The owners have prettied up The Haggerston, Kingsland Road’s coolest spit & sawdust boozer & live music venue. Old marble tables, wooden benches, some candles in bottles & a few flowers don’t exactly amount to a chi-chi makeover – the exposed brick & bare floorboards remain untouched – but the pub certainly feels less forbidding than before. Stone-baked pizzas & Monmouth coffee have even been introduced to give the place some daytime appeal. Such tinkerings can’t pull the wool over the punters’ eyes, however; locals know what The Haggerston is all about: late nights, new bands & showing off. Getting served can take an age, but Truman’s Runner & Steenbrugge Dubbel Bruin reward your patience.