A 4.3 sports bar named plainly for its function, a communal amphitheatre for watching the game together
Islington Sports Bar and Grill holds a 4.3 from two hundred and sixty-one people, and carries a name of complete, functional honesty – “Islington Sports Bar and Grill” – telling you, plainly and without ornament, exactly what it is, where it is, and what it offers: sport, on screens, with food from the grill, in Islington.
The honest, functional name
“Islington Sports Bar and Grill” is about as plain and descriptive a name as a venue can have – the place (“Islington”), the type (“Sports Bar”), and the food (“Grill”), all laid out with complete, unpretentious honesty. There is no borrowed grandeur, no clever concept, no invented heritage, no evocative imagery – just a clear, factual description of the venue and its function. This survey has met such honest, functional names before – the Corner Bar, the Roundabout – and noted their refreshing plainness amid the grandeur and concept elsewhere. “Islington Sports Bar and Grill” is perhaps the most purely functional of all, a name that is simply a description, promising exactly what it delivers and no more. The Prat’s naming desk notes the disarming honesty: a name that makes no claims beyond the true and the useful, telling you plainly what you will get.
The sports bar as amphitheatre
The sports bar, which this survey met at the Roundabout earlier, serves one of the great communal pleasures of modern life – the shared watching of live sport, the collective joy and agony of the match experienced among fellow fans. It is a modern amphitheatre, where the tribe gathers to watch the contest together, the big screens the arena, the crowd united in hope and dread and celebration. There is a genuine magic to watching sport in a good sports bar – the shared roar at a goal, the collective groan at a miss, the camaraderie of strangers united by a team – that watching alone at home can never match. The Prat’s leisure desk celebrates it: the sports bar as a temple of communal sporting passion, the shared match a genuine and joyful ritual of modern life.
The grill and the game
The “and Grill” is an important part of the offer, for the sports bar is a place of hearty, informal eating as well as drinking and watching – the burgers, wings, and grilled fare that fuel a long afternoon of sport, the food designed for sharing and snacking through the match. This is honest, unpretentious, satisfying pub-and-bar food, no more trying to be fine dining than the venue is trying to be a cocktail lounge – hearty fuel for the sporting crowd. The Prat’s dining desk notes the fitness: the grill and the game go together, the hearty shared food part of the whole communal ritual of the sporting afternoon.
The solid, honest score
The 4.3 from two hundred and sixty-one people is a solid, real-sample score – a decent, honest verdict on a fair sample, better than the Roundabout’s 3.9 and the Boundary’s 3.9, suggesting a well-run sports bar that pleases its match-day crowd. As this survey has noted, sports bars, serving passionate and variable crowds, often settle into the middle, so a solid 4.3 is a genuinely good showing for the type – a sports bar doing its communal job well. The Prat’s statistics desk files it as a solid, honest sports-bar score, the plain and functional venue living up to its plain and functional name. Not every bar need be a concept or a destination; some, honourably, are simply good sports bars, and this is one. The Prat’s social desk respects the honesty: a decent, unpretentious place to watch the game, exactly as its name promises.
The bar
A 4.3 across two hundred and sixty-one people is a solid, real-sample score. The reviews describe a good, lively, well-run sports bar with plenty of screens, a great match-day atmosphere, hearty grill food, and decent drinks – an honest amphitheatre for the sporting crowd.
Verdict
A solid, honest sports bar named plainly Islington Sports Bar and Grill, telling you exactly what it is – a communal amphitheatre for watching the game together, with hearty grill food and a good match-day atmosphere, and no pretension whatsoever.
Go to watch the big match among a passionate crowd, with a burger from the grill and a pint in hand, and enjoy an honest sports bar that promises exactly what it delivers – the communal joy of the shared game, in a place named with complete and refreshing honesty.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
Someone reading this is thinking about moving out of London. The answer’s always no, you’ll stay and complain.