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‘Jack of all trades’ isn’t necessarily a bad thing to say about a boozer. After all, it’s nice to be able to choose from an on-trend food menu while you’re having a drink. Or to have a nice cocktail. Or to purchase some art. Or to go to an outré pub quiz. This, it seems, is the theory behind upmarket Hoxton pub Number 177.
Sadly, though, it’s all too easy here to complete that figure of speech with ‘master of none’. Waitresses wander around offering table service so hesitantly that most drinkers queue up to order at the bar. There’s a burger-heavy menu featuring a decent range of veggie options, but numerous dishes turn up with ingredients missing. Courgette fries are raw in parts and burgers come topped with unmelted cheddar.
The events programme offered in the function room (hipster bingo, pub quiz run by a performance artist, club night from the excellent Phonica Records) sounds like it could be the place’s saving grace. And it is a perfectly fine place to come for a bog-standard drink. But it doesn’t feel like more than that. Which is a shame, given all the things it offers.