Mannions (Prince Arthur), N15

Was pleasantly surprised to find this one still operating as it is situated in the wasteland between Seven Sisters and Tottenham Hale and as such is not going to get any passing trade and you need to go out of your way to find it. Very much an Irish pub with all the usual keg suspects you are likely to find but also one lone ale pump dispensing Doombar. I wasn’t going to trust that to have a decent pull through, especially as alongside me on this Saturday lunchtime there was one bloke and his dog in, so I had a softy, especially as I had the three craft breweries functioning in Tottenham Hale to come. Lots of screens for the sports and horse racing as you’d expect, and I hope it continues to service the local community for a long time to come. For me however, there is no need to return.

mannion's prince arthur, opened it's door's in 1988, dennis mannion was probably the deascentest man i probably ever met, he looked after all his costumer's, no matter who or what they were,i go back to london once a year and i alway's visit the prince arthur, dennis has moved to southgate now and i haven't seen him in about six year's,it still is an attractive pub to visit

i havent been to mannions for a least 15 years, I used to run the Woodberry Tavern on 7 Sisters road, and tried my very best to make it into an Irish pub, but failed miserably, I took the Woodberry over from Mick Fennessy. We used to go to Mannions when we would be finished work, for a "late drink", and many of them we had, Dennis was the owner then, dont know if he still is, if any one has any information, contact me on face book, sharon fogarty

I thought this was a fairly unremarkable pub. At the back of the Old Vic, it has been very quiet the couple of times I have been in there recently. It does have a pinball (Fish Tails at the moment), but not such a good machine as the Medieval Madness in the Hole in the Wall. The London Pride was OK – not better than OK. I probably wouldn't go in there unless I fancied a game of pinball.

The exterior proclaims the pub as Mannion’s Free House as well as the Prince Arthur so you can take your pick as to what you want to call it. The large Mannion’s sign over the bar canopy inside suggests that the latter is the preferred option. Situated in a particularly grubby corner of estate flats and derelict housing, the bright blue and yellow exterior does at least offer a splash of colour amid the gloom. It would be easy to bypass the Prince Arthur / Mannions without giving it a second thought but the place is actually a quite decent Irish pub and I don’t often use the term in such a positive light. The large and spacious interior has seen a certain amount of knocking about and is a bit weathered around the edges but still retains an air of the splendour that it obviously once had. The high ceilings contain some quite ornate plasterwork with hanging fans and lights and there are paneled walls and unusual murals as well as plenty of old fading pictures, street signs, mirrors and other interesting, if sometimes tacky, bits and pieces. The customer base can at times be a bit on the well oiled side but I have never had any bother and found the staff and customers quite open and chatty. There is a juke box and multi channel Big screens at either end of the pub with Irish sports and horse racing being the preferred choices when there is no footy. One end is taken up by a pool table and dartboard with an old clock above whilst the other contains a raised area that doubles for a stage on the regular live music nights. The biggest disappointment, although perhaps not unexpected, is the lack of any ales and just the usual mundane selection of kegs, lagers and of course Guinness. Prices are quite decent with the Guinness clocking up at £2.70 on my latest visit Looking at the outside it looks like there was once an Off Licence section but this now seems to have been swallowed up into the pubs interior. Overall, quite a pleasant surprise where you least expect it and whilst I wouldn’t spend an evening here (or anywhere else in the area for that matter) it is maybe worth the detour to take a peek.