Starting Gate

Now a modern-atmosphere eating and drinking establishment, some considerable vestiges of this pub’s rich, late-Victorian furnishings remain. Interestingly, this pub didn’t start life as a pub but as the Palace Café, opened in 1875, the same year as Alexandra Palace. It turned into a pub by 1896 and was refitted by Richard Dickenson of St John Street, Adelphi, in 1899 – no doubt the date of much of what we see today. Inside is a central servery from which compartments once radiated and the six outside doors show these were numerous and therefore small. The surviving screen panels are formed of timber and etched glass, the latter embellished with the small birds and swirling foliage that never failed to delight late-Victorian pub owners and customers. The panelled oak bar counter is Victorian as are the mirrors in the central stillion (although the structure itself is modern). The timber arch above, however, is Victorian, and spans two mighty, fluted cast-iron Corinthian columns. Another item of interest is the mosaic flooring marking out a former corridor leading from the St Michael’s Terrace entrance. You will also find a well preserved bank of snob screens sitting on the counter.<

Now a modern-atmosphere eating and drinking establishment, some considerable vestiges of this pub’s rich, late-Victorian furnishings remain. Interestingly, this pub didn’t start life as a pub but as the Palace Café, opened in 1875, the same year as Alexandra Palace. It turned into a pub by 1896 and was refitted by Richard Dickenson of St John Street, Adelphi, in 1899 – no doubt the date of much of what we see today. Inside is a central servery from which compartments once radiated and the six outside doors show these were numerous and therefore small. The surviving screen panels are formed of timber and etched glass, the latter embellished with the small birds and swirling foliage that never failed to delight late-Victorian pub owners and customers. The panelled oak bar counter is Victorian as are the mirrors in the central stillion (although the structure itself is modern). The timber arch above, however, is Victorian, and spans two mighty, fluted cast-iron Corinthian columns. Another item of interest is the mosaic flooring marking out a former corridor leading from the St Michael’s Terrace entrance. You will also find a well preserved bank of snob screens sitting on the counter.

Other Heritage Pubs with snob screens are Bartons Arms, Aston, Birmingham; Prince Alfred, London W9; Lamb, London WC1; Posada, Wolverhampton , West Midlands; Travellers Friend, Woodford Green, Greater London; Bunch of Grapes, London SW3; Crown, London N1; and Crown & Greyhound, London SE21 but these have been moved.