The Wrestlers, Highgate, N6

I came here for the first time nearly 30 years ago for Sunday lunch but didn't make a return visit until 2016. It's situated in lovely Highgate, one of London's highest locations, suitably positioned opposite Berthold Lubetkin's iconic 1930s' modernist Highpoint. The pub has a history going back to 1547 but the current brewers' Tudor structure dates from 1922 and until recently, displayed a Charrington's hanging sign. The first thing that hits you on entering is the fine log burning kitchen range which apparently came from the pub's previous incarnation - I love the smell of woodsmoke in the evening! There's a lot of dark wood panelling and conventional furniture dotted around an L-shaped room with rear L-shaped bar. The floor is modern bare boarded but is naturally worn. Also in abundance is much leaded lights with both internal and external stained glass, giving something of a heraldic nod to the slightly baronial feel. Furniture is generally traditional with some more modern items to the rear which is more of a dining area, beyond which is a garden. We were in for the Swearing on the Horns, a twice-yearly ceremony which has been taking place since 1623, now raising money for children with cerebral palsy. Along with the Yard of Ale drinking, it was a jolly evening with a nineteenth century fancy dress theme sported by the friendly staff and some of the customers: the barmaid was dressed as a serving wench with the barmen wearing red and white striped blazers with straw boaters, giving the appearance of ice cream vendors. Ales: Fuller's London Pride, St. Austell's Tribute, Charnwood's Salvation and Darkstar's Hophead on great form and at £4.60 a pint, not a bad price for the area. This is a very nice pub and is a must-visit if in the N6 area. It also makes for a great crawl with the postcode's other hostelries. The daily midnight - 1.00am Fri/Sat - late licence is a bonus but note that this is now a cashless venue; card payments only.

It doesn't seem to have changed here since my last visit,the best part of a decade ago, I didn't particularly do it for me then, or now to be honest. An L shaped room with lots of dark wood paneling, it all comes across as a bit dingy, on the exterior all the white painted Window frames were badly cracked and chipped giving a credence to a rather tatty appearance. Beers on were London Pride, Ilkley West Coast IPA and an average tasting Castle Rock Harvest Pale, there was possibly another beer but I fail to recall.The pricing policy may well have changed since Tris's review below, My Harvest Pale weighed in at a london sensible price of £3.90 a pint. There's nothing really wrong with this pub , its just not quite to my taste.

Thankfully this pub hasn't changed since the previous reviewer's visit. It still retains the feel of a decent traditional pub, although it's large enough not to have the olde worlde intimacy of the traditional boozer. I particularly liked the wood panelled walls unsullied by the application of pastel paintwork, and the old settles in the window bays. There were several ales on, although I failed to note them all. I had Thornbridge Colorado Red, a full-bodied 5.9% monster, and not too expensive at £2.10 a half. This one makes a good pairing with The Bull over the road.

This is a nice historic single room pub with a number of interesting features. The pub has a simple L-shaped interior with relatively new wooden flooring and much older panelled walls. Two large bay windows dominate the front, one of which has some nice stained glass panes which are also visible in the doorway. A long L-shaped servery follows the room and has a frosted glass bar back with a lattice section containing stained glass inserts and some nice old drawers in the shelf above the fridges. Standard table and chair seating runs around the perimeter of the room, each table with its own lit candle. A modern 'Wrestlers' mirror hangs at the end of the bar where the room opens out slightly to the rear, although there is nothing much of interest here except additional seating options. From here you can make you way out to the rear patio garden. The pub's finest feature is the vast fireplace to the right of the front door, with a long mantle, old oven and various pots and the like surrounding it. A large set of stag antlers have been mounted above the fireplace along with a text detailing the Ancient Ceremony of Swearing on the Horns of Highgate. This was apparently an initiation ceremony for the amusement of regular customers undertaken by newcomers to the various pubs around Highgate back in the 17th - 19th centuries, following which initiates would be conferred the 'title' of Freeman of Highgate. The Wresters is, I believe, the only pub in Highgate that still regularly performs this ceremony. Thankfully I was able to obtain a pint without having to negotiate anything more demanding than selecting a beer from a line up of Marble Pint (£3.60), Fullers London Pride, Alchemy Up and Atom and St Austell Tribute. The Marble wasn't quite up to scratch although it still went down well enough. I also spotted two boxes of cider on the bar back as well as a pretty decent looking wine list. I liked the historic feel of this place and was glad to see plenty of period features retained rather then the usual gastro style interior design. The beer could've been in better shape but the line-up was at least interesting enough and I would say this is worth a look in combination with the Bull over the road.