The Earl of Essex

25 Danbury St, London N1 8LE
$ English

Established 2012. Find an ever-changing list of the best local and international beers, matched with a seasonal food menu of pub classics and one of the best beer gardens around.

Reservations

Booking Notes:

Please note that we do not take bookings for our garden area.
All reservations will be allocated on indoor tables.

Business Info

  • Address: 25 Danbury St, London N1 8LE
  • Cross Street: Islington
  • Cuisine: English |
  • Cost: | Very Inexpensive
  • Category: Pub
  • Star Rating:
  • Reservations: Recommended
  • Dress Code: Casual
  • Meals Served: Lunch | Dinner |
  • Parking: Street |
  • Payment Options: VISA | MasterCard | Apple Pay | Google Pay | Debit |
  • Corkage Fee: N/A
  • Phone: 2074245828
  • Features: Outdoor Seating, Smoking Area, Wheelchair Access, Free Wi-Fi,
  • Occasion: Meet for a Drink, Dog Friendly, Trendy / Hip,

Photos

The Earl of Essex - Earl of Essex

Business Hours

Reservations Available
Monday
Inside the pub 12:00 - 23:00
Tuesday
Inside the pub 12:00 - 23:00
Wednesday
Inside the pub 12:00 - 23:00
Thursday
Inside the pub 12:00 - 23:00
Friday
Inside the pub 12:00 - 23:45
Saturday
Inside the pub 12:00 - 23:45
Sunday
Sunday Roast 12:00 - 23:00

F.A.Q.s

Frequently Asked Questions
We also accept bookings via email or over the phone, you can book up to 8 before getting in contact with us, the preferred method for large bookings is via email. Please avoid booking multiple time for 8 in the aim to be a larger group, as the system will allocate you tables away from one another.
You can indeed, for all large bookings enquiries please send us an email. Please only book for the max amount of people in your party, as we will only allocate space for this number and can't adjust seating on the day.
All bookings have a maximum time slot of 3 hours.
Afraid not, the garden is always first come, first served and open to all. There is no budging on this even on the brightest of days!
If you need to cancel a booking please do so via Table Agent with as much notice as possible. Alternatively you can email or reach us by phone.
We only hold tables for 20 minutes, any later and it will be considered cancelled, although we will always try to find an alternative booking for you.
Absolutely the more dogs the better! However, please be advised that other dogs may also be in attendance & all dogs must be kept on a lead for the comfort of other customers or anyone potentially suffering from allergies.
Yes we are! Parents are responsible for supervising their children at all times. Please note that weekend evenings get very busy & loud indoors, especially after our garden's closure.
We do not, we only have the indoor, ground floor tables available to reserve and we do not offer private hire of the venue, we aim to be always open to everyone.
We are a cashless bar, but accept most forms of card payments and apple pay. We do not currently accept American Express however.
False

Customer Reviews & Ratings

4.69 out of 5 stars based on 340 votes

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Dec 05, 2023
Olia K.
Lovely atmosphere and staff. Will definitely come back again. Thank you!

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Jul 31, 2023
Keehl Q.
Love your Sunday roast and beer selection!!!!

Overall: 10/10
Food: 6/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 9/10
Jul 06, 2023
Martin W.
Great choice of beers on tap - a lively and diverse mix of people enjoying some good drinks with excellent service!

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Apr 26, 2023
Kathryn W.
We had a really lovely afternoon. Great roast dinner, with a very generous thick slice of beef and properly crisp roasties. Lovely veg too. We then idled away the afternoon with the friendly staff bringing over drinks whenever we wanted a top up. No pressure to leave the table either, it was lovely.

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Feb 18, 2023
Nikki F.
Love this pub! Fantastic experience as always

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Jan 09, 2023
Sarah L.
Our favourite pub. Only improvement would be to have cauliflower cheese with the Sunday roast!

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Nov 17, 2022
George P.
Nice vibe and great beers

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Jul 26, 2022
Sarah-Louise B.
Lovely pub, friendly staff, tasty, great value food (except the desserts - avoid them and order extra chips!) and extensive range of good value drinks.

Overall: 10/10
Food: 9/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Mar 25, 2022
Paul B.
One of the best pubs in North London. Friendly efficient staff, great selection of draught beers and cider with guest ales. Lovely beer garden and an old fashioned high ceilinged main room. I have eaten here before and the food was good quality solid nosh and not at the trumped up restaurant prices you now get a Youngs pubs. This time we just ordered a couple of portions of their excellent skin on chips to soak up the booze. Negatives? It's so good it is difficult to get a seat so book a table or arrive early. Everybody at the British Ecological Society salute this great London boozer.

