Big Red in Islington

Great layout, great staff, great prices. I didn't buy food, so can't comment.

Used to be great, unfortunately I won't ever go again, I went to open the door, and the Jamaican girl security was the most foul mouthed disgusting woman I've ever heard, how this woman works on any door anywhere is beyond me, she was insulting and as far as I'm concerned off her head totally won't be returning no thanks.

Great atmosphere and music. Perfect for a catch up. Pool tables at the back.

Fantastic rock bar - great music and drinks selection, run by the nicest staff possible. Highly recommended.

No food served, but there's a lot of nearby places to get food. Very friendly and welcoming staff, and decent prices.

This is a brilliant rock-steady pub for anyone who likes a warm welcome and amazing atmosphere. It might look a bit dark and scary from the outside but the staff are so nice and friendly. There are plenty of nice cosy booths and nooks and crannies where you can get comfortable. They have a wide range of drinks and cocktails and they pour Guinness with practised expertise. The music is loud and proud. If you want to eat there, they have a very smooth hitch-up with Yard Sale Pizzas. You can order and get delivered to their door. (Good price and great pizzas.) And there is stuff going on... plenty of pool tables in the back area, life drawing group, role playing games night, quizzes or just stay for a drink and chill until the early hours. We love 'em.

Great music, great vibes! Awesome venue 🤘

Great atmosphere, really friendly staff.

The vibes are really cool, the space is nice and the staff is very friendly. Really enjoyed the pub and would definitely recommend (they don't serve food but you can bring your own!)

Cheap, late-opening place with a good atmosphere and a roaring D&D club attached! What's not to like?

This is a brilliant rock-steady pub for anyone who likes a warm welcome and amazing atmosphere. It might look a bit dark and scary from the outside but the staff are so nice and friendly. There are plenty of nice cosy booths and nooks and crannies where you can get comfortable. They have a wide range of drinks and cocktails and they pour Guinness with practised expertise. The music is loud and proud. If you want to eat there, they have a very smooth hitch-up with Yard Sale Pizzas. You can order and get delivered to their door. (Good price and great pizzas.) And there is stuff going on... plenty of pool tables in the back area, life drawing group, role playing games night, quizzes or just stay for a drink and chill until the early hours. We love 'em.

Seems to be a place with a particular target demographic, and they are very unfriendly otherwise. Made to feel very unwelcome from the moment our party got in, staff were rude and snappy when we were ordering drinks.

Really rude staff. I went with a group of friends for my birthday, as it was the only late night bar in Holloway. It was clear as soon as we entered that we weren’t welcome, the staff were aggressive and hostile. I wouldn’t recommend the Big Red.

Great place for lads night out with pool and beer. Great music and atmosphere. Helpful and friendly staff. Highly recommended

Pool tables, fairly priced drinks, nice staff! Open late and always fun.

Great bar with great vibes and music.

I've just been shouted at by a tatootes old lady whom definitely trying way too hard to fit in amongs the youngsters by being/wearing "cool" to hurry up when ordering a beer. Just poor the pint you old hag haha

Grungy dive bar vibes with two pool tables and loads of beer choices. Grunge and metal are played all night. A great bar to counter faddy gastro pubs

Great place with great people. It is definitely one of London's rock landmarks. Worth a visit.

A dive bar nr Highgate, pretty much does what you think, a dark grimy feel, American décor, license plates on the walls, spicy wings on the menu and an eclectic jukebox, poll tables etc. Good if thats your crowd/thing.

Great atmosphere, friendly staff and customers, and 3 pool tables in the back.

Great place, great staff Makes a lovely change to my usual rounds 😁

We came in and found the staff very rude. Don’t know if it’s a case of my face doesn’t fit? I have many times drank in The Tollington and was told it’s owned by the same company. I cannot see how at the tollington the staff are super friendly and inviting, And you feel welcome here I found there was more issues with drugs and staff who don’t know how to speak to customers shame as The big red is the only place in Holloway to have a late beer! Maybe the owners can talk to the managers and staff and see if they can teach the staff to run an establishment where customers feel welcomed and respected instead of feeling like we’re an inconvenience!!!!!.

Always come for the pool tables and free foosball! Staff are friendly and pints are reasonably priced too

Ambiance sympa, cadre agréable mais musique beaucoup trop forte

Ridiculously cheap drinks for this part of the world. A 4 pint pitcher of Bud Light for £12.

Great bar staff, but rude and aggressive security tarnished the evening

Great rock themed bar. Come on a Tuesday night for RPG (DnD) night.

