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Detail Pages
The Prince Alfred, W9
W9
W9 1EE
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Prince Alfred
I wanted to visit this pub after reading about it in Camra's Heritage pubs. This is another fine example from Camra's National Inventory of Historic pub Interiors. There are a lot of interesting features in this pub, from the tiles and mosaic work at the entrance. I found the area on the LHS of the bar to be unique, with the small service doors once in use for pot boys and cleaners. The Youngs Special was decent. Lots to see here in this stunning pub, so well worth a visit.
On 25th February 2014
- rating: 10
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Prince Alfred
The main bar area is one of the best-preserved in London, sub-divided with screens into five separate drinking areas. The main facade doesn't look much from a distance, until you get close enough to see the curved and etched windows which are a sight to behold, and there are numerous other features of interest (including the tiling and mosaic work by the main entrance and the clock mounted above the bar back). However, the back of the pub turns into the modern and anonymous Formosa Dining Room. Given that it is a Youngs house, the beer choice - just Ordinary and Bombardier (steeply priced at £3.75) - was surpringly poor. Still, well worth a visit.
On 26th March 2011
- rating: 8
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about Prince Alfred
A fairly grand imposing building on a corner site, the exterior retains a few of the pendant lamps that are similar to those at the nearby Warwick Castle. The frontage has attractive Victorian curved windows with etched glass designed to maximise light. The entrance retains superbly preserved tiling which continues along the side wall once inside, indicating possibly this was once a passage. The interior is just as impressive with the island bar seperated into different areas with the wooden partitions linked by a series of tiny access doors. The bar back is unusually free standing, but there is plenty of carved detail to catch the eye, and the clock over the bar has the pub name at the bottom. A lot of traditional seating but unfortunately a row of those high tables and stools which add little to the surrounding character of the pub.
The rear area is known as The Formosa Dining Rooms, and is in contrast to the Victorian splendour of the bar areas, being modern, minimalist and frankly a thoughtless alteration to such a well preserved building.
The beer range was nothing special at all, just Young's Ordinary and Bombardier, plus an Addlestones Cider.
The Alfred is worth a visit certainly for some of the architecture, but it felt to me as if it was unsure of direction, with one foot firmly in the traditional pub corner but the other straying into modern trendy gastro.
On 15th May 2010
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Prince Alfred
This is an extremely impressive pub, occupying a large corner site. It was an Allied Breweries (Ind Coope) pub in former days. Just about all of the original Victorian features have been retained, including the partitions between the bars, with the small openings allowing movement between the bars that are ideal for the vertically challenged drinker. All of the compartments would have originally been accessible from the street, with small doors between the different bars put in to make the job of cleaning easier. The curved, etched windows are better than anything else that I have seen in London. There is a large restaurant at the back, but I didn’t eat there, and didn’t see anyone else eating there either.
Real ales on offer were Young’s Bitter and Bombardier. The Young’s was fine. Definitely worth a visit to see some of the best surviving examples of late Victorian pub fitting.
On 5th September 2008
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]