Princess of Wales, Primrose Hill  

For years the Princess of Wales has been a favourite of ours; having been missed in the trendification of Primrose Hill we spent many a happy afternoon in here. Indeed, it won the coveted overall winner in Fancyapint's 2008 awards. On top of that, the Sunday Roast was probably the best in London. Well sadly, the long standing landlady moved on earlier in the year and changes are afoot. It is still the traditional, friendly and relaxed local it always was, but the most obvious change is that the once under-utilised garden has been transformed. The back wall outside is littered with scores of mirrors and the local emulsion supplier can probably retire now too. Sounds good, but it does seem rather incongruous in relation to the rest of the pub; we hope it won't usher in a wholesale refurbishment, but we have heard rumours of such things. On the food front, based on the Sunday Lunch we tried recently, which despite being excellent, indicates that food prices are somewhat up, while quality is just marginally lower. Despite this, The Princess of Wales is still a quality pub, with good beers and an unpretentious, mixed crowd of punters, headed up by a gaggle of older Primrose Hill residents who usually prop up the large circular bar to the Sunday jazz sessions. We will however will keep a very close eye on proceedings; the last thing Primrose Hill needs is another Lansdowne or Engineer.

pub features:(click on an icon to see an explanation)