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Submitted on Tuesday, 13th September 2016
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Detail Pages
The Griffin, N20
N20
N20 9HH
Served areas
The Griffin
What a great day we have for football starting from 12. On all screens LIVE at the #bestpubinwhetstone… https://t.co/vjT3vzWptA
11:16 AM Nov 10th 2019 from MatchPint Pub Platform
Reviews of The Griffin (Average Rating: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Griffin
This is now a Laine's pub, so we can now expect a decent choice of real ales here, but those on offer during my midweek late morning visit weren't very exciting - no Laine's beers yet; London Pride; a house ale called Griffin Ale (Caledonian Edinburgh Castle 80/- according to WhatPub), and Adnam's Ghost Ship (£2.20 a half). The landlady wasn't sure of the provenance of the Griffin Ale, but kindly gave me a taster which tasted fine. I was in too early to see whether food was available.
This is an interesting pub. According to the landlady a pub on this site was a coaching inn for those heading north from London. Inside there are several (inter-war probably) heritage features. The fielded wood panelling on the walls is old, as is the bar counter front, and the oddly Tudor arch topped doors at the back are an interesting feature. There are brick built fireplaces on both sides of the main bar area which are clearly original, as is the rare diagonal (grey-painted) matchboard panelling on the ceiling. This room would once have been divided into three - what was probably the public bar on the right; a jug and bottle bar leading from the now unused door in the centre; and a saloon bar on the left. There is a fairly large room at the back which has a large skylight which suggests that it may have been a billiards room.
But the pub doesn't end there. On the right, behind the large double doors leading from the street is a "function room", which is effectively a small outside conservatory. Past that is an outside area with an outside toilet and storage buildings that may have been stables; then a large covered seating area with its own bar counter; then a large garden at the back. It's much larger than it looks from the outside.
I was the only customer in there so can't judge the atmosphere of the place from my short visit. But it struck me as a comfortable and friendly pub - the landlady was certainly friendly enough as seemingly having nothing better to do she gave me a grand tour of the estate. The furnishings were all of the traditional sort that I appreciate. I was expecting better in the way of ale choice, but nonetheless I really liked this pub.
On 9th September 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Griffin
A place that has been the victim of multiple botched refurbs (previously a Scruffy Murphys, at least). A blandly decorated, odd-shaped interior knocked-through at the front, with a separate rear room and an apparently huge rear garden which I overlooked to explore. The one (only) striking features are the quasi-baronial stylings (how old these are is unknown to me) - either side of the main bar are massive inset stone clad fireplaces and similar remaining quasi-Tudor bits include toilet doors at the rear, plus an attractive skylight in the rear room. The bar has lost its upper gantry and looks oddly naked. An ambitious six ales were on and unsurprisingly it was a mixed bag of Tribute, Pride, Bombardier, a Caledonian brewed house beer, Batemans QED and Adnams Samba. The Batemans was undrinkable and taken back and off. The replacement, Samba, was a pretty odd beer in pedestrian (warm) condition but fair play to the bar lady who proffered a taster first. It all felt rather listless here and it needs more attention to detail, I’m struggling to reconcile the lavish praise bestowed on it from elsewhere in the context of my visit.
On 24th October 2016
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Griffin
I’ve found the staff in here to always be friendly and the quality of beer is always good. Deuchars and Bombardier are the normal ale offerings, but one of them is usually off. Fosters, Strongbow, Kronenburg, Guinness, John Smiths and Bulmers are also available.
The pub doesn't look that big from the front, but there is a huge beer garden located out the back, which if the pubs self advertising is to be believed, is the biggest in North London. Before entering the beer garden there is a covered smoking area that has some seating, table football, a projector screen and an outside toilet. There are loads of TV's in the pub and the staff seemed quite happy to change the channels when requested, so great for watching sport. There is also a dartboard in another part of the pub that has some comfy chairs and another TV screen. Apparently this area is also available to hire out for private functions.
There seems to be a lot of effort being put into the pub with something happening almost every night from ‘cheesy disco' nights to quiz and poker nights so all in all a good pub that I will be visiting often.
On 9th July 2008
- rating: 9
[User has posted 5251 recommendations about 5219 pubs]
Pubs Galore is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
- Official site of The Griffin - www.griffinwhetstone.pub
- Official site of the Griffin, contains menu and real ale details - www.thegriffin-whetstone.co.uk
- Facebook - The Griffin Whetstone
- Twitter - The Griffin
- CAMRA WhatPub :: The Griffin - whatpub.com
- Historic Pub Interiors - pubheritage.camra.org.uk
New Barnet, 1.74 miles, 33 min walk (show)
New Southgate, 1.96 miles, 37 min walk (show)
Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
- Beer Festivals : No last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
- Beer Garden : Yes last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
- CAMRA Discount : No last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
- Car Park : No last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
- Child Friendly : Yes last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
- Darts : No last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
- Function Room : Yes - Conservatory on one side. - last updated 09 September 2017 by Rex Rattus
- Hot Food : Yes last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
- Live Music : Yes last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
- Live TV Sports : Yes last updated 28 June 2015 by Tris C
- Micropub : No last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
- Pinball : No last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
- Pool Table : No last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
- Quiz Night : Yes - Mondays. - last updated 28 June 2015 by Tris C
- Real Ale : Yes last updated 28 June 2022 by Tris C
- Real Cider : No last updated 24 October 2016 by Quinno _
