London Pubs Group

Campaign for Real Ale

Campaign for Real Ale

Devonshire Arms

33 Kentish Town Road
Camden Town
NW1 8NL

This pub is not a listed building, but it is on the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) Local Inventory as having an interior of Local Historic Interest, and the description is as follows: "The Devonshire Arms was rebuilt on a new site in 1927 by Courage & Co Ltd who had acquired the pub having bought the Camden Brewery. Retains fully intact 1960s 'Take Courage' signwriting on exterior along with Courage Cockerel sign. It is of three-storeys with the two top floors of mock-Tudor / half timbering and on Hawley Street side a single-storey narrow extension. The pub has staged live music and taped tracks played to heavy metal/goth genres.

Originally three rooms (including a Bottle & Jug?) it is now a U-shaped single bar having lost partition walls. The walls have fielded panelling to three-quarters height all around which has been painted black. External windows leaded throughout with some replaced. Bar counter has fielded panelling front painted black and still has an almost continuous heating pipe with short section missing where broken at point where hatchway door remains. Bar back plainly mirrored with original leaded panels but some replaced. Has remnants of a central dumb waiter now defunct/part-replaced with fridges as has most shelving likewise leaving approx. one-third intact.

An original fireplace with a brick surround has a more modern insert but overall effect spoilt by protruding, somewhat crude, bench seating structure, built possibly post-war, and joined to bar back. Main doorway used today, to Kentish Town Road, retains its vestibule, and near the former separate vestibule entrance on Hawley Crescent side (now used as a fire exit) is an interesting fixed bench seating likely to be original. Original narrow door to gents, with matching panelling, retained but similar doorway to ladies is wider. Facilities within both updated."

The WhatPub link is here: Whatpub/Devonshire Arms

The Devonshire Arms has yet to feature on a LPG crawl.