How the Park Tavern became the regular pub for a Finsbury Park five-a-side team

A writer recalled that the Park Tavern in Finsbury Park was the closest pub to the five-a-side pitches where their team, DisOrient FC, played every Tuesday night from 2011 to 2016.

Their attachment began as a marriage of convenience: it was close, it served Guinness and it had “(just about) functioning toilets.” There were other pubs nearby that some might regard as better, such as the Faltering Fullback, but the Park Tavern’s quirks — including an advert above the urinals for the 2001 PlayStation game Hogs of War — and its usual lack of crowds made it an easy post-match meeting place.

After matches the team would drink there and dissect games; sometimes they celebrated, too. The writer says they cracked open a bottle of prosecco they think cost £14 when they won the B League, and the landlord allowed them to put their trophy behind the bar, where it later became hidden by a bottle of Baileys. Over time they exchanged numbers with better players, other teams began following their lead, and the pub grew livelier.

The lasting outcome, the writer says, was the friendship formed between the seven regulars, which is still going strong. They did not want the Park Tavern to change much — aside from perhaps a new urinal freshener — even as gentrifiers sought craft ales and different food.

Key Topics

Sports, Park Tavern, Finsbury Park, Disorient Fc, Faltering Fullback, B League