Barnet and Whetstone Pubs

[@TweedyPubs]

This video is really not my finest hour! For a start, the weather was relentlessly grim, so the footage is all grey and lifeless... and it seems there just aren't that many great historic pubs which still survive in this area - the Mitre is definitely a gem, and I think the Griffin is also decent (albeit a poor show on the real ale front on my visit) but those two aside it's slim pickings nowadays. I found the "dead pubs" quite interesting, but I know that's not everyone's cup of tea. I was also getting to grips with a new camera (I've finally upgraded from the GoPro Hero 10 to the 13) and was finding some of its quirks a bit frustrating. I don't really think there's any noticeable upgrade in video quality but it was more difficult to work with than the old model, so I'm now experiencing a bit of buyer's remorse! To make matters worse I've picked up some sort of bug and so I was feverish during editing... but I wanted to get this out there as it has been over two weeks since the last video.

[@grahamstannard1243]

Fear not Tweedy! I enjoyed this as much as all of your previous efforts. Especially as, once again, it strikes a chord with my own history in London. I shall be sharing this video with others who also know the area. I also know you will enjoy your new GoPro and I hope you shed the lurgy qucikly!

[@TweedyPubs]

@@grahamstannard1243 Thanks Graham, much appreciated!

[@elvis197797]

Yes still an excellent watch like all the others mate 👍😎😎

[@aethellstan]

lovely video as usual, i normally pop out a few weeks after your video to visit some of the pubs you visit (leaving out the ones of no interest). one small point, the figures on the entrance to the griffin aren't gargoyles. gargoyles are water spouts used for roof drainage. these are grotesques.

[@toddfouts]

I enjoyed it immensely as always - a warm and inspiring companion to my own (first) pint this wintry Sunday evening in the Japanese countryside.

[@SteveCopps]

My grandparents once ran the Griffin during part of WW2,according to our dad!

[@TweedyPubs]

Interesting to hear - and odd to think it would have been a relatively "new" pub at that time! At least the time since the most recent rebuild. It does make me wonder how people viewed these mock Tudor pubs when they were brand new...?

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

In one of your external shots of the Mitre, a couple of shops along to the right, is a building that I seem to recall being dated to the 1300s a few years ago. I’m going from memory of an article, so may be mistaken! This was really interesting and I don’t think you’ve done one with that number of dead pubs before. Places like Barnet preserve something of their old town identity - just surrounded by suburbia now, rather than the fields seen in the lovely maps. The Red Lion and Griffin as interwar rebuilds reflect that the Great North Road was still a major route back then. Just 30 years on and all that was changing with bypasses and motorways. A moment in time captured there. Your point about the Green Man having been a garage for 100 years resonated and I hope that continues! Again, its conversion possibly captures that moment in time, as car ownership took off. Shame about the truth behind the Whetstone, but at least it’s still there. The grey, overcast weather felt appropriate for this out on the edge of things location. A very enjoyable and informative video.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Mr WC21! Yes in a way this was less a video about pubs and more a video about the history of transport in the last few centuries. I did find something oddly fascinating about the idea of a hundred year old garage though - there can't be many of those, surely? I actually quite liked Barnet despite the grim conditions, even if perhaps only one of the pubs there was really noteworthy - there was a really nice run of mixed but old houses on the walk to the Black Horse. In hindsight I should probably have taken a few more shots of the streets but it really wasn't the weather for it!

[@JohnRogersWalks]

I have a memory of going to the Griffin on a midweek night around 2015 when it was rocking to a live Blues band

[@TweedyPubs]

Cheers John - it's an interesting area and although the weather was grim on my visit I could see the appeal of living there. I got a sense they've retained their own independent identities despite being partially swallowed up by Greater London.

[@aussiej2973]

Brentford has the best Griffin pub john, could you do a walk there please

[@philcollinson328]

Mr Tweedy...your research into your wonderful vids is brilliant and greatly appreciated. I'd swap weather with you...Monday here in Tasmania is forecast to be 32C...This Geordie would far prefer grey, dark and drizzle.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks for the kind words Phil, much appreciated! The weather has finally improved here for the weekend - still chilly of course, but lovely blue skies as I write now.

[@royjohansen3730]

Another enjoyable walk; thank you! Your research into cultural history just continues to impress. For some time I have enjoyed a one-man quiz I invented: Which one of the drinks displayed will Tweedy choose? When I saw "Landlord" on offer at the Mitre, I placed my bet. I now owe myself a pint.

[@maximuslollius6147]

Ok, the shot of “Cheers from the Griffin in Whetstone” is immediately Tweedy Lore. Fantastic shot. I just braved some Belgravia and Mayfair pubs you covered - thanks for the tips!

