The Plough, Enfield

After traipsing around the glass house heaven (or Hell ! depending on your view of having multiple garden centres and other horticultural outlets all grouped together in one strip) the Plough is a welcome respite as mentioned by Bob below and we reacquainted ourselves with it on Sunday lunchtime. Although it remains a McMullens run food focussed outlet I do like it because it has avoided having one of those ghastly ‘Footballers Wives meets Ikea’ makeovers that have befallen many other Macs outlets in this region of Enfield and South Hertfordshire, and although it lost the separate Snug room a few years back and is now one space internally, it still retains a bit of traditional pub character as well as having a pleasant pub garden space. Four McMullen ales are usually available and in my experienced are well kept as they were on Sunday. My pint of AK was solid and the usual Cask Ale and Country were available as well as a seasonal brew called Heir Raiser to celebrate the Royal birth, which I am sure is a previous seasonal rebadged, but the wife was happy enough with her half of that. Our sandwiches were promptly served and decent enough for the price, and the landlady continues to have the staff performing well.

Nice pub with a good garden. The staff, in general, seemed a friendly bunch and the bar staff quite unflustered, even on a hot sunny Saturday lunchtime, with the place being packed. The food looked good too. We only had sandwiches, which were very good indeed. I sampled the "Stokers", which was excellent. Definitely a pub to return to.

Good place (well, actually the only place) to unwind after slogging around all the nurseries and before going home to plant 'em all. Staff are friendly (waitress was a bit dippy) and beers kept well. Menu is average and a tad expensive. Average.

The Plough pages at the McMullens site - www.mcmullens.co.uk

The Plough pages at the McMullens site - www.mcmullens.co.uk

From the outside The Plough is a large, mock Tudor estate pub, but with the difference that there is no local estate, or to be exact, virtually no local housing at all. The only nearby housing is a small estate of 102 bungalows which was built in the early 1930s and soon afterwards Crews Hill was included in the green belt plan to restrict development in north Middlesex. So The Plough’s main clientele comes during the day from people visiting the glass houses and tropical fish centres of the surrounding garden centres and plant nurseries that Crews Hill is famous for. And then in the evening, those who fancy a drive (usually out from the nearby Enfield and Edmonton metropolis,) for a countryside pint or pub meal. Internally the pub is laid out as three separate bar areas, with two conservatories and a child’s play area. Outside there is a large garden area and a huge car park space which puts several main line stations to shame, and therefore virtually guarantees a parking place if you have made the effort to drive here. I would say Steve’s experience below is fairly typical of mine as well, as the place is a traditional week day lunchtime location for the ‘silver set’, due to the reasonable pub food with weekday offers. And then it is more family orientated during the early evening and weekend. One of the three bar areas does exclude kids, so you can avoid the families if you want to. On the beer front, it’s a McMullens house and as such dispenses the usual McMullens Ales, which tend to be well kept. Have eaten here on several occasions and is usually decent pub grub. But would recommend avoiding during the really busy periods as I’ve experienced quoted waits from the bar staff of up to an hour for the kitchen, during these times.

I popped into the Plough last Friday for a spot of lunch, before walking around the endless garden centres. It's a big pub with a conservatory, ample parking and plenty of outside seating that incorporates a children's play area. The lager was good and waitress was very friendly and helpful. My bacon and cheese burger was missing the cheese, but it was nice anyway. At around 12:30 the pub started to fill up with pensioner types who started to bombard the kitchen with orders for fish and chips. I got the feeling that the local residents are in their twilight years, so I wouldn't imagine that it is a beehive of activity in the evenings (but I could be wrong). This is a food orientated family friendly pub.