The Nag's Head, Wood Green, N22

This is a mid-19th century pub, which recently spent some time as part of the Goose & Granite chain, situated at the heart of the Wood Green interchange, opposite the Charles Holden-designed Tube station and Lordship Lane, Land of My Fathers; now it’s part of the ‘Great UK Pubs’ chain (ho-bloody-ho). On arrival, I was greeted by three bouncers, one of whom frisked me, a reminder that Wood Green does have something of a reputation and not a good one. The interior is sprawling, a mixed grey colour scheme dominated by games machines, TVs showing the sport, very loud music and flashing disco lights; one nod to pub tradition were two dartboards. Customers were locals, the one stood next to me at the bar regarding me with suspicion; the feeling was entirely mutual. I didn’t spot any real ale and this place hardly strikes me as a place that attracts cask drinkers, me opting for a half of Stella (£2.25) served in a plastic cup by a perfunctory barmaid. This is an awful place, but as Moby points out, it comes into its own if you want the loo before making a dash for the Tube.

A pretty basic high street pub, large and open plan inside. It was quite busy with Arsenal fans watching their team get thumped by Man City on the five large TV screens. Five handpumps with just two clipped , one with Doom Bar The Other Tribute for which I asked for a pint only to be told only the Doom Bar was on. I settled for a half of Stella at the reasonable price of £2.00, probably due to the fact theirs a Spoons just across the road. To be honest I only ventured in while awaiting a bus at the stop outside and the fact my bladder was telling me it was a good idea. Not a place I would normally bother with but it has it's uses.

Official site of The Nag's Head - www.greatukpubs.co.uk

Official site of The Nag's Head - www.greatukpubs.co.uk

The Goose is a large pub which faces Wood Green tube station,so very handy for the first drink on my crawl of the area. Once inside there is a large single curved room with the bar facing,the room is bare boarded,the seating normal tables and chairs and some tall tables and chairs,the left side is down one step,this area is smarter and carpeted and has comfy looking bench seating,there is a darts board to the front right and a pool table and bar football table to the rear left. There were two real ales on the bar on my Saturday morning visit,i had a drink of London Pride which went down well after a fairly long journey down here. Background music was playing. I was quite happy having a drink in this pub. Pub visited 4/8/2016

Big ,clean busy pub.Pride,Bomba,Hobgob and Doom on cask.Justin Bieber and horseracing on the tv,s.Decent alternative to the Wetherspoons across the road if you don't mind paying the extra.

Situated directly opposite Wood Green tube station, this is a large Stonegate pub that doesn't really need to put in much effort to attract customers. You enter to a spacious bare boarded area with the servery running along the rear wall. To the right there is a decent seating space with one long curved banquette and plenty of standard tables and chairs. The décor is a mix of floral wallpaper and a covering designed to look like a large bookcase and at the far end there is a space set aside for a dartboard. The room has been broken up by a number of pillars and sections of former partitioning wall, hinting at a former layout, although there is little left from such an incarnation. One such feature can be seen over on the left hand side, where some pleasant frosted and stained front windows can be found - an attractive sight when approaching the pub from outside. The left side of the pub is on a slightly lower carpeted level and has button backed banquettes down the end wall and more floral wallpaper. The room extends a way to the rear on the left hand side of the bar, where a mix of banquette and tub chair seating can be found as well as a pool table. The whole pub has been decorated with various mirrors, old pictures and even a miniature Wood Green sign, whilst TV screens dotted around the room were showing horse racing with other sports action promoted on posters and boards. A sign pointed to a beer garden at the rear of the building, but I didn't explore on this visit. There were three handpulls in action, offering Sharps Doom Bar, Fullers London Pride and Wychwood Hobgoblin. I opted for a pint of the latter, served up by one of the friendly bar staff who were notably more efficient than their peers in the Wetherspoons over the road. Sadly their beer wasn't as good as that over the road, in terms of either selection or quality. This is a pretty run of the mill place that was probably a very interesting and pleasant place to drink, but now has a very corporate, chain bar feel to it. I thought it was a decent enough place for a quick drink before jumping on the tube, but it's not somewhere I would ever see myself lingering beyond a swift pint.

This pub is a massive imposing structure facing Wood Green underground station. I remember this pub when it was The Nag’s Head. Now being part of the Stonegate Goose chain has not brought an improvement, as it now has all the appearance of a bottom end Wetherspoon’s, but without the cheap beers. They did have one or two decent ales on, but unfortunately my Ansome’s was undrinkable. The manager tried it and judged it to be “a bit mature” – clearly his personal euphemism for rank, which it was. Anyway, he was OK about changing it for something from Mordue which was in good nick. Jenning’s Sneck lifter was also on. Being a Stonegate pub it has the usual pub grub glossy menu available. There were TVs around the place of course, but muted so that we could “enjoy” the loud pop music. The best feature of this pub is the couple of superb leaded light floral themed windows that have survived in the left hand side of the pub, which probably marks that area out as the erstwhile Saloon Bar. This is a cheap and cheerful pub along ‘spoons lines. It is handy for the tube station, but it’s certainly not worth going out of your way to visit.