Grafton, NW5 3LG
- 020 7482 4466
- 20 Prince of Wales Road, NW5 3LG (streetmap) (osm) (gmap) (bingmap) (streetview)
- thegraftonnw5.co.uk
An upmarket pub in Kentish Town, very near to Kentish Town West Station. It was extensively refurbished and renamed from The Grafton Arms in September 2012, when it was a rather more rough-hewed pub.
Inside, all is polished floors and solid tables, with tiling behind the bar, and no partitioning. This leaves an island bar in the centre serving spaces for seating on either side. There's an upright piano up the back of the pub, with a note that there are singalongs on Sundays. There's a smoking area outside to the rear. As of October 2012, a board outside states that the pub is both dog friendly and welcomes children until 7pm.
On Ewan's Friday evening visit in October 2012, the lighting was down low, with candles providing additional tableside illumination. Music was playing, not too loudly, but combined with the hubbub of the conversation, it created a fairly boisterous atmosphere, as one would expect for a Friday evening. On Kake's Sunday lunchtime visit a month later, the pub started filling up as soon as it opened at noon, and remained busy throughout our visit; if we'd arrived any later, we might have had trouble getting a table large enough for our group of eight.
There are six handpulls for ale at the bar, dispensing mainly London beers on Ewan's visit, with Hackney Gold, London Fields Pale Ale, East London Foundation Bitter, Brodie's Bethnal Green Bitter, as well as Landlord and TEA, all decently kept (but with nothing darker than a bitter). Keg taps dispense Estrella, Staropramen and others.
According to their website as of November 2012, food is served noon-4pm Mon; noon-4pm and 6pm-9pm Tue; noon-4pm Wed; noon-4pm and 6pm-9pm Thu-Fri; noon-4pm Sat; and noon-6pm (or until it runs out) Sun. On Kake et al.'s November 2012 visit the Sunday roast was a little disappointing, with overly hard Yorkshire puddings and somewhat lacklustre vegetables. However, they were clearly trying hard with the vegetarian option, which was a layered terrine rather than a traditional nut roast.
Child-friendliness: As mentioned above, children are welcome until 7pm. They have no specific baby changing facilities. They also had no highchairs when we enquired via email in October 2012, but implied that they'd get some at some point. On our November 2012 visit, the staff were happy to fill our toddler's sippy cup with tap water, and despite our two pushchairs we weren't made to feel that we were in the way. Children's portions of all the Sunday roast options were available at £5 (adult portions being £10 for the veg option and more for the meat).
Accessibility: Shallow step to get in at the corner, but the side door on Prince of Wales Road has no step to get in. No steps to the toilets once you're in. Some of the tables are fairly close together; we had to think carefully about how to get our larger pushchair in and out.
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