The Old Queen's Head

About The Old Queen's Head

The Old Queen’s Head is a 180-capacity pub-and-club room on Essex Road in Islington. Concerts and DJ nights run upstairs, while the public bar below retains rare early-17th-century modelled plasterwork and a carved stone-and-wood chimneypiece. That collision of a compact live room and protected old interior gives a show night a distinctly pub-scale beginning before the crowd heads upstairs.

A tavern remade for the stage

The present three-storey yellow-brick public house dates from around 1830, replacing an earlier Old Queen’s Head that London Museum records had been torn down by the time Thomas Hosmer Shepherd’s 1829–31 publication appeared. Elements of the former building survived inside: Historic England identifies the bar-area plaster ceiling and chimneypiece as early-17th-century work, and the property has held Grade II status since September 20, 1954.

A 2006 relaunch created the venue’s present pub, gig and club identity. That September, Friendly Fires played its first show under that name here; singer Ed Macfarlane later recalled a sparse industry crowd and a PA failure. It makes a useful measure of the room’s role: a small stage able to host an act at its earliest public turning point, with every rough edge audible.

The room after dark

The booking focus spans emerging alternative, electronic and urban acts, folk gigs, and DJ-led nights built around house, disco, R&B and hip-hop. The venue has also used showcase slots for artists making a first headline appearance, so bills can lean discovery-minded alongside party formats. With a 180-person main live music and club room upstairs, this suits listeners who value proximity and collective energy over a formal theatre layout. Arrive early for the listed interior downstairs, then expect the main action in a close-packed room designed for dancing, gigs and late sets.

Sources

1. The Old Queen’s Head Public House, 44 Essex Road — Historic England
2. Old Queen’s Head, Islington — London Museum
3. Venue Spotlight: The Old Queen’s Head, London — Ents24
4. ‘We had two good songs, no fans and the PA broke – but now look at us’ — The Guardian
5. Pub to club in Five Easy Drinks — London Evening Standard