Winchmore, Winchmore Hill, N21

Glad to be able to report that this one reopened in June 2015 after being taken over by a brother and sister pair from Ireland, changed its name back to close to a previous incarnation and is still going fairly strong a couple of years later. Not sure how much they did or whether they inherited the current modern interior from its time as the Willow, as I never visited during this phase, but it is now a modern interior with the usual farrow and ball pastel shades with greens and greys featuring prominently, light oak wood flooring throughout and some brown leather sofa seating in the main bar area and the small room to the right of the bar. The raised conservatory to the side has been modernised since the days I used to lounge here when it was the Chase Side Tavern and is now used extensively for dining, and from what I can remember the outside patio area by the very small car park has been upgraded as well. Food is clearly a major focus here, as presumably they inherited the open kitchen and the Pizza oven behind the bar from the Willow incarnation, and Pizza’s, burgers and steaks feature during the week and Sunday roasts come in at £15 to £16. I have eaten here once shortly after it reopened and wasn’t that blown away. But recent reports on Trip advisor are very encouraging as far as the kitchen is concerned. On the drinks front the house speciality is Gin and they have over 60 variants available behind the bar. Unfortunately for us beer drinkers that is not mirrored in the beer offerings. Along with the usual chrome offerings there are three ale hand pumps with two functional at any time. These usually carry St Austell’s Tribute and something badged as Winchmore Ale, which actually isn’t a too bad dark amber ale when I have tried it. Popped in again late last Sunday after an afternoon’s constitutional through the close by Groveland Park and it was good to find the pub packed. But it prides itself on being dog and family friendly, the downside of this being that the Conservatory dining area was full of families with small kids who were hyper with e-numbers and running amok and pissed parents who were incapable of controlling them. But I would rather it was like this and open than boarded up and shut again so I wish it well.

Official site of Winchmore - www.winchmore.me

Official site of Winchmore - www.winchmore.me

This decent sized road side pub is currently closed and boarded up.. In the 70's and 80's it was known as The Chase Side Tavern and got quite a reputation as a youngsters pub which inevitably led to rowdy behaviour on Friday and Saturday evenings.. But guiltily I have to confess that period overlapped my formative drinking years and good fun some of those rowdy Saturday nights were. Unfortunately its location in quite a residential area led to complaints and it was taken over and done up and reopened as the Winchmore Hill Arms. However it then continued as an average pub with no unique selling points and it always struggled to find a sizeable audience, especially being stuck out of the way in the middle of the pubs in Southgate and Winchmore Hill Green. And so a few years ago (2009 I believe) it was sold and taken over by some local entrepreneurs who tried to make it an upmarket swish bar / restaurant and re-branded it as The Willow. It was aimed at the flash young things of North London who want to be seen whilst they spend lots of money and would ignore the crap service levels and not very good food. And in the current financial climate there isn’t enough of them to keep this incarnation going. Hence the current metal shutters..

This place has reopened and has changed its name from 'The Winchmore Arms' to ‘Willow' and it has been turned into a chilled Spanish restaurant/gastro pub complete with live Spanish guitar that was playing on my visit. There is a sign up outside stating that a restaurant will be opening upstairs shortly which was surprising as it wasn't very busy whilst I was there. The three hand pumps at the end of the bar have been cleaned and polished to become a feature, but alas I fear that they will never dispense anything resembling a real ale ever again. The draught pumps for Fosters, Kronenburg, Bulmers and Guinness are hidden low behind the bar so that you have to ask what is on offer as I think that table service is the order of the day. The couple of business men along from me that were talking shop and tucking into the vast array of spirits behind the bar alongside the barman/waiter shaking up some cocktails had me thinking that I was in a hotel bar. I'd take the wife here for a meal as it is very nice, but it would not even enter my brain to go here just for a Guinness again.