The Salisbury Hotel, Harringay, N4

Randomness Guide to London - Salisbury entry

This is a lovely looking Victorian pub that is well worth a visit for the fixtures and fittings. The problem that I find with these big sprawling places that have a central bar is that there are never enough staff and when there are they all congregate in one area so that a whole section of the bar has woeful service. Once I was finally served I had a nice pint of Pride from the range of Fullers beers that were available and the barmaid was friendly enough, although the pot boy did spill some alcopop over me as he walked past and offered no apology. I think that now I have been here I wouldn’t plan on making a return visit.

A Fuller’s pub now I suppose, as there were only Fuller’s ales on when I visited recently, with the ubiquitous London Pride; Discovery; Gales HSB; and Jack Frost on. I didn’t see a pump for either Chiswick or ESB. They also had two Litovel’s Czech lagers on, as well as Aspall’s Suffolk Cider and Hooegarden. I went for the Fuller’s Jack Frost, which was my first pint of this seasonal brew this year, and although it was very good, it was also very expensive (in my opinion) at £3.40 a pint. The pub itself is an absolute tour de force of late Victorian interior pub decoration. It rightly features on the CAMRA inventory of heritage pubs. It really still is the big, rambling “gin palace” that it was in Victorian times. All the extravagant features are still in place, including the separate rooms, mahogany fittings, etched and cut glass everywhere, and the mosaic flooring is the best I’ve ever seen. It’s big enough that I’m sure it would take a couple of hundred people in there to make it look crowded. The service was friendly enough, once I had followed the sound of voices to the bar where the only barmaid was working. There was a food menu, but it was a bit too “gastro” for what I fancied at the time. Sometimes you don’t want anything too fancy, and I didn’t fancy paying nearly £9 for a burger or £3.25 for some chips. The pub was empty on Saturday lunchtime, but I suppose it might be a very different place in the evening. In any case, it’s certainly worth a visit to see what a Victorian gin palace looked like in all its glory.

A very grand and ornate pub with seperate dining area.Fuller's beers on tap.Opens 5pm Mon-Fri and 12 noon Sat & Sun.