Great bar with a brilliant atmosphere, pool tables available. Enjoy ;)

They have a dedicated takeaway that delivers pizza, the pizzas didn't look appetising, atmosphere was dead, if they had better food options and live bands it would probably be rocking. Nice decor and friendly staff though

Good pub, friendly staff and three pool tables which take card.

Rubbish service, miserable staff. Plenty of fights and stealing of drinks and the staff couldn’t give a damn.

Nice and dark atmosphere. Still a rock bar, although I can't say if the music is any different compare to years ago. A little empty the past few times I've been. Didn't eat anything but they now have Yard Sale deliver pizza to the place which is a great idea.

Fun, cool music, friendly staff

Friends got beaten up and touched up, partly by staff. Definitely wouldn't reccomend as a girl. Management v unhelpful, security even worst

Good service and good stuff and good beer 🍺 👍 👌 😀 👏

Barry was very rude and completely ignored my order when he was calling last orders. Kept shouting us to finish our drink. Barry called last order at 1 which is crazy because they close at 2am. But Tiernan was really nice and kind to us. Rlly helpful.

So I was playing pool, and when I was about to drink my beer there were a few flies in it. I took it to the bartender and he said that he "could fish them out". I thought it was hilarious hence the extra star, but it would have been nice if the customer service was not a joke. I wasn't expecting a free beer but at least he could have said something that Gordon Ramsay would not have screamed at him about. Very nice pub otherwise, the pool tables are awesome and they have Yard Sale. Shame about the flies.

Chill environment, 3 nice pool tables at the back. Great bar staff

A joke of a bar staff need sacking! They don’t belong there rude and disrespectful formal complaint made to the manager

Big red is open again with great prices and cool music! Definitely worth visiting, polite staff, American style bar with pools, clean, music is great too and beers start from £4.50!! We had a lovely time.

Visited when local in London. If I was local this would definitely be my local pub, good selection of drinks, fantastic bar staff and nothing but good vibes. Shall definitely be back if local again.

Cool bar with pool tables and great service and staff

Decent, with nice sticky floors and cranky dive bartenders

Just played pool plus a few drinks. Nice venue,pleasant staff. Would visit again...

Good bar! The cider was a little bit expensive (for me) but good ambiance and well-spaced, hope to go there again someday :)

This is a really cool pub. Really east to get to from Holloway Road station and the drinks are cheap! Sometimes they have events on the support bands, such as a mercy pop up. The decor is really cool and modern with an awesome sound track!

THEY ARE THE WORST STAFF I HAVE EVER CAME ACROSS... 1 WOMAN IN PARTICULAR SHOULD B SACKED... THINKS SHE OWNS THE PLACE ... BADLY NEED TO SACK THIS WOMAN. NO MANNERS WHAT SO EVER CHEEKY AS THEY COME.. SHE THINKS SHES GODS GIFT BUT REALLY NEEDS TO LEARN SOME RESPECT!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE AS LONG AS THAT WOMAN IN PARTICULAR IS WORKING THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Large and crimson, lives up to the name

Lovely Manageress and Manager? Very kind to me and my Mother when we were upset yesterday. Amazing Venue so atmospheric, fab music-my record collection ☺ Reminds me of the American bars I visited many years ago.

It's a great pub and you can vape inside

Great place to hang out with friends and play pool, good thinks and shots selection. Good music and you can order food in from a takeaway.

Best place for pool around, it has 3 tables but the cues aren't great. Pay with contactless

Good pool tables, cheap beers but a bit dark and dingy

It’s not a dive bar or a rock bar. It’s just the only bar on Holloway Road that’s open late. And beware of the opening hours - they stop serving an hour before they close - ever heard of this before…?!?! And it’s still listed as a halls of residence on Google..,

Staff here are so lovely and really feels like they're looking out for you. I went there with a friend last night and we were being harassed by a random guy. Sarah and Barry (bar staff) quickly came over to sit with us to make sure we were okay. They removed the guy from the pub and let us leave by the staff exit to make sure we didn't bump into him on the way out. Really sweet, handled beautifully. Big up the big red!

Great service. Large selection of drinks. 3 pool tables. Epic bar

Staff were respectful and toilets were kept clean. The place has other amenities like 3 pool tables and 1 table soccer. The space is big enough too. Additionally its in a very good location close to lots of places to eat.

They really deserve more than 4 stars 😍

Good place. Its a shame it doesn't have live music anymore

Nice rock pub with pools inside. Very slacious.

It's not the same as it was in its last iteration but this 'downtown dive bar' is still great. It is a late-night venue (closing at 2am) with pool tables, good music and a good selection of drinks (including some cocktails on tap). The decor is great, including a motorcycle hanging above the bar. It is full of students, off-shift pub workers and drunken night owls and it is the best fun you can have after midnight in Holloway. And it's reasonably priced.

