The Starting Gate, N22

Steve of N21 left this review about The Starting Gate

This is another pub I have utilised on many occasions over the years but somehow amazingly never got round to reviewing it on Pubs Galore. It’s a fine Victorian corner pub, both inside and outside, as described by others below. For those of us who live on the Moorgate to Hertford North line it is ideally placed opposite Alexandra Palace train station and when I mistime the walk down the hill from the Palace and just miss a train (which I do frequently), it’s a great spot to enjoy a pint whilst waiting for the next half hourly service.
Originally built in 1875, at the same time as the opening of the second Alexandra Palace (the first one opened in 1873 and completely burnt down 16 days after opening), it was originally the Palace Café before becoming a pub in 1896, when it became known as the Alexandra Palace Hotel. When the Great Eastern Railway station opposite opened in 1906 it became the Alexandra Palace and Railway Hotel, subsequently known as the Railway Hotel.
In my position as a guide for both the Park and the Palace I feel I need to correct the mistake below that the pub then changed its name to the Starting Gate in 1958 when the Horse racing track originally opened. This is not true, and you should be careful what you blindly copy form WhatPub as CAMRA do not always get their facts correct. The Horse Racing track in the park originally opened on Tuesday 30th June 1868, even before the original Palace was built and had been running for some 87 years before the pub changed its name. The course started putting on floodlit evening meetings in 1955 and the pub was probably renamed sometime after to try and attract the pre and post evening meet crowds. When the track was finally closed in 1970 at some point the pub became known just as the Gate before sensibly reverting to the original name a few years ago.
It has retained several interesting and original internal features (as correctly described on CAMRA’s Heritage Interiors listing) but the multi room set up has now gone and it is possible to walk completely around the central bar.
Pre Covid it was beginning to get a bit of a local reputation for interesting ale options, but unfortunately post covid it hasn’t really got its act together and like the reviewer below I too have suffered several false starts (see what it did there!) on recent visits. For example, my early evening visit last Wednesday got me originally excited when I walked in to all four pumps badged with Dark star Skylab, Sharp’s Solar Wave, Hogs Back Surrey Nirvana and Birmingham Brewing Company Blonde Brummie. Well, I was excited until I spotted the dreaded “Coming Soon” tag on the latter two. Oh well still two decent beers to choose from. But then the conversation went thus:-
Me: “A pint of Skylab please”
Barmaid: “Sorry that is off”
Me: “Really?, OK I’ll try the Solar Wave Please”
Pump splutters and finally there is something in the glass…
Barmaid: “Er Please try it, It might be gone as well”
Me: “Ughh, no you are right that’s not good. Anyway I am in no hurry I’ll wait until you put a new barrel on of either of those”
Barmaid: “No sorry, only the manager changes the barrels and he won’t be in till tomorrow”
Now I do not agree with Tris on many things, but I will certainly agree with him that is not the type of behaviour that gets you in the GBG.
I would still recommend a visit to look at what is a splendid example of Victorian Pub architecture and just hope you time your visit to when the current manager could be arsed to put a barrel of ale on.

On 18^th August 2023 - rating: 6
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