The York

Neat looking pub but the loud-​ish house/​pop music kind of throws off the vibe.

Nice pub to eat in! The building is really beautiful outside and inside and the service is good. The burgers are quite big and very tasty. Great to eat for lunch or to grab a beer at the end of the day!

Good ambience, friendly staff, good selection of beer and lager with hot food makes it a ideal after work hangout. I had been here for lunch as well and I love their chicken and mushroom pie. In the evenings we love to nibble on their home made nachos which are pretty decent. Overall a very vibrant hand happy place. Do try it out!

Went to this place for a spontanious lunch and unfortunately had a terrible experience. overall everything seemed sloppy and then the food was definitely off. luckily they gave me refund but i felt sick all day afterwards. think i might have got mild food poisoning there. will definitely avoid this place.

Abdolutely delucious! Was actually looking for another place and bumped into this one. Delicious pie, great wine, nice atmosphere! Thank god i didnt stay at the hotel for dinner!

How great can a pub get ???
This place is one you’ll wish to go back and back and back again !
Summertime is especially nice, with the huge terrace, but indoors is fine too, as it is very spacious !
Friendly and responsive staff, as well as a great selection of beers and ciders top it up as one of my favourite pubs in London !

This was the first place I went to on my first visit to London!
I’m American and this was my first experience with a genuine English pub. We ordered a traditional English breakfast and a cider to wash it down. We had a large party and it was fairly easy to order. I may not have a lot of experience with the entire pub scene but I really enjoyed my time there. Everyone was really friendly and I really enjoyed the food.
If I’m ever in Angel again, I’ll probably hit up York, specially for nostalgic purposes:-)

I’m not totally sure why The York has such a low Unilocal score, considering it’s always packed any own visit was perfectly nice. Maybe all the people that love The York just aren’t on Unilocal,in which case I hope that more people start using Unilocal for reviews.
The York offers a pretty standard pub fare, but what I particularly liked was how well they were able to accommodate a growing party over the course of the evening. Often my group of friends operates a bit like a snowball, gaining people as the night wears on. The York’s tables inside, at least where we were sitting, allowed us to keep adding seats and tables as we needed them.
They were a bit slow to take our orders, almost unreasonably so, and maybe that’s where the score comes from. If so, that’s simply a matter of reminding the bartenders to pay attention to who’s at the bar, even as they do the non-​bartending activities required in a rush (like loading the dishwasher).
Other than that though, it was a nice experience. Nothing that blows them out of the water, but nothing so low as their score might suggest.

Part of my Angel pub crawl (Nags to York to Camden), the York was pretty packed (with guys) on a Friday night. Close to the tube, good drink selection, just didn’t dig the vibe here as much as I did Camden.

Average pub with above average prices. Good in a downpour!

A solid Meh for this one.
It’s close to the tube so it’s probably busy due to ease of drunkenness for most. I mean, you can easily direct someone from the tube here even if they have crappy phone reception or are already smashed to bits.
They apparently fired the busser on my night there because there were glasses and bottles and every other kind of recyclable on any stable surface unoccupied by bodies outside. But Laura N is correct in saying that it’s got a nice outside area for warm summer days/​nights. I could see myself meeting friends here when the suns still out for some saturday starters and people watching before continuing the rest of our night somewhere more interesting in Islington.

Not sure why there is a lack of love for the York. Sure the York isn’t the most remarkable pub in London or even in Islington for that matter, but the location, as every Unilocaler notes, is very very handy — just off Upper Street next to Angel Station. The York is always reasonably busy, they have a decent range of beers on tap, and for those rare sunny days there is ample outdoor space.
Is it worth a trip… sadly no. But the York is a nice enough spot if you are already at Angel Station and don’t want to walk far for a drink!

Honestly, The York is a better pub than my rating (and others before me) have given it. The thing is that the interior/​drinks/​crowd just doesn’t set it apart from any other pub really.
What this place does have is Location, Location, Location.
I will give it this though, when the weather is permitting — I give the outside seating area full marks. If London had great weather year-​round (laughable), The York would probably get a 5-​star rating.
Alas, because of its location — I will continue to use it as my Upper Street jumping off point as well as a place to meet people arriving by tube at Angel.