Came early Friday 21st Oct, started quiet, love the decor, slowly got busier before we left around half 7, seemed like a nice crowd, lady behind the bar was great, very welcoming, pool tables and foosball at the back, decent toilets (men’s at least!) Hopefully can get a food menu going again soon, otherwise pretty much my ideal bar!

Brilliant bar, Paul is a 10/10 legend. Would recommend for a Friday/Saturday !! Lotta love xxx

Big man Paul is an absolute G, rate him 10/10 the beers were nice and the staff are class. Elijah Weatherup is a #1 customer, massive legend.

Some flippin boi Paul is! Man on the door is like heimdall - wouldn’t pass this dude without permission, cracking all round dude. 10/10 would recommend xx

Paul is the best, such a great vibe and bouncer. Absolutely love this bar would highly recommend

It's big, it's red, what more could you ask for???!!!!?!?1111

Great for a late drink when your just not ready for rhe night to end

Great pub! Lots of space, good music, good beer and pool tables!

clean four pool tables music and good security friendly staff

Amazing place with ALL the tunes 🎉

Muy buen pub! Está abierto todas las tardes hasta las 02:00h. de martes a domingo y los fines de semana cierra a las 04:00h. Cervezas variadas, buena música y billar para los que quieran más entretenimiento. El ambiente es muy agradable y se puede conversar mientras se disfruta de la música. Disponen de una amplia carta para los que desean cenar y se puede pedir a domicilio también. Un sitio muy recomendable al que suelo ir cada vez que voy a Londres.

Used to be a great pub, now unfortunately has been ruined. No stage, poor selection of beers, and to order food you actually have to download an app that charges the service on top of your food (why paying a service charge of the app does everything is beyond my understanding) and you have to give all your data to be able to pay… get a grip and learn how to run a pub.

It's not quite the same but it's pretty similar to how it used to be, just not a very alternative crowd anymore, but still worth a visit.

Burgers fell very short of the price tag. They used to do one of the best tower burgers in London pre-pandemic - would not order food here again. Kitchen is now run as a different business to the bar and they blamed each other for miscommunications and screw ups. Overall atmosphere not what it used to be years ago. Also no dogs allowed now under new management. Plenty of better choices nearby.

My go to bar in the area. Open late with friendly staff and adjacent to McDonald's for the way home

Great place. Nice decor, good music, pints of ipa for only 4 quid and the pool tables only 1.20. will be going back there for sure.

Lovely staff! Tyler & Lee were superstars!

Been in here a few times over the years, pretty fun alternative pub.

That's my favourite pub in London. Music is very good, there is plenty of space and a very friendly atmosphere.

It used to have such a unique vibe. It was my favourite watering hole in London but now, sadly, under the new management, it has no charm. It's bland. Lifeless. I won't go back.

OK place, but not a mark on what it used to be. Please bring back the wild staff and rocking bands!

An old favourite of me and my friends. Unfortunately the experiences lately have been pretty poor: No jukebox anymore Broken fussball table Pop music (it’s a rock pub fyi) Pretty empty on weekend nights Basically the whole attraction of the place was the vibe and that seems to have gone elsewhere. I keep going back in the hope it was an off night but sadly it seems like a downward trend. Going back tonight just in case I’m wrong. Please let me be wrong!!! 😩

nice pub to come at and work at

Great amtos for bikers & cowboys

Absolutely loving this place! It's one of my favourite late night bars in London — I can't stay away. The staff is super lovely and I've made some really good friends there. The manager is an absolute sweetheart! Good range of beers and spirits too! And not to forget: they have three pool tables which is always a lot of fun. CAN ONLY RECOMMEND!:)

Very good pub to meet all walks of life

Kind people and stuff good Ol' rock, alternative, and hard. Pools and tables. Beautiful Decoration

Like this place nice bike bar feel it

Cheap drinks great atmosphere 😄

This place has totally changed my mind. Lovely staff and a brilliant time

Late bar easily accessible by public transport

Big red= big night. The best staff ever

Biker/rock bar, always welcoming. Lots of tables, stage for live bands, pool tables. Always liked it!

A place where I can really get my body rockin! Super cute staff and amazing lampshades! Where in the heck can a girl buy some! Thanks for making me feel like one of the family. Love Steph x

£3 pints in zone 2 you can't beat it

Amazing place! One of my favourite pub in London. Cool staff, great music & friendly atmosphere. Pool tables available as well

I love the big red! Great music ! Nice pool table! Friendly atmosphere and open till late 🥳

Great Atmosphere and Sean is fantastic