London Pubs Group

Campaign for Real Ale

Campaign for Real Ale

Winchester Hotel

206 Archway Road,
Highgate,
N6 5BA

Although this pub is not a listed building it is one of London’s Real Heritage pubs and the description is as follows: “Built in 1881 as part of a very distinctive parade of shops with housing above: it was then the Winchester Tavern and later became the Winchester Hall Hotel. Inside, the great feature is a massive, glazed-in office surrounded on three sides by the servery. Its windows have the remarkably lovely, delicate etched glass with trails of foliage and depictions of flowers and birds. Originally there would have been a multiplicity of rooms and drinking areas. Most of these have been swept away but one screen survives (just at high level) with yet more lovely glazing. At the rear, through an arch from the main bar, there is a room with a diagonally boarded ceiling. The counter is original and has a number of doors for servicing beer engines in former times. Don’t miss the wonderful ironwork over the two entrance porches.

History in a name: The name comes from Winchester Hall, a late 17th-century mansion nearby. This and its estate were sold as the relentless tide of bricks and mortar engulfed the area following on from the arrival of the railway in 1867.

If headed back into town on the bus, you may care to drop in at Mother Red Cap, 655 Holloway Road, N19, near Archway station, for a striking display down the left-hand wall of large late Victorian mirrors and surrounding tiling (a similar, if rather smaller-scale version of the work at the Chippenham, Maida Hill, W9).”

The Winchester Hotel featured on the Highways, Archways and Tramways: Daytime Crawl of Highgate, Archway and Kentish Town in June 2010.