The Masque Bar

The Masque Bar in King's Cross is either a pub (to judge by the local crowd who seem to have crawled out of the nearby KX estates), or a trendy bar (a select collection of bespectacled northern European trendies on both sides of the bar spend their time fiddling with vinyl or greeting each other with cliquey secret handshakes), or it might even be some sort of tiny club (from the imposing DJ booth and disgusting floors).

Whatever, Gastroboy visited the Masque yesterday as part of an impromptu 'how do we get from Islington to Soho' pub crawl. Now it might be because it was the Saturday before New Year's Eve, or maybe just that it was a bit early, but the place contained an un-atmospheric 4 customers and managed to be both filthy and simultaneously reek of disinfectant. In particular, the toilets are a work of art. Not exactly dirty but damp and musky. Every available surface was wet to the touch, and there was some evidence of stalactites forming on the bare electrics hanging out of the holes in the ceiling.

That said, the music was ok (until they put the best of Sheryl Crow unplugged on) and it is very red. And it is of course next to King's Cross Station, making it automatically a lot better than most of the local competition.

Beer is not nice, but not overpriced at £3 for a Kronenbourg. It was not noted whether food is served, but this is not a good venue for a Sunday lunch in any case.