London Pub Tour 12 - Wood Green: Prince, Spouters Corner and The Wellington (Christmas Eve)

So I'm finally up to Christmas Eve, only took me a month to get to writing this up. Let's see if I can start writing up January pub visits before we arrive in February.

For this pub tour I was starting in a pub which I used to visit over 15yrs ago, the Prince (N22 8PA) or as it was known previously the Prince of Wales. The pub was closed down and CAMRA obtain an ACV for it, and it was only reopened a few months ago so thought what better than a trip down memory lane.

The pub is a short walk away from the busy high street of Wood Green, and is set in a residential area. There is a small 'green' just outside, making this large corner pub visible from the main road. Inside the pub the layout seemed exactly the same as I could remember, even down to the 'serving hatch'* at the end of the bar so those in the other part of the bar can order without popping into the lounge. Although the pub layout was the same, the decor was completely changed. Gone was the carpet and in was the wood floorboard. Gone were any mainstream beer and in were a selection of cask pumps, ciders on tap and craft keg lager. The other part of the bar was still not fully opened and had the benches from outside temporarily setup, at least I hope it was temporarily. I took this as my opportunity to sit on these as it was quieter and was the area I used to hang out in. Also on this side where the pool table used to reside will be mirco-brewery from Bohem, though no word on when exactly this would open. The pub itself wasn't that busy, which was to be a theme for the other pubs on this Christmas Eve (Probably the quietest one I've ever experienced).

On the bench I sat down with my first pint of the night in the Prince which was Keller Pils by Lost and Grounded Brewery from Bristol. The pint cost £5 and was a very nice easy drink to start the night. There was a nice choice with 5 hand pumps and I think about 8 keg beers, of which I'd only ever drunk two of the beers before. My next pint was Zen Garden by Tapstone from Somerset at £3.60. This was an unfined beer, which I tend to not be too fond of, depending on the beer style, but this one was actually quite nice. Though it was only 3.6% I didn't think the overall beer was session-able but then again I wasn't here for session considering there were more beers I hadn't tried. My final beer at the Prince was 11|03 by Brew By Numbers. Like most of the UK keg beers this one was again priced at £5 which considering London prices is reasonable. It was a 4.2% Session IPA which had some very nice fruit flavours coming through.

After three pints it was time to move on as there was a plan to go to another recently re-opened pub though it was a bit of a distance away, and in the end I never ending up making it there. After walking back into Wood Green and choosing to go into The Goose for a pint and use of the facilities, upon walking in and being hit by the smell of vomit I changed my mind and instead head to the spoons across the road, Spouters Corner (N22 6EJ). This is a large open plan spoons underneath a cinema complex, right opposite the tube station. The only unique feature for this spoons has to be the glass bricks that separate the walkway to the toilets and the table seating area. I sat at a high seated table which evidently was too close to the door, as people kept leaving it open, which is just what you want in winter.

Santi-Freeze

My first drink was a pint of Sir Noel's Christmas Ale by Arkell's. This wasn't so great, much like most of the Christmas ales I've tasted. For my next pint I stupidly opted for another Christmas ale, Santi-Freeze by Burton Bridge Brewery but I was thankfully pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted. It was actually my best Christmas session beer for 2016, and as such I have a second pint of it before leaving the spoons.

The last stop was unplanned, as I had actually wanted to head to a pub further up but by this stage realised that was too ambitious. I'd made it to Turnpike Lane station, only a short walk from Wood Green and rather than go to the spoons here I went into an Irish pub called Wellington (N8 0QY). The pub is owned by Trust Inns who I'd never heard of before prior to writing this blog post. The history section on their website states they came about after buying S&N pubs and then later on buying some further pubs from M&B.

The pub had the look of an Irish local, with booth style seating and entirely carpeted floor. There was a jukebox which someone was loading up with money and selecting a plethora of well known Irish songs. There were only about 6 people in the pub, including the lady serving behind the bar. There wasn't much choice on the beer front which led to my choice of Coors Light, as I felt a Guinness at this stage would be too heavy. There was a dart board towards the back of the pub which I made use of during the drinking of my pint.

After this pint it was time to call it a night and get a cab home. It was still quite surprisingly early and I didn't feel drunk, only slightly merry, which is a good result prior to Christmas.