The Prince, Wood Green, N22

Dating from 1870, the last time I passed this former Charrington’s pub was in early 2010, when it was boarded up, looking rather forlorn. Now the venue sports a black front, for this is now a rather trendy place, situated on attractive Trinity Road, overlooking a pleasant small greenspace. Given the exterior – minus the attractive tiled entrance plaques (see photo) – the interior comes as no surprise, with a black boarded floor, very dark grey – black? – paint job alongside some bare brick, black Victorian-style chandeliers with low wattage filament bulbs, white ceramic tiled bar back to – you guessed it – a bar array painted black, surmounted by fish-themed wallpaper; at least the ceiling was painted white. Furniture comprises modern, pale scrubbed tables alongside chairs which wouldn’t look out of place in a conference centre; a decent soundtrack played, but it was too loud to make conversation practical. Customers were mixed, with a few older more traditional locals, otherwise young, professional incomers, perhaps attracted by the swanky lavs, with two cubicles, no less and if you’re into merch, T-shirts with an image of the pub are available. Aside from a real cider, the ale front initially looked impressive with five pumps pulling Hammerton N1, Burning Sky Plateau, Two by Two Leapfrog, Vibrant Forest JUPA and Five Points Railway Porter at a very reasonable £2.50 a half, served by a friendly barmaid, but this represents one porter and four pale ales; why not incorporate a stout, IPA and Best for some actual variety? This pub is ok, but the lack of variety on the beer front and the dark, Gothic interior, not to mention loud music, rather let the side down; does this pub just select ales on the basis of pump clip design? Still, you could do an awful lot worse when in N22.

It’s also only about a five minute walk from Alexandra Palace station on the Moorgate rail line and a couple of months ago I decided to walk past The Starting Gate ( limited ale choice on this occasion) and try this one out and very glad I did. Somehow I missed that in recent years this formerly best avoided boozer has morphed into a cask and craft beer led pub. Well described by PubSignMan below I can’t really add anything except to say that the table candles referred to below have currently been replaced by bottles of hand sanitizer for obviously reasons. The KSP of the Prince is now it’s regular changing beer range, and in this respect the bar top supports six ale hand pumps positioned between two banks of five craft beer taps and then a further small tap wall with five taps for ciders on the bar back. For my most recent visit last month I had the pleasure of choosing between Burning Sky Plateau Pall Ale, Tapstone Brewing Hop Wire, Marble Brewery Pint, Two By Two Brewery Strata Talus Eleanor, Five Points Railway Porter and Wood Green Brewery Hopping City on the cask ale pumps. And those more inclined to modern craft ales could choose between offerings from Howling Hops, Two Tribes, Vibrant Forest, Twisted Wheel, Two By Two, Goodness and the fairy local Bohem Brewery. Tried the Five Points Porter and the Wood Green brew ( well it would have been rude not to) and both were in good condition. I have chosen to eat lunch here on the couple of occasions I have visited over the last months but the food is provided by what can be best described as street food pop up vendors who tend to change and not have extensive menus. The times I’ve tried them the food has been good but not what you would describe as standard pub fare. If you stick to the wet stuff the service levels have always been good in my experience.

Just a five minute or so walk from Wood Green station, this is a decent sized brew pub that has been given a bit of a modern spruce up to appeal more towards the craft beer market. There is a large L-shaped main bar which is bare boarded and has a smart dark wood servery along the rear wall. The counter has some nice carved details, including the series of pillars supporting the pint pot shelf above whilst the bar back has been modernised with some plain mirrors, white tiles and inexplicable fish-themed wallpaper. An open space to the right of the bar sees some high stools line a drinking ledge under the side windows, but the rest of the room offers more conventional forms of seating including fixed benches around the perimeter and smart chairs elsewhere. Each table had a bottle with fresh flowers inside and to the left there is a large alcove with a huge potted plant inside. The whole pub has that gastro-style paint scheme that is normally a big turn off, but whilst the pub does do food - a reasonably priced BBQ-based menu graced my table - the beer still seems to be the star here and the decor is offset to a degree with contemporary photography and some particularly striking pieces of modern art. An arch to the left of the bar leads through to a smaller side room with exposed brick walls, a skylit ceiling and what appeared to be slightly more formal seating arrangements. To the rear of the room, the pub's brewing kit can be seen through a glass partitioning wall. Reggae and swing music played quietly throughout my visit and I got the impression that the side room was being set up for a private function, but I may have got that wrong. On the bar, a selection of ten craft keg beers from the like of Brew By Numbers, Anspach and Hobday, Magic Rock and Five Points were supplemented by a strong cask ale range, comprising Marble Lagonda IPA and Pale, Hammerton N1, Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout, Moor So'Hop and their own House Brewery House Pale (imaginative name guys!). Two ciders were also being dispensed from the four taps on the bar back. I had a pint of the Lagonda IPA which cost £4.20, but it was in great condition and slipped down very nicely. I quite liked this place despite its rather uninspiring interior which left me a bit cold with just a handful of customers in early on a Saturday afternoon. i imagine the pub comes more into its own with a decent crowd in and if you're here for a session, you are certainly blessed with a good selection of top quality ales to go at. Definitely one to remember when in this part of town, but for me, not quite a destination pub as things stand.

Official site of The Prince - www.theprincen22.co.uk

Official site of The Prince - www.theprincen22.co.uk

This pub was obviously originally called The Prince of Wales, and is another example of unnecessary pub name truncation. I know it was called the Prince of Wales because the entrance to the side bar on the left is framed by a couple of tiled walls apparently by Millington, Wisdom and Co featuring the erstwhile name. The main room still has armchairs all over the place, and the room is dominated by a pool table in the middle. The room on the left is the best area of the pub by a country mile. Apart from the elegant tiling in the entranceway, it has a skylight giving some welcome natural light (possibly a billiards room in a past life?), a nice old piano against one wall, and some superb wood panelling with mirror inserts on the walls. There’s some outside seating by the side entrance, when I was in being utilised by the barmaid and some chums having a fag and a chat. So, this is quite a comfortable and quiet pub, let down somewhat by the beer availability. There’s still no real ale – my request for a half of bitter was met with “yes, as long as it’s Guinness, Foster’s or Stella”. I can’t recommend this pub for the ale, but if you’re not fussed about that then this would be a decent place to stop off. In any case, if you’re passing do stop and have a butcher’s at the tiling.