Jolly Anglers, Wood Green, N22

The exterior to this Greene King tied house has a pleasingly traditional appearance and the large plate glass windows give a good view of the clipped handpumps to passing punter as well as letting in a lot of natural light to the interior.It's quite small with bench seating at the front ,an L shaped bar,a few tables and chairs and then a lower pool table. The 4 handpumps were clipped GK IPA,Doom Bar,London Pride and a real cider.On ordering a London Pride I was informed that none of the handpumps were operational,so why have them clipped ??? The barmaid then said she had one ale,but pointed to a keg tap at which point I said forget it and walked out.This is no place for the real ale drinker,and I didn't appreciate the subterfuge .

Looks like my kind of pub.Nice looking from outside but a dull selection of keg beers proved me wrong.No cask but reasonable pub.

This is still a Greene King pub. There were two handpumps, both with clips reversed. A request for a half of bitter got me a half of chilled keg GKIPA. Overpriced at £1.65 I would say. The pub exterior is quite distinctive – it looks like a traditional old pub (1905 according to the stucco date on the exterior), even though it is dwarfed by and sandwiched between office blocks. Inside it’s nothing out of the ordinary, although they have made a big effort with sprigs of flowers on all the tables, as well as a large vase of lilies on the largest table in the middle of the floor, and varied foliage generally around the place. The tables also sported candles set in Jack Daniels and vodka bottles. But the clientele when I was in on Wednesday afternoon didn’t strike me as the candles/sprigs of flowers type of customer, being more of the boozer persuasion. Nothing wrong with that of course! There were a couple of pool tables down at the end of the room; TVs on but muted; flashing lights hanging down over the windows for some reason – perhaps Halloween related. The friendly pub cat was a definite plus as it didn’t try to climb all over me. This pub could, and perhaps should, be a lot better. They’ve made a definite effort to make it welcoming and comfortable, but the lack of a decent ale is a big minus for me. I doubt whether I’ll make a return visit.

Close to wood green tube station. Split level pub with 2 pool tables in the lower level at the rear. 2 real ale taps but none on during my visit.

This is two pubs in one with the downstairs area to the rear with the two pool tables being for the local Wood Green youth who can seem a little intimidating as one tries to get past to the toilet. On the other hand, the street level front of the pub is much better as it is frequented by an older more sensible crowd who have gone out to relax and have a good time. There are plenty of plasma screens for the showing of all things sport and there is also a dartboard in the middle of the pub, thankfully not in the kid's section downstairs. I spotted no real ale, but plenty of the usual suspect lager, Strongbow and Guinness. Apart from the lack of real ale this is a reasonable pub for Wood Green.

As an outsider on his way to a Pixie's gig at Ally Pally, I popped in for a quick pint. It must be said, there is not a great choice of pubs in the area and the Anglers is only non-chain pub that looked like a typical tradional pub that I found. No airs and graces here. Firstly, I was served quickly and found the prices very reasonable for a London pub (Strongbow £2.20). The pub is spacious with an inobtrusive pool table and dart board. Several seats outside in the beer garden (or beer patio may be a better description). On the downside, no real ales and as for the decor, it had supposedly been recently done up but it hardly showed - a big roll of ceiling paper was hanging down above my head. There appears to be a lot of entertainment laid on of you like the karaoke / DJ sort of night (I don't) and a couple of TV's for sport. In a nutshell, a straightforward traditional boozer that has probably seen better days but I have been in far worse pubs than this. Worth a quick pint if in the area but the Mrs will probably prefer the shops!