Prince of Wales, Brixton, SW2

Summed up well by PSM, this is a former backstreet Wenlock house, rebuilt in the interwar years, with a CAMRA heritage rating of **; photos can be seen on their website. It’s a bit of a time warp multi-room pub, one with a pool table but also darts, carpeted, lots of dark wood and partitions, patterned upholstered banquettes, with traditional furniture; there’s at least one TV showing the footie and a games machine; there’s a partially covered rear patio and décor in the form of miscellaneous prints of the area from yesteryear. Also time warp and distinctly yesteryear, were the cackling very local older customers, turning the air a shade of Prussian blue. Despite the brewer ‘Brakspear’ to the sign, there was just one clipped pump (Oxford Gold) but unused, the barman telling me that it ‘…isn’t worth tapping.’ at the time of my Saturday visit at just gone 9.30pm, so it was a half of Brixton Reliance pseudo craft fizz at £3.00. This is an interesting place for the interior, but is let down by the lack of cask.

Official site of Prince of Wales - brakspear.co.uk

Official site of Prince of Wales - brakspear.co.uk

Hidden away down a back street behind Brixton prison, next to the famous Blenheim Gardens estate, this is a pleasant two bar Brakspear pub that seems to be functioning well as an old-fashioned, community boozer. The two bar set up sees the right-hand side operating as a lounge bar of sorts with a more basic public bar to the left. Slightly collapsed banquette seating runs down the right-hand wall of the lounge bar, with chairs and low stools in support. The servery is in the centre, spanning both rooms, and has an attractive dark wood counter and bar back beneath a pretty amazing gantry with the Prince of Wales Feathers carved across it. The public bar seemed a little more spartan by comparison and was dominated by a very popular pool table. I was told they have (or at least once had) a dartboard, but I didn't see it anywhere myself. As soon as I walked in, a friendly old dear started chatting to me and another lady, who I took to be the off duty landlady, was also very friendly and made me feel really welcome. Brakspear Oxford Gold was clipped on one of the handpulls, but the landlady told me it was currently off due to a delivery failure, and wouldnt be back on until the following week. I went for a pint of Guinness instead, although I did notice that they had a Brixton Brewery keg option as well. The place was doing a good trade on a Saturday night and I enjoyed chatting to my new friends whilst watching some darts on the TV screens dotted around the room. If it truly is the people who make a good pub, then this place must be pretty high up the list. I've been in enough local's boozers like this, to know that a warm welcome isn't the most likely outcome, but I felt really at home here and would've stayed had I not had to dash off to a gig in Brixton. With the prospect of some Brakspear ale, I may well return in the near future to see whether a higher score is merited. Date of visit - 8th December 2023

This is a very interesting pub from a heritage point of view. It's a typical backstreet locals' pub that's changed little over the years.The interior is the result of an inter-war refitting, and still retains the bar counter, wood paneled walls, and wooden screens dividing the two rooms. It's carpeted throughout, and the room on the left contains the dartboard and pool table. Furnishings are traditional tables and chairs, with what looks like some inter-war fixed bench seating as well. Although it's a Breakspear's house, both the handpumps unfortunately had their clips reversed, and I saw no sign of food on our Thursday afternoon visit. The Guinness tasted OK. I don't think you would bother to wander the backstreets of Brixton behind the prison to seek this one out unless you wanted to see a largely unspoilt inter-war pub. But I liked it in here, and the landlady made us welcome. Maybe we were just unlucky that there was no real ale available during our visit.