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Dec 10, 2021
Jon T.
One of the best pubs in London!

Overall: 10/10
Food: 7/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 8/10
Value: 8/10
Nov 04, 2021
Matthew T.
We had a great evening. Has to be said it is very noisy and not a place for a quiet tête à tête. Great service good beer and straight up pub food.

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Oct 26, 2021
Juliana W.
Loved our time here last Sunday! Staff were really friendly, felt like a lovely local we’ll be coming to more often. It’s really great to see the effort you put into your beer options too, I’m not even a beer drinker but I’ve tried some out because you’ve got such a diverse range. Relaxing atmosphere, enough room for our friend and her baby. Also food was delicious and portions were great!

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Jun 10, 2021
Clare H.
A gem of a pub! Beautiful garden, yummy food and great service. Couldn’t ask for any more.

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 9/10
Value: 10/10
May 22, 2021
Marc S.
Great beer and food. Servive was superior. Will be back soon.

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
May 20, 2021
Caroline C.
Earls is your one stop shop for great beers and food. Will return!

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
May 12, 2021
Barnaby M.
Fantastic food, beer, and service as always :)

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Apr 23, 2021
Avery C.
THE BEST!!!

Overall: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Apr 15, 2021
Mishka N.
Everything was amazing!

Overall: 9/10
Food: 9/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 9/10
Value: 9/10
Jul 12, 2023
Bernie M.
Very tasty roast meal taken by all four of our party. A comfortable outdoor table on a sunny London summer day. Would definitely go again.

Overall: 9/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 9/10
Value: 8/10
Feb 06, 2023
Sara M.
Lovely pub and the staff were friendly, kind and attentive. Nice relaxed place. The menu was perfect and we really enjoyed our roast dinners and the puddings! Delish ! Loved the selection of beers - really great. Our table was quite wobbly and we probably should have told the staff at the time, but we tried to fix it by folding up paper. We tried not to fixate on it though - nice place !

Overall: 9/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 7/10
Value: 8/10
Oct 29, 2022
Kitty C.
Great food, drinks and service. The only issue I have is the ambiance. Friday night is typically loud but I could hardly hear my friends. Maybe the pub can consider some acoustic panels to help absorb some of the noise.

Overall: 9/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 9/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 8/10
Jan 22, 2022
James B.
Great place, staff were helpful and a great demeanour

Overall: 9/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 9/10
Ambience: 9/10
Value: 7/10
May 28, 2021
Chris S.
easy going checking on ho drinks were going and given amount of people in pub admirable service by 2 people. Also excellent selection of beers. Would I recommend? yes . Would I go again?I definilry will be

Overall: 9/10
Food: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 9/10
Value: 7/10
May 28, 2021
oliver w.
Great pub with good range of beer

Overall: 9/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Apr 28, 2021
Fiona M.
We enjoyed it- good service, thanks guys.

Overall: 8/10
Food: 6/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Mar 03, 2022
Agathe S.
All is good, except the food that I found a bit bland every time. I love all the other things: the bers; the staff, the area, the ambiance, the garden, the clean toilets... and will come back for sure!

Overall: 8/10
Food: 9/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 6/10
Value: 8/10
Nov 12, 2021
Johanna O.
Great food and beer and service. Music was slightly too loud which made it difficult to talk and socialize.

Overall: 7/10
Food: 5/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 5/10
Value: 6/10
Apr 17, 2023
Katherine L.
The beers were great and the staff were lovely. I found the food wasn't wonderful (cauliflower wings are too large and would be better with more sauce) and the place needs some soft furnishings to help with sound.

Overall: 7/10
Food: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Ambience: 8/10
Value: 7/10
Sep 22, 2022
Joanna M.
Ambience was good, music was a little load, food was a bit overpriced, particularly the vegan salad leaves

Overall: 7/10
Food: 8/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 4/10
Value: 8/10
Feb 09, 2022
Jane P.
Good food and service but very very noisy!

Overall: 7/10
Food: 6/10
Service: 9/10
Ambience: 8/10
Value: 6/10
May 18, 2021
Julia R.
Food was much better until last year. We had a quite expensive sunday roast for the quality, and it's shame because it used to be great. My friend's dish was lentils and it was so salty that they could not eat it.