Pub Heritage Old Wheatsheaf
Greater London North - Enfield
One star - A pub interior of special national historic interest
Listed Status: Not listed
3 Windmill HillEnfield
EN2 6SE
Tel: (020) 8367 4167
Email: oldwheatsheafenfield@gmail.com
Website https://www.oldwheatsheaf.co.uk
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/672880729758419
Real Ale: Yes
Real Cider: Yes
Lunchtime Meals: Yes
Evening Meals: Yes
Nearby Station: Enfield Chase
Station Distance: 150m
Public Transport: Near Railway Station (Enfield Chase) and Bus Stop
Bus: Yes
View on: Whatpub
This pub still has two completely separate rooms, each only accessed from the street, with inter-war features such as the fireplace in the right hand bar which has delightful Art Nouveau tiling.
Here we have an attractive ground-floor frontage with a couple of curved bay windows and brown glazed brick facing. The etched windows have representations of a wheatsheaf and Art Nouveau-style flowers.
The bar on the right was originally a small public bar with a tap room behind it, but were combined in the 1950s. The door on the left of the public bar has a glass panel informing us that this used to lead to the ‘jugs and bottles’ bar, but the partition separating it from the bar was also removed many years ago. It also sports a very fancy fireplace and mirrored overmantel: the tiled strips with stylised tulips are, again, typically Art Nouveau. The top of the bar-back is plain and may be work of the 1930s, but the lower section with modern tiling, the plain match-board counter, and the pot shelf are relatively modern. There's also a small Victorian fireplace on the left in the former Jugs & Bottles area.
The pub was extended to the left in 1934 to create the new saloon bar - a single-storey room with extensive three-quarter-height match-board panelling. The bar counter and the bar-back fitting look fairy modern. Unfortunately all of the panelling, and counter fronts, in the pub have been painted a dull green colour.
In 1905 this pub – then a beerhouse - changed hands and, judging by the embellishment, was probably remodelled soon after that. It has a particularly attractive ground-floor frontage with a couple of curved bay windows and brown glazed brick facing. The etched windows with their leaded heads (best appreciated from inside) come with delightful representations of a wheatsheaf and Art Nouveau-style flowers. The ‘jugs and bottles’ department (named in the door glass) has gone but the pub still has two entirely separate rooms.
The bar on the right was originally a small public bar and tap room behind (and off sales on the left) but the partition separating the two was removed in 1954 and the partition separating the off sales was removed later. The public bar sports a very fancy fireplace and mirrored overmantel: the tiled strips with stylised tulips are, again, typically Art Nouveau. The bar-back is plain and may be work of the 1930s (some lower shelves replaced by fridges) while the plain match-board counter is a replacement installed in 1986 and the mighty pot shelf is modern. Fixed seating doesn't look that old but the low baffles could well be. Small Victorian fireplace on the left in the former Bottles & Jugs area.
The pub was extended to the left in 1934 by buying the properties next door to demolish them and build the new saloon bar - a single-storey room which has extensive three-quarter-height match-board panelling. Here the fire surround is much plainer than next door. The bar counter front looks to have been added to an older counter as the top looks old; the gnar back fitting looks more modern than old. The pub was probably called the Old Wheatsheaf to distinguish it from another Wheatsheaf in Baker Street situated at the other end of Enfield Town.
Historic information from A-Z of Enfield Pub's Part 1 by Gary Boudier (2000)
