The High Cross, Tottenham, N17

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Pub SignMan left this review about The High Cross

Just over the road from Tottenham’s distinctive High Cross, from which it takes its name, this is a quirky little craft beer bar set in a former public toilet block. The Ladies and Gents have been knocked through to create a narrow but wide single room with bare floorboards, white tile walls and small clear windows with drawn curtains. The left side of the room has hard backed benches and standard chairs around the rear corner under high shelves that are stacked full of boxes of crisps. A drinking ledge with some high stools follows part of the front wall which has been covered with some nice old framed postcards of Tottenham’s former attractions. There’s also a small TV screen here, but this was switched off on a match day afternoon, so it’s unclear if they ever actually show any live sport on it. A very small and simple servery has been squeezed into the rear right corner with a basic wooden counter and white tile bar back. Annoyingly, there is no beer board, so you have to inspect the taps yourself, which was easier said than done with a heaving pre-match crowd in attendance. A glance out of one of the small windows revealed some very limited seating options out to the rear of the building and plenty of customers were standing down both sides of the pub too, all with plastic pint glasses in hand. Match day pies are available, and they offer a daily selection of pricy bar snacks too (scotch egg - £5.00). Music was playing somewhere in the background, but this was easily lost under the chatter of a packed room, although I somehow managed to time my visit perfectly, getting served as soon as I reached the bar.
I counted ten keg taps in total, some mounted on the bar counter, others on the bar back, so be sure to check them all. A lot of the usual names were present and correct, including Beavertown and Siren, although I plumped for the Kernel Pale Ale, which turned out to be a rather upsetting £5.90 a pint.
This is definitely a quirky, unusual pub that is fun to take unsuspecting friends along to, although perhaps the most unexpected thing would be having to fork out nearly six quid for a pint of beer in Tottenham. I don’t doubt that I didn’t see this place at its best with the busy pre-football crowds in attendance, but it felt like a novelty place rather than a credible bar and as such would only really merit inclusion on a wider pub crawl.

On 31^st March 2020 - rating: 7
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