[@TweedyPubs]

Thank you! I saw it and I couldn't resist.

[@eddavis1832]

Thank you for covering a bit of London I have yet to travel to. As if I ever need an excuse to enjoy a pint, your review of The Mitre most definitely whet my appetite! Your most excellent videos always make my day…thank you so much for sharing…Merry Christmas 🎄 CHEERS!!!🍻

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Ed, I really appreciate those kind words, particularly as I felt this video was a bit of a damp squib! The Mitre definitely is the star of the show here. Merry Christmas to you too!

[@WalksInCamera]

I've been to both the Red Lion pubs in the past and probably the Mitre too, on trips to Barnet's old ground at Underhill. The Old Red Lion down the hill near the ground was probably post war and nothing to remark, but as with all former pubs, a shame its gone.

[@JustcallmeKathi]

Hello Tweedy, despite the struggles (get well soon!) this was an interesting watch - pubs which likely were coaching inns on an a major road and witnessed a lot of history. Including the "dead pubs" gives a more complete picture, even if it's a melancholic one. Happy holidays! ✨

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Kathi! Seasons greetings to you too!

[@garrymartin6474]

Citra hops or Inch's cider is a difficult choice for sure, I would have probably asked if they did coffee !

[@JohnAkerman-n1e]

Glad to have found this site. When I was younger I lived down the hill in New Barnet. Totally agree that the Mitre was the best of this bunch. One or two of the others have definitely seen better days.

[@davidberlanny3308]

Hi John, hope your feeling better now. The Griffen was best of the lot. Curious because that name comes up to me as HG Wells' Invisible Man and Barnet crops up in The War of the Worlds too. Maybe this area wasn't rich pickings but I enjoyed the anecdotes that you found for each one. You're not going to come up with a jem like Mr Stiff each time. Sadly I enjoyed seeing the old pubs too, far too many of them but I suppose that it's a sign of the times!! The filming looked excellent to me, I'm sure you will adapt to your new camera soon. All the best!! PS: Enjoyed seeing the end to the underground line👌👌

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks David! Yes I'm feeling better now - I don't know what it was! I was feverish and bedridden for a day and a bit, but practically no other symptoms, and seem to be back to normal now. Glad to hear you liked the Griffin. I have a feeling if I went on a different day and was a bit luckier with the lineup on the bar then it would be really nice. Especially in the summer with that garden! I suspect outside of London the size of the garden wouldn't be that remarkable but given that some pub "beer gardens" I know in London are just 50 square feet of patio this one seemed like a national park by comparison! Yes closed pubs are indeed bittersweet - interesting but with an obvious twinge of melancholy. I found something oddly magical about the Green Man (Tyre & Exhaust Ltd). For what it's worth, the main shopping streets in Barnet did seem quite lively, despite the miserable weather, and there weren't many units which were completely unoccupied. Lots of restaurants actually. I suppose they're partly the successor to many of these pubs, partly filling the role the pubs once did, quite literally in the case of the Crown & Anchor, now an Italian restaurant.

[@davidberlanny3308]

@TweedyPubs Good to hear, lots of bugs going around, down here too. Of the course now I know why the Bourse has been wobbling these last few days, shares in Gevrey Chambertin have plummeted, you know what they say "Tweedy sneezes and France catches a cold" ..... might be something to do with not having a stable government but that's just purely coincidence!! All the best Euronext Paris, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, I despair for the French

[@TweedyPubs]

@@davidberlanny3308 Yes shockingly it is Sunday afternoon and so far this week I have only opened a single bottle of wine! I must correct that in what remains of the sennight! (My browser underlined "sennight" as a typo error - how uncivilised!)

[@nigel9843]

Hi Tweedy I really enjoy your pub tours it’s great how you describe the history of each pub.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Nigel, much appreciated!

[@Micktyb]

Good evening Tweedy not much drinking but a nice pub or two 😁👍happy Christmas to you and your family 🎄🎅have a nice time 🥃🧑‍🍳

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Mick! Merry Christmas to you and yours too.

[@Micktyb]

@ Thanks

[@elvis197797]

Hi tweedy as usual superb stuff. Nice to see pubs I don’t know about. High Barnet was never a place I visited so good to see these gems. The old mitre looks worth the visit and great story about riding a horse backwards!! 🤣. Brilliant video as always. Look forward to the next one!! 😎

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Elvis, much appreciated! I've barely ever been to High Barnet either, and it's just a few stops along the Northern line from where I live. The Mitre definitely the best of the bunch here!

