The Auld Shillelagh

One of best pints of Guinness iv had in a London. Small pub with a lot of character on the heart of church street.
Really friendly staff and awesome atmosphere. And Guinness is only £3.80 a pint! Go.

Great little local Irish pub. Not in the O’ Neils or Waxy O’ Conner sense but more like a pub you’d stumble into in Ireland.
It’s the staff and clientele that make this place what it is; friendly, laid back, fun, cosy, great live music and the guinness isn’t half bad either;-)
There’s a garden out the back too– good for summer!
Oh and they sell Tayto crisps! woooop!
Defo recommend!

I don’t know what makes a pub «Irish» but I like this place.
Very long and narrow pub, friendly staff, decent sized garden, not the prettiest place but you don’t really come here for the view. Ive walked by this place packed to the gills on a friday night with live traditional irish music blasting from a corner in the back.
I shall try to make my way in there one friday before it gets too busy and enjoy the mayhem, music and guinness.
Random: the toilets look clean but they reeeeek.

Guiness poured properly. Cosy interior. Nice garden out back. Few/​easily ignored televisions. Bowie night.
It’s a great pub. If you’re in the area and thirsty it’s worth a stop.

One of the best Irish pubs in London, genuine, local and friendly. Doesn’t look much from the outside but has real character inside, especially when it’s a bit lively of an evening. I find Stoke Newington Church Street hideously middle-​class and this is one of the few places left with a genuine feel about it.
Plus, as many others have said, the guinness tastes better than anywhere else in town.

Smells funny, is small and narrow, but got bags of charm. I enjoy going on Saturdays when they often have live music.

This small Irish pub has a lot of charm to it… and would have a lot more if it wasn’t for the impossible to avoid TV screens (unless the weather allows you out back!). The service could speed up a lot too!
First impressions slightly ruined.basically.

Very small very authentic pub that has theme nights (sinatra, bowie) and the best st patrick’s day celebration ever (just don’t keep saying he was english or they’ll do ya). Free food on the day, lots of music in the garden out the back. Great Guinness. Lots of character.

This is the best guiness in London — Period.
If that’s your drink, then thats probably good enough reason for a visit — if not… lets see… into a bit of David Bowie? How about the Bowie nights on Thursdays — it’s an amazing re-​visit of Bowie — with bowie burgers, and music and videos from the great man himself — how cool is this place!

So for some reason I was terrified of walking into this place. Don’t ask me why, I thought it just seemed like the kind of genuine Irish pub where a fight could break out at anytime. Anyway, I soon realised that there was nothing to be scared of.
This small place is a real gem that I am really happy about discovering. It is a small bar that provides a bit of escapism by taking you out of London, and into Ireland. It is such a good feeling when a pub can do that.
The location is perfect, as Church Street is full of genuine shops, bars and cafes that reject tackiness and any kind of cheap imitations of culture.

Stoke Newington is very much a «London village.» Perhaps this is because it is slightly isolated by a lack of transport links. Anyway, the benefits of this are manifest in a variety of pubs and restaurants. Amongst the pubs The Auld Shillelagh is one of the more defiantly local of the pubs.
Situated on Church Street The Auld Shillelagh is a proper Irish pub. As opposed to the almost offensively contrived O’Neills bars it feels genuine with actual Irish people drinking here. During the day this narrow pub can be dominated by the sport on the screen at the end of the bar, which can mean it has a slightly rough feel. In the evening the crowd changes and seems to represent a cross section of the slightly odd mix of people in Stoke Newington: artsy-​hipsters, eco-​yummy mummies mixing with Irish locals all usually having a good time.
The Auld Shillelagh can be a good night out, and if its not looking too hot there are plenty of other good shouts on Church Street. Ideal if you’re an Irish expat in London and feeling a little homesick.

When I’m feeling nostalgic for a Celtic vibe, I come down here. Its perfectly situated, on a corner of a cobblestone alley, small and inconspicuous on the outside other than the bright gold lettering spelling out the motif. Its not too crowded and has that dark cozy pub feel where you could get happily sloshed without having a lot of nobs hit on you.
Its full of atmosphere, and it takes my back to undergrad years in Scotland. Thankfully its not as cold in London, which means you can sit outside in the beer garden a couple of months in a year. The joys of expatriation!

A ramshackled Irish bar which has a surprisingly young, cool crowd especially at the weekends and on Thursdays in the Summer months when they have a Bowie Barbeque with diamond hot dogs. The beer garden out back is quite small but has a good amount of tables, so if you happen to find a nice enough day, it is a lovely place to have a pint.

This Irish boozer on Stoke Newington Church Street might seem like the smallest pub in London, but its actually just very narrow! Head past the bar and there’s a fair amount of seating plus a beer garden thats open in the summer.
Come to this pub if you want a properly poured pint of Guiness, which is pulled lesuirely and delivered to your table when ready.
Theres a plasma tv at the back of the pub which shows sports (especially Irish sports).
Nice pub with lots of character — worth a visit!

OK, this has to be the smallest Irish pub in London. It’s TINY and if you walk a bit too fast down Church Street you might just miss it!
However, once you squeeze in the front door you will find a lovely proper boozer with terrific staff who will make you feel welcome.
There is always good music playing in here, whether it’s over the stereo or if you are lucky you will catch some genuine Oirish musicians having a jam session. You’ll be tapping your feet away in no time!
There is a great beer garden out the back to wander into in the summer, and they sometimes do barbeques.

The Shillelagh is super fine! It’s got PROPER guiness! Proper drunks! A Garden in back where you can catch a barbecue on a nice day, and often you’ll find some sweet and /​or wild Irish music being played by a bunch of very talented local musicians. I never liked traditional Irish music ’til i came in here one evening. If you’re totally boring there’s a telly with sports, but why on earth would you want to watch that when you could be having a proper conversation over a guiness or flinging someone around in Joyous abandon? (taking care not to knock anyone over, of course, it’s a rather narrow pub)

‘Off the leash and on the lash’
Thats what it says above the eves of one of the elongated, corridor-​like rooms in the Auld Shillelagh. It should probably also mention something about some of the best, most reliable pints of Guinness in London.
This is my favourite for watching sports, particularly Ireland football games, or any of the big all-​Ireland Gaelic football matches during late summer. There’s nothing to compare to the atmosphere of a load of well-​soaked sixty-​year old Kerrymen leap into the air as one, simultaneously bellowing and hugging you like their long-​lost son.
Doesn’t sound like fun? Did I mention the Guinness? There’s a beer garden too.

The Auld Shillelagh is a great Irish pub tucked well away in Stoke Newington. Although it looks small from the outside, inside it is well laid out with a fanatastic warm irish feeling when you step inside.
I throughly recommend this pub if you want some genuine Irish hospitality.