Prince of Wales, Highgate, N6

Another warm friendly Highgate pub. Busy with eaters and a quiz on my Tuesday night visit. Small but four cask beers on from Salsbury, Cottage, Thwaites and Butcombe.

Date of visit - August 2013 In the middle of Highgate, on the High Street, is a smallish, traditional pub – The Prince of Wales. On the pavement outside, a sandwich board boasts that a “notorious pub quiz” is held on Tuesdays. The interior is quite dark and not overly large and features a low ceiling, dark boarded wood panelling, padded comfortable perimeter seating and a central servery, retaining its bar gantry. In one corner, a section of wall space is given over to the Highgate Taverners C C, a cricket team sponsored by the pub, with several team photographs, fixtures and results lists and framed cricket bats etc on display. There’s a couple of seats in a small rather cramped area outside at the back, but you’re not allowed to take drinks beyond the gate and over the road on to the impressive Pond Square opposite. There’s something of a proper pub feel to the place and the new edition of CAMRA’s London Pub Walks book ( a “must buy” book, incidentally ) describes the pub as “certainly the most unspoilt pub in the village” They offer a Thai food menu – unfortunately, in a smallish single room pub like this, the aroma can dominate, as it certainly did on my recent late lunchtime visit, even though there were only one group of four eating. The pub is listed in the 2013 CAMRA Good Beer Guide and, pleasingly, this fact together with the London Pub Walks poster, are prominently displayed. There’s 4 pumps which, on my visit, were offering Butcombe Bitter ( a regular fixture apparently ) and, notably, three other beers all from Cottage Brewery. The Butcombe Bitter - £ 3.70p – was pretty good. A noticeboard by the bar lists future beers. Despite the dominant aroma of Thai food and, on my visit, a welcome from the barman that might, diplomatically, be described as muted -even by London pub standards – I’d probably call in again if passing.

The pub is effectively one space but has a feel of two halves, front and back, the feel being reinforced by having an entrance at each end. The bar is central and runs through each area, boarded floor to the front and carpeted to the rear, wood panelling, a couple of fireplaces, beamed ceiling painted a shade of purple, scrubbed wooden tables with upholstered benches or pew type seats and small stools/school style chairs. Decor includes a framed collection of beermats, plans and pictures of Highgate Cemetery, pictures of famous ex-residents such as John Betjemen and Samuel Taylor-Coleridge, and a wall given over to cricket pictures, a framed shirt, and two bats listing Highgate Taverners CC centurions and five wicket or more hauls. I assume the club are based here. There are a few board games available on a shelf, and there is a TV but it was off, while a bluesy type background music played. I didn't partake having eaten earlier, but a group were tucking into the Thai food which looked very good and reasonably priced too. The menu stated that takeaways are available. Four handpumps, serving Everards Tiger and Beacon, St Austell Proper Job and Butcombe Bitter. I liked it here, it is a calm and relaxing place where I could easily spend an hour or more with the papers and a few pints of good ale. There is an outdoor decked area down some steps adjoining the rear entrance overlooking the green which I believe once had a series of ponds, now filled in.

Luckily I didn’t experience the poor service received by the previous reviewer. But there again I was in during Friday lunchtime and was served by a chap that I took to be the guv’nor, who was polite and efficient. There were three ales on during my visit – Usher’s 1824 (at £3.40 a pint), Brewdog Alphadog, and Springhead Drop of the Black Stuff, with a fourth pump having a Butcombe bitter clip reversed. Food is exclusively Thai – at least it was during my lunchtime visit. Most stir fry dishes, including rice, were £6.50, but one or two were £6.80 or £6.90. This is a smallish, fairly intimate, one-room pub with a central horseshoe bar and attractive wood panelled walls. It’s bare-boarded in a traditional, rather than a modern way, is low ceilinged and is furnished with banquette seating around the sides, has everyday chairs, some small stools as well as a few tall stools around the bar, and a variety of wooden tables. A TV was on (but muted) showing BBC News, and there was some rock music being played, thankfully not too loudly. Just to the right of the main bar counter there is a board bearing numerous beer mats, presumably for the various ales they’ve sold, and thus demonstrating a commitment to a changing ale selection. This pub was much quieter than The Angel Inn just down the road for some reason, although it was my favourite of the two. But perhaps my taste in pubs is not typical. Of course I would be happy to visit again, and am planning to do so shortly.