The Old Guinea, Potters Bar

After seeing in the local Hertfordshire Camra rag that The Guinea had been bought and was in private ownership , decided to detour again and take a look. New owners have given it a complete makeover and very clean but largely sterile modern decor now greets you. That's primarily because it is now more pizza restaurant than pub. However it has gone back to having two distinct areas with the front section definitely qualifying as a bar and the back area laid out as the restaurant. Still only one ale available but it was a very passable Tribute. Listening to some of the regulars propping up the bar it definitely sounds like this place suffered from a string of transient temp governors before moving into private ownership. And from what I could hear a lot of the locals seem to be drifting back after moving elsewhere. So definitely more on the up since my last visit especially as it now benefits from having a very nice garden area out back with commanding views over the Hertfordshire countryside. So if it ever stops raining this summer definitely a place I can see myself venturing out to for a pint and a pizza in the sun

I haven’t been to The Old Guinea for over 20 years, but I remember it as one of those quaint Hertfordshire village pubs that I used to drive a distance to in the days when petrol was a lot cheaper and real ale was harder to find. But after a long drive down the M1on this particular warm afternoon I thought I’d search it out to see if the old place was still there and dispensing good beer. It used to be an old fashioned two bar set up with a quaint two door central entrance to get into the bars and I remember it being one of the decent ale pubs at the time when most areas were Keg only. The good news is that the pub is still there and functioning. The not so good news is that it is now a one bar set up and most of the interesting period features I remember, including the strange front doors have all gone. Today it’s a fairly plain one bar pub with a wooden floored public area to the right, supporting fruit machines and a dart board and a small portable tele, and then a carpeted tabled lounge area to the left. There are two hand pumps on the bar but only one was functioning, dispensing a not very inspiring pint of GK IPA. Quite a few locals in on this early evening and for them I hope this pub continues servicing the community for a long time to come. But for me, sometimes memories should be left as they are.