Angel takes its name from a pub, which feels exactly right. The Angel Inn stood on the corner of Islington High Street from the 17th century, a coaching stop for travellers arriving from the north who preferred not to risk entering London after dark. Charles Dickens called it “the place London begins in earnest” in Oliver Twist. Thomas Paine is believed to have written Rights of Man there in 1790. Victor Watson stopped in for a coffee in the 1930s and liked the name so much he put it on the Monopoly board, making Angel the only square on the London edition named after a specific building rather than a street.
Today Upper Street runs north from the junction, lined with restaurants, independent cinemas and the Almeida Theatre, one of London’s most consistently excellent smaller venues. Camden Passage offers antiques and vintage finds tucked down a narrow alley. The canal is ten minutes’ walk east. Angel tube has the third-longest escalator in Europe, which you will discover when it breaks down.
North London's most reliably good night out
Buses: 4, 19, 30, 38, 43, 56, 73, 153, 214, 271, 341.
