The Malt and Hops serves as a clubhouse for the Naughty Boys. It is, unsurprisingly, a pub. It's on the High Road in North Finchley. Here's a map

The Malt is one of the few surviving "proper pubs" in the area. It's not a wine bar, it's not an Irish, Turkish or Armenian theme bar, and it lacks any sign of stainless steel. It has a telly (two, in fact), a bar, a pool table, a pretty good jukebox (five tracks for £1 has to be pretty good) and an open fire. There's also a dart board, but don't try to play darts when there's a match on the big screen or you'll be politely asked to stop. Lloyd (the Guvnor) keeps threatening to refurbish the place by repainting the walls and the ceiling but so far there seems to be little danger of that happening (although the gents' bogs have been sorted out to look like new in the recent past. Thanks, Chas and Dick).

This may also be the only pub in North Finchley where you have a chance of being served beer by an Olympic athlete with green cake icing in his hair. It would be nice to put a link in here to his brilliant sporting record, but his chances of beating Mr Pinsent at the 2008 Olympics (as he said he will) might be knackered if his national Olympic Committee hear about the Cheeky Vimto drinks he puts back! So the man in question must remain anonymous.

Booze on offer includes hand-pumped Courage Best and Fuller's London Pride, Stella Artois, Foster's, Strongbow, Kronenbourg and odd fizzy drinks with names like Breezer. One of the Naughty Boys once tried a swimming-pool coloured drink called WKD but he says he didn't like it.

As you can see from the picture, the Malt was originally a coaching inn. The arch on the left leads to a beer garden complete with kiddies' play area and car park. The far end of the car park is gravelled, which makes it good for playing pétanque (or boules). There are boules - along with darts and a backgammon set - behind the bar. The beer garden also contains the original stables though these are now horse-free. Ask behind the bar if you want to park your horse in there while you have a pint!

The Malt has regular live music gigs and other events