tenant, Rake, cooks retro British off whole-beast butchery and Cornish fish, and it splits the room: Time Out's food editor gave five stars and called the menu a line-up of endless hits, The Infatuation gave 7.9 and found the ray wing exceptionally salty, and JancisRobinson's man watched the beer-battered cockles drown in the fryer. It stops short of must-visit for exactly that reason. What you get depends on who holds the kitchen that year, and two of the three published verdicts on the current holder found real faults. The Orwell connection is a nice story and it is not why you go.