Aww… The York isn’t a two star pub! Ok so maybe the interior isn’t the classiest, the most authentic, the most discriminative, the most elegant, the most, the most, ok fine — so it’s a veritable Denny’s of pub interiors. And yes, maybe the clientele reflects that.
But that stone outdoor seating area is perfect for people watching over a pint on a lazy summer afternoon. Or 2pm on a Wednesday… whichever. Let’s just say I’m certainly jealous every time I choose to run by on a sweltering afternoon rather than join in.

Excellent beers but suffers from its prime location and popularity and is often too busy. I’ve only been once when it hasn’t been packed to the rafters and have even sat outside it on a cold November afternoon as that was a preferred option to the crush.
In fact it would probably be slightly less busy if it was located in Hornsey, as the map currently indicates!

This pub really comes into its own in the summer. In fact, if its too cold to sit outside, it’s really not the best pub in the area. It’s pretty generic unfortunately.
But, when it’s sunny, you can spill out onto the courtyard and really enjoy the sunshine. There’s something very lovely about the York punters sitting and soaking up some rays. Angel wouldn’t be the same without it.
As a pub though, it’s not the best. OK rose, normal beers. Nothing really very special. So only go in the sunshine. Then it’s all kinds of fun.

Now I can see why lots of people like The York — great location, right by Angel Tube Station. Nice facilities (ie. clean toilets), yes. Nice big outdoor area for the smokers. Decent food and a great range of savoury pies. Yes.
Yes, the York seems cool, but to me it’s kind of… soulless. Maybe I expected too much of it. I can see why it’s busy, for the above reasons, but other than it being a traditional London Boozer it really doesn’t have much to offer.
The staff seem less than impressed with being there, and it really does reflect on the vibe inside at the bar. If you must, go in for one, but don’t stay too long as there’s plenty of other pubs nearby which are far more fun!

If you are looking for a ‘traditional’ English pub around Islington High street then ‘The York’ is a good bet. Be warned though, hit it at 6 o’clock and you will have to fight the local business masses for a table. Leave it too late and expect to hover awkwardly in the middle of the room. This might explain why the tables outside are always so full regardless of how uncomfortable they are or how cold it is. Standards tend to slip during the peak hours too which is why I now know better to avoid it completely between 5.30 and 8. There’s nothing less appealing than being handed your gin and tonic in a piping hot glass!
Despite this, I might be tempted back during its quieter hours as there is a nice old-​fashioned feel to the place and a decent enough looking pub menu. Apparently it’s also a good place to go if you’re wanting to watch football. Having never done this myself I would rather recommend The York for its handy location (just by Angel station) and its nice warm fireplace.

Saturdays are normally reserved for spending the day with my boyfriend, but on weekends when we break with tradition I like to meet up and go shopping with the girls. This weekend I meet up with the girls at The York so we could review our holiday plans. I liked the York. When I think of an English pub the interior of the York is what I envision. The space has dark floors, little and tall tables surrounded by red cushioned topped stools.
Since it was still early the York was pretty empty and we were able to quickly order a few drinks and begin our session of plotting. The bar staff was friendly but they cleared our drinks away without inquiring if we wanted another round, we were forced to go back to the bar and order. That would have been understandable if the pub was crowed but since it wasn’t, table service would have been nice. In addition, I felt £1.60 for a half pint of diet coke was on the high end, but since I rarely order a coke, that might be standard… is it?

A really nice place to meet up with your mates before you head out for the night. Comfy couches, large bar which assures prompt service, and if you are into sports there is a large screen and two TV’s with SKY, don’t get to excited about the SKY because for some reason they do not have SKY sports, only SKY one. The selection of ales includes Pride, Bombardier and guests on many of the hand pumps. Decent wine selection and usual spirits. I have never actually eaten there, only snacking with Maris Piper Chips, but I have seen the steak and it not only smelt delicious it looked really appetizing. There is a fire place which gives the pub a really nice warm feel, and I don’t mean just literally. Look at the flags on the top of the ceiling, gives the place an international vive, quite a contrast with the crowd as it tends to be locals in suits.