[@peterrussell3854]

Double win! Long awaited sunshine and a Tweedy video. A couple of nice ones in there I thought. Pity about the closed pubs though. We recently found ourselves in the middle of a wake in The Ring O' Bells in Kendal. The family thanked us for coming. We explained that we were just tourists, but had a lovely conversation. Get well soon and a merry Christmas to you and yours.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Peter! All better now. Yes wakes in pubs can be an odd affair, can't they? This is probably only the third or fourth time I've accidentally wandered into one, but it's interesting, in my experience at least, they never seem to close the pub off to other customers. I assume in many cases the pub is somewhere that was known to the deceased, and presumably maintaining a bit of an air of normal pub life for that send off is what they would have wanted...?

[@stevo728822]

I've heard that beer should be drunk from an opaque vessel. It was claimed the sunlight spoils the beer. That might be true in a German beer garden during the Summer but in the overcast British weather and dimly lit pubs pubs that's unlikely to be an issue. I've never drunk beer from a horn but I would like to try it.

[@MartinCanada]

Interesting. My understanding is that German ceramic steins served two purposes (at least) in the beer garden. Firstly, the ceramic helped the beer stay cool which is one of the cultural differences with the UK. Secondly, the pewter flip-lid was necessary to keep various flora and fauna flotsam from finding their way into the beer, often from the trees overhead. Glass is used today in Germany -- tall slightly tapered lager glasses, and Kolsch tube cylinders in Cologne -- but the old steins surely have tradition on their side. Cheers.

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

Hi Tweedy. The Old Mitre definitely stole the show. However the Red Lion reminded me of many similar pubs that were found in the area of West London in which I grew up. 1930’s architecture and seemingly mostly run by Ind Coope, Bass, Charingtons, Watneys or Courage. Oh those were the days. So sad to see so many pubs closed down. 😳😔🍺

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Andrew! Yes it's odd how homogeneous 1930s pub architecture was - as unvaried as the food options for a Christmas dinner! It was either mock Tudor or Neo-Georgian, that's all you ever got. Of the three examples seen here rebuilt in that era I think they were all owned by different breweries at the time, so it wasn't just that there was a single company being very consistent with its architectural style. This was a widespread cultural phenomenon. What's interesting to me is that both of those styles were apparently a knee jerk reaction to Victorian pub architecture, as by the 1930s Victorian pubs were seen as dens of excess, drunkenness and immorality. Strange that they thought harking back to Georgian times would somehow instil a sense of restraint and moderation in their customers, considering that's when the worst of the Gin Craze took place.

[@leemorris1360]

Good morning, Tweedy. Another interesting video. Driven through and around this area on occasions, but never visited any pubs here. I concur with you about Ye Olde Mitre Inne, definitely more my kind of establishment 😄 I spotted T.T. Landlord on the bar - always a good start 👍 I thought about you last Saturday - I was in the Robin Hood in St Albans, where I had a nice pint of Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter 😉👍 Have a good weekend.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Lee! I think I've been to the Robin Hood in St. Albans, it was the night Notre Dame set on fire.

[@liberty_and_justice67]

Research was great! Particularly enjoyed The Griffin, stone, and Ye Olde Mitre. Shame about pub closures. Just want to step through the screen and order a pint😂

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks L&J! It is an interesting area, and bits of it would look really nice in better weather - but yes I think in terms of the pubs it's probably only the Griffin and the Mitre that are worth a visit, in my opinion.

[@chrisamies2141]

I've been to the Griffin. It was after a training course - I can't remember the subject of the course, but I did find out how far N20 is even from W14 where I was living at the time. Were I living in Kingston, where I moved to a year later, I would probably have had to stay overnight.

[@TweedyPubs]

Yes it is a bit out on a limb! Fortunately quite close for me as I live in North London, but I've hardly ever been to the area before. I did quite like it despite the grim weather and the relatively slim pickings in terms of the pubs.

[@markjohnathanappleton8642]

another excellent video as always

[@TweedyPubs]

Thank you!

[@SlurpyDave254]

Star of the show the Old Mitre and end of the line at High Barnet. Only saving grace when u see a closed pub is that its still in use rather than demolished..( at a push😢) Cheers Tweedy

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Dave! Yes I agree, even Green Man Tyre & Exhaust Ltd is a slightly outcome than the building just being demolished! ...and it's nice that they kept the name going.

