Although this pub is not a listed building it is on CAMRA’s London Regional Inventory and the description is as follows: “A delightful, small, no-nonsense pub in an early 19th-century three-storey building on the main road out of Woodford Green heading for Epping Forest. It is said to have been licensed for beer and port sales in 1832. Outside is a fine, curly bracket for the pub lantern. Three bars have been combined into one forming a U-shape round the servery and the stairs up to the living accommodation. The plain, boarded counter and the bar-back are hard to date and, parts at least, may be earlier than the inter-war remodelling that lends the pub its main character. The latter involves fielded panelling along the side and back walls and brick fireplaces on either side. The revamp may date from a time when a full licence was granted. Note the four stubs in the left-hand part of the bar-back which are the relics from taps said to have served port by gravity from casks overhead. A further feature of interest is the bank of five snob screens on the left-hand side of the bar counter. They cannot be in situ since the counter front below has evidence of former access to the serving area. Modern etched glass in the front windows. The counter has a panel which could be removed to allow for servicing the beer engines in former times. History in the area: North-west of the pub is an area called Woodford Wells where the water from the local springs was used for medicinal purposes.”

The Travellers Friend featured on the Daytime Crawl of Woodford Green, Barkingside, Ilford and Barking in June 2008.