The Wilmington Arms

Great little boozer with its own theatre venue attached, which has live gigs .
Good selection of drink, with good food served as well. Very friendly staff, gave me a lolly with my bill, impressive

In the middle of the hottest Easter in recorded history (probably) I entered the Wilmington Arms to the sounds of 'Jingle Bells'. Irony? Stupidity? Or am I just missing the joke?

Above the unusually festive music was a particularly rowdy bunch of (what I assume were by the fact that one of the bar staff was one of them) regulars gathered around the bar - a little intimidating for a quiet looking pub on an afternoon.

Anyway, The Wilmington is a fairly average pub. It looks like it would be a nice place to see an up and coming indie or folk band, or have a few quiet pints.

Drinks were regular prices - food seemed a little expensive for what are regular pub grub type things - although they do serve a pint of chips. Food in drinks containers is always fun. Try to deny it. You can't. Also took note of an excellent and expansive condiment selection.

Nice touch - ale in tankards. Apart from that - decidedly average.

I went to this place for the first time for a 'She Keeps Bees' gig and went to both the bar and the live music area downstairs.

The bar is a nice chilled area busy (but not packed out) with trendy young professionals and students and the live music area is small but perfectly formed - we were about 1 foot from the band! Great supporting act organised by the venue and free cupcakes on the door! The staff in both areas were very chatty and welcoming.

Will be visiting again for music and/or after work drinks.

Lively pub that attracts a young lively crowd. Plenty going on with film showings and live music.

There's always a lot going on in the venue, but I have only ever slipped into the spacious bar next door for a swift drink. The crowd is so young, that I generally feel like someone's dad collecting his errant offspring before they breach their curfew. Barely legal I think you call it, or perhaps you don't...

I was staggered that a round of drinks that involved a couple of shorts, a pint of Guinness and a couple of others still left me with enough change from £15 to reassuringly jangle in my pocket.

The decor is cool without attempting to be arse-stakingly hip, the staff is pleasant and the only flaws were a leak in the roof dripping on my homeboy's missus and the tables that were a tad messy and unkempt. It was 10.45pm on a Friday, so the latter can be forgiven.

I'm not sure why it took a friend's gig to get me here... A cleverly split pub-cum-gig-venue, in that you can be in the pub bit, oblivious to the gig next door, and vice versa, or you can flit between them.

The pub half holds its own as a boozer: buzzing on the Friday night I was there, good staff, quick service. But it's the performance-space half that sets this place apart: it seems to be in almost constant use for music, comedy or film screenings, which justifies the 10 minute trek from the nearest tube stations. Or if you're going to Exmouth Market anyway, pop your head in and see what's on.

I went along to The Wilmington (just off from Exmouth Market) last night to see a friend's band play. We initially walked into the main bar and were instantly struck by how warm, cosy and buzzy the bar was. A very warm welcome to two cold punters on a fairly miserable, dark, rainy November evening!

We asked at the bar where the band were playing and were directed out of the bar and to a side door where The Wilmington has a back room with a small stage and bar.

Both main bar and back room have pretty good service, although it did get really busy (Friday night etc). Strikes me that this place is pretty popular with people going out straight from work or like us, seeking it out when there's a small, unknown band playing (I notice on their website they lay claim to some pretty impressive recent bands playing - The Guillemots, VV Brown and Mumford & Sons to name but a few!).

Toilets are pretty basic (no lock on either female toilets) but a hundred times better than venues like The Enterprise or Barfly!

10-15mins walk from Kings Cross or Farringdon. 341 + 19 buses stop just down the road as you leave the pub on the left handside of Rosebery Ave. If you're in the area, pop-in for one or check out the list of bands playing any week night. From my "one night" experience the main bar music appears to have improved since Sian visited in Oct '08!

It’s a nice looking boozer with a room eound the back where they do gigs of the music and comedy sort. A really nice room to watch comedy in as it’s small, cosy and friendly and also a bit sexy, without being intimidating in any way.

The real shag about this place is that it’s not close to ANY tube station. It’s a good ten minutes whatever direction you go in.

This isn’t the worst pub in Farringdon.

That’s hardly a compliment though, is it? The place is teeming with them. It’s really not the best pub, but it’s fine. I didnt really spend enough time in here to give it a detailed review. I just don’t understand why pubs insist on trying to be trendy dj bars. They’re not trendy dj bars. They’re pubs. If you can’t dance, why play really loud dance music?

So yes, a nice enough, clean, friendly pub. But as I couldn’t hear what people were saying I was a bit annoyed.

Maybe I’m getting old.