[@MartinCanada]

Hi, Tweedy. Rest assured that though you may have been feeling a little worse for wear, you carried off this latest installment off with your usual aplomb. Sorry to learn of the number of "dead pubs" but it's nice the structures remain with some architectural details visible to mark their place. Am I mistaken or was the price of a half a tad more economical in these northern ports of call? Cheers.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Martin, much appreciated! Yes Barnet did seem to be generally a bit cheaper than elsewhere in London - the Guinness at the Red Lion would have worked out at £5 a pint. In many central London pubs £7 for a pint of Guinness is not uncommon now, and as mentioned in that Belgravia video earlier this year at least one pub has gone all the way to £8. Guinness is often inexplicably more expensive than the real ales on the hand pumps, which I've never understood the rationale behind. Keg beers like Guinness keep for longer, and therefore are less prone to wastage if they don't sell, and are easier to maintain and manage for the pub staff. It's not a live product like a real ale, so you don't need to condition it or anything. You just plug it in when it's delivered, make sure you keep the lines clean and your cellar at the tight temperature, plus keep the gas topped up and you're going to be fine. Keg beers are also more often produced at a larger scale. In my local supermarket four cans of "draught" Guinness cost about the same as a single pint in many London pubs, and to be honest, given that neither is a real ale, and those widgets in the cans seem to work pretty well, there really isn't much difference in quality. I think Guinness must be raking it in, to be honest. However, bafflingly, if you look at Diageo's stock price over the last year they're hardly doing very well. Maybe all their other products are doing badly and Guinness is the only thing keeping the ship afloat? None of it really adds up!

[@Thefisherman27]

The Griffin is one of the best pubs ever,it seems to go on and on..My friend Peter used to love it on a Friday night(RIP)..Glad you did Whetstone it's a much overlooked area..Also home to boxer Darren Barker(top man)..

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Clark, and sorry to hear about your friend Peter. This is one of the many great things about pubs to me, they often remind us of those no longer with us.

[@Thefisherman27]

@TweedyPubs thx for that Tweedy..

[@alistairh202]

Hi Tweedy! When you wish to avail yourself of slightly less grey and gloomy weather, then perhaps consider a trip to Melbourne and a visit to the Mitre Tavern at Bank Place, credited as being the oldest building in Melbourne (but not quite the oldest pub) and with a fascinating and colourful history. Hope you and yours have a cool yule!

[@TweedyPubs]

I can't cope with flying, so I think it's exceptionally unlikely I'd ever make it to Australia! We have blue skies here today though finally - I should probably have waited for better weather to film this. Hope you and yours have a great Christmas too.

[@JohnAleman1]

I like the look of the olde mitre good range of ales for green king😮 hope you feel better soon a few strong winter warmer ales may help😁. 🍻

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks John, yes I thought that was a decent looking lineup at the Mitre, and wish I'd had time to sample a few more. I would happily go back to linger longer there, so perhaps can do that another time. It did seem a bit pricier than all the other pubs in the area though, which I assume is down to Greene King taking their cut. That was a bit of a shame, given that in at least a couple of the other pubs it worked out at about £5 a pint, which is a bargain for London these days.

[@jackmullinger6708]

High Barnet has lost at least 5 pubs in the last 15-16 years, and in the wider Barnet area perhaps as many as 30 in the last 40 years. The best ones left are the Sebright Arms, Ye Olde Monken Holt, Ye Olde Mitre and the Black Horse. Should of checked out the Sebright and the Monk old chap!

[@colinriley123]

But that's the way it is. Videos on pubs cant always be upbeat.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Colin - I do always try to focus on the positive in these videos but it was hard work this time! I'm not sure the grim weather and all the other difficulties really showed Barnet off in its best light, I would definitely go back again, at least for the Mitre if nothing else.

[@timothybird4264]

Remember when the red lion had a brief spell as the dandy lion

[@TweedyPubs]

I see what they did there!

[@argopunk]

If you drink in The Old Mitre on Sunday, does it count for Sunday mass?

[@TweedyPubs]

It definitely should.

[@MHawkins-qz1yr]

So you encountered a counter and counted the pumps in the Mitre?😂

[@TweedyPubs]

It's not quite Gilbert and Sullivan but it's getting there!

[@richinderbyshire4779]

Inches.... which is Bulmers.

[@TweedyPubs]

Oh I didn't know it was a rebranding. I don't really like that style of cider to be honest, too gassy, no depth of flavour. It was a case of any port in a storm really.

[@richinderbyshire4779]

@TweedyPubs I've only found out myself very recently. I went to Loughborough. One pub I visited had no real ale and all the usual mass produced rubbish... so I asked for Inches and... yeah... not bad but not great.

[@richinderbyshire4779]

@TweedyPubs ...and get well soon from your illness...

[@merikblackmore]

Original Inch's was lovely stuff. Bulmers bought in 1996 & closed down the site in Winkleigh in 1998. New Inch's has nowt to do with the original. I think Bulmers is owned by Heinekin. In 1999 a former Inch's employee started Sam's Cider in Winkleigh, that's more like the proper stuff.

[@richinderbyshire4779]

@merikblackmore Ah, cheers. I'll keep an eye out for Sam's.