★★★☆☆
Three stars
I was once forced to take extra PE classes because I cut such a pathetic figure on the sports pitch. As I ran up St Giles I was reminded of this small and somewhat tragic part of my past. This was not a good start, especially since those scars have yet to heal. But after getting lost twice, I finally made it to the St Anne’s bar.
The set up is unusual, but works very well. There is a larger area with the bar, a TV, and a foosball table and then a separate pool room, a darts room, and a room full of bean- bags with fairylights in which looks a lot like your stoner friend’s bedroom. The fact that the games each have their separate rooms is quite a nice feature since I wasn’t having to constantly duck under darts or leap away from pool cues. Also, playing pool in a separate room meant that I wasn’t constantly worried about the balls clanking too loudly or an errant ball hitting someone in the face. It also meant the pool table was in better condition because people weren’t constantlyputting drinks on it.
The painted murals are interesting even though they do make the underground bar a bit dark and, if I’m completely honest, they look a little bit like paintings you’d see on the walls of some shitty emo/scene kid hangout. It’s not the most charming of environments but, having said that, it was admittedly nice to not see blades everywhere, though, and the murals did make for a unique bar.
The selection of beers is very impressive, with Hoegaarden and London Pride, and there is a great selection of spirits, although no signature drink which is a little sad. Prices were decent, especially considering the fact that we were in Jericho, an area where a £4 pint is not uncommon. The bartender was very sweet, had some good chat and pulled my pint perfectly. And although it was Sunday evening, there were still people in the bar who were very friendly and wiling to have a chinwag. It seemed as though this bar solved the problem of having people having essay crises alongside people getting wasted and neither side seemed to bother each other, which I have to say is quite a feat.
The major issue for Anne’s is that it is quite a way out and is obviously not on the way to clubs for most colleges. So, it seems unlikely that people from other colleges are going to pre-drink here, but I can see that an early evening catch up would indeed be very pleasant here. As long-term readers of this column may have noticed, I am not one to give praise easily, but this was a very well thought out bar. I don’t know how much input students had with the bar renovation but it seems to have been well executed and very practical. I really enjoyed visiting this bar and it deserves more stars, it’s just unfortunately, too far out for most people.
