Nicholas Nickleby

Ten Lukr side-pour taps imported from the Czech Republic, fed straight out of a cold room, over London's first chladici vana, the water bath that keeps a glass clean, wet and cold before the beer touches it (The Morning Advertiser).

Why go

The money here went where the customer cannot see it. Bohem brews in Tottenham on imported double decoction kit and lagers cold for a minimum of six weeks before anything leaves the brewery (Beer Today). Then it brought its original tapster, certified Pilsner Tapster Marek Prusa, back from the Czech Republic to install the dispense and train the staff. His rule is the one most British bars ignore: "the glasses must be clean, wet and cold. The water-bath system ensures this, and by removing the temperature change between the cold room and the tap, the beer is treated gently and doesn't get a shock." One beer on the wall exists nowhere else, a 4.2% Czech black lager called Nikolas, named for the Czech form of the pub's own name. A standing tap pours Gravity Well from the neighbouring brewery, and a rotating guest line sits alongside. The room itself is a 1989 shop conversion that spent years as a sports-led Irish bar before it closed, and CAMRA notes the layout is much the same, with the fireplace and wood panelling kept and a better bar put in (CAMRA).

Order this / avoid

• Order: Nikolas, because you cannot get it anywhere else. Then work the Bohem range side-pour, and take the half litre in a pint glass, which is how the bar measures a serve. The Gravity Well line is the one to check if you already know the Bohem beers. Czech wine is on the list, which is close to unique in London.
• Avoid: cask, which does not exist here. CAMRA's record carries a drinker's question from July 2024 about whether it would ever return, answered on the same page: "No sign at Jan 2026." Also avoid Mondays, when the pub is shut, and weekday afternoons before 4.30pm.

What locals & experts say

• Petr Scokek, Bohem director and co-founder, on what they were and were not building: "We haven't set out to recreate a Czech style beer hall. We're a London brewer and we're running a proper London pub, but with a Czech twist in terms of our Czech beer dispense system, which is unique to London." ref
• The same interview is honest about how hard it was: "The plan was always to expand, but it's taken far longer than we hoped due to the impact of the lockdown and the ongoing challenges facing the hospitality sector." ref
• Beer Today (8 July 2024) on the production side: "All Bohem beers are brewed using imported double decoction brewing kit, and traditionally lagered at low temperature for a minimum of six weeks." ref
• CAMRA's North London branch record carries the only drinker's verdict anyone has published, logged on 30 July 2024: "Great atmosphere and I enjoyed the different Bohem lager styles. No cask beer - will it ever return?" It also sets the pub in its street: a 1989 shop conversion that under the previous operator "was like many Irish bars in North London, majoring on sporting events in an area under-served for pubs." ref
• No critic or beer writer has visited since it reopened. The approved London and beer press were searched on 30 July 2026 and everything found is opening coverage from the same week in July 2024. The rung rests on the kit and the technique, which are documented, rather than on anyone's assessment of the result.

Good to know

• Where: 6 Ferme Park Road, Stroud Green N4 4ED. Crouch Hill is 450m, Harringay 650m. The W3 and W7 stop outside, and CAMRA notes you can read the bus countdown from the back bar.
• Timing: closed Monday. Tuesday to Thursday 4.30pm to 11pm, Friday 4.30pm to midnight, Saturday 2pm to midnight, Sunday 2pm to 10pm.
• Booking: walk in.
• Hygiene: FSA rating 5, Haringey, inspected 20 February 2025, FHRSID 1747377. Component scores 5 for hygiene, 0 for structural, 5 for confidence in management, where lower is better. ref
• The serve: by the half litre in pint glasses, or by the half pint. Side-pour off Lukr taps, so ask for the pour you want.
• In the room: fireplace, wood panelling, garden with smoking allowed, darts, dogs welcome, bar food lunchtime and evening.
• Sites: this is one of two Bohem-run venues. The original Bohem Brewery Tap Room is in Bowes Park and the brewery itself is in Tottenham, both separate premises with separate records.
• One thing worth separating: the Gravity Well tap here pours beer from a brewery whose own Leyton taproom is curated in this database with an FSA rating of 0. That finding attaches to that premises, not to the beer or to this pub.

Jeff's take (his words)

• Note: none. Jeff's saved-places export carries no note for this row. The master CSV's "Bohem Brewery's Czech-lager pub" line was written by an earlier enrichment pass, not by him, so it is not quoted here as his words.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

should-visit — Worth the detour if you care how beer is served, which is the whole argument here. Bohem, a Tottenham brewery working in Czech styles, took the lease on this closed Stroud Green pub and reopened it in July 2024 with ten Lukr side-pour taps imported from the Czech Republic, fed directly from a cold room, plus London's first chladici vana, the water bath that keeps glassware clean, wet and cold before the pour. Their original tapster came back from the Czech Republic to train the staff. The beer behind it is brewed on imported double decoction kit and lagered cold for a minimum of six weeks, and one of it, Nikolas, a 4.2% Czech black lager, exists only for this pub. A tap next to it pours Gravity Well from up the road. The measure is the half litre, in a pint glass. The room is a 1989 shop conversion that used to be a sports bar, so the money went into the cellar and the dispense rather than the decor, which is the right way round. It holds at should-visit rather than higher because no critic or beer writer has assessed it since it opened, and there is no cask at all.