The Robin Ale & Cider House
Six cask lines with a written rule behind them: a mild, a bitter, a stout or porter, a session ale, a ruby or brown, and a very strong IPA, on at all times, from small and independent UK breweries only (venue).
Why go
The rest of the wall backs it up. Twenty taps in total, six cask, four real cider, ten keg, and the pub's own note is that all of them are on constant rotation. Four dedicated cider lines is the number that matters, because North London CAMRA voted this its Cider Pub of the Year for 2025, eighteen months after making it Pub of the Season for autumn 2024 (London Drinker, CAMRA North London). The man running it, Nick Bailey, came from the Southampton Arms in Kentish Town, which has taken that branch's Cider Pub of the Year five times. The building is younger as a pub than it looks: a post office, a grocery shop in the 1930s, licensed only in 1983, and an early JD Wetherspoon conversion called Marler's Bar before a run of names that included Hopsmiths under the late Late Knights brewery. It closed in 2023 and Four Acres Taverns reopened it that autumn, keeping the Robin name from the previous tenants and adding what the pub actually does to the end of it.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the cider first, since that is what the branch voted for, and there are four of them. Then the mild, because a pub that keeps one on permanently is a pub that sells enough to keep it fresh. The strong IPA sits at the far end of the same six lines. Food follows the Southampton Arms template of pies, scotch eggs, sausage rolls and salt beef.
- Avoid: trying to book, which the house maxim rules out in writing. Do not come for televised sport either, since the pub's line is "No screens. Unless we are in a final, then we might get a projector. By we, I mean The Arsenal." And do not go looking for a familiar brewery name.
What locals & experts say
- John Cryne, CAMRA North London, in London Drinker (27 May 2025):
From a chequered past, the Robin has gone from strength to strength in just 18 months, winning CAMRA North London's much sought after Pub of the Season last autumn to now winning the branch's Cider Pub of the Year 2025! The pub closed in 2023 and we were fearful of its future, so we were delighted when Four Acres Taverns Ltd reopened it in the autumn. The team has worked hard on making this a destination pub for both beer and cider, led by Nick Bailey, who was previously the manager of another award-winning pub, the Southampton Arms in Kentish Town.
1 - Nick Bailey, the manager, in the same piece:
We are very humbled and grateful for this award from CAMRA. It means that all the hard work that the team has put into the pub is paying off.
1 - Colin Coyne, branch chair, on the room (22 October 2024):
It is a small corner pub made cosy by soft globe lighting and candles with a mix of seating, from booths to sofas, which offer a warm welcome to all, including dogs!
And on the range:The Robin has 10 keg lines, up to 4 cider lines and up to 6 changing cask beers from independent UK breweries including a stout or a mild.
2 - One award that is not this pub's. North London CAMRA gave a Cider Pub of the Year to this address in 2020, when it traded as the Brave Sir Robin under Carouse, the small company of Theo and Ben Caudell and Chris Hurd. That business closed in 2023. The same 2020 piece records that three years earlier the building
had been closed for a year and was occupied by squatters.
3 - Nobody outside CAMRA has written about it. The approved London and beer press were searched on 30 July 2026 and every assessment found comes from the branch or its magazine.
Good to know
- Where: 29 Crouch Hill, Stroud Green N4 4AP. Crouch Hill station is the nearest. Max's Sandwich Shop is at number 19, same postcode.
- Timing: Monday to Thursday noon to 11pm, Friday and Saturday noon to midnight, Sunday noon to 10.30pm.
- Booking: none, ever. The house maxim on the wall reads "No Bookings, No Champagne, & Absolutely No VIPs."
- Hygiene: FSA rating 5, Islington, inspected 17 November 2023, FHRSID 1645524. Component scores 0, 0 and 0, which is a clean sweep in a scheme where lower is better. The Islington filing is not an error; the borough boundary runs along Crouch Hill.5
- The taps: 20 lines. 6 real ale, 4 real cider, 10 keg, all on rotation, all from small and independent UK brewers.
- In the room: globe lighting and candles, booths and sofas, dogs welcome, no screens.
- Who runs it: Four Acres Taverns Ltd, with Nick Bailey managing.
- Names: the pub was the Brave Sir Robin from 2017, named for the knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and before that Hopsmiths and Marler's Bar among others.
Verdict
should-visit — The Robin is worth the detour, and it is cheap. Twenty taps in a small corner room: six cask, four real cider, ten keg, and the pub commits in writing to keeping a mild, a bitter, a stout or porter, a session ale, a ruby or brown and a very strong IPA on the cask lines at all times, bought from small and independent UK breweries only. That style discipline is rarer than a big number, because keeping a mild moving takes a pub that sells it. North London CAMRA made it Pub of the Season in autumn 2024 and Cider Pub of the Year in 2025, eighteen months apart, and the manager who did it, Nick Bailey, came from the Southampton Arms. The building was a post office, then a 1930s grocer, a pub only since 1983, and it had closed in 2023 before Four Acres Taverns reopened it. The room is small, lit with globe lights and candles, with booths and sofas and dogs. It takes no bookings, and the screens stay off unless Arsenal are in a final. It holds below the top rung because the recognition is branch-level and no writer outside CAMRA has assessed it.