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Permalink Reply by Emmy Beazley on July 18, 2015 at 8:40

I would love to run this pub. I went after the refurb and I have to admit, it didn't seem to know what kind of a pub it was. I hope it becomes a proper pub once again....I wonder if the 3 compasses lot might be interested?

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Permalink Reply by Richard Matz on July 19, 2015 at 21:25

OK, I've emailed the local councillors and CAMRA for support and guidance - any historical info & data on the pub's past that any of you have would be helpful for our ACV application. This photo dates from c. 1900 and landlords are listed from 1874.  I'll continue to research online as time allows.  Thanks in anticipation.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew McClusky on July 19, 2015 at 22:10

Hello

I'd be very happy to add my name to the list of people who would like to back this. I think the building itself has huge character but at the moment it is a complete eyesore. I line only a few doors down from it and would love to see it transformed into something the local community could be proud of (rather than slightly ashamed!).

Andrew

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Permalink Reply by Richard Matz on July 29, 2015 at 13:02

A draft for an application for The Prince to be listed as an Asset of Community Value follows. Comments and suggestions welcome. Any up-to-the-minute  information any of you can provide as to the pub's current ownership would be useful. One of our local councillors is on board and it would be very powerful to submit the application in the name of Bowes & Bounds Connected community website, and I kindly ask permission to do this. RSVP.

The Prince pubic house has stood on the corner of Finsbury Road and Trinity Road close to the Bounds Green Road in N22 since 1870 and was originally known as The Prince of Wales. The 1871 Census lists 28 year old William Freeman Thomas as the licensed victualler in residence with his wife Emma, their infant son William J. and 3 bar staff. A three-storey Victorian public house, the building is constructed of London stock brick and now has a rendered, black-painted ground floor frontage following a recent renovation in Spring 2015.

 

The Trinity Road Entrance is framed by a couple of elegantly tiled period walls apparently by Millington, Wisdom and Co. and give the full name of the pub.  This leads into the first of the two bars with a skylight giving some welcome natural light (possibly a billiards room in a past life?) - a long room with some superb wood panelling with mirror inserts on the walls. The main more modern bar to the right follows Trinity Road with a side entrance onto Finsbury Road where some outside seating is often provided. The public house is adjoined to the north by a later diminutive two-storey, stock brick addition and, with the upper floors of the pub itself, comprise of  11 letting rooms in total which is split as 8 x bedsits and 3 x studio apartments (as of December 2013).

 

The open stretch of land The Prince faces is known as Trinity Gardens, named after the Trinity Wesleyan Methodist Chapel built in 1871 (now the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Mary).  The focal point of the garden is a 21 foot high granite obelisk with drinking fountains commemorating the life and work of Catherine Smithies. She was the founder of the Band of Mercy (a charitable organisation aimed at relieving the suffering of animals and one of the precursors to the RSPCA) and, ironically, a campaigner for temperance.

 

Over the past 15 years, The Prince has declined due to poor management and under promotion. Up until 2008, the interior was dilapidated and heavily nicotine stained. A refit by new management that year at least made the environment more sanitary, but the limited selection of poorly kept beers and lack of food did nothing to boost the pub’s fortunes as a business. A further refurbishment in Spring 2015 looked promising, but subsequent efforts to turn it into a live music/night club/sports bar venue failed to attract the mixed economy of drinkers and diners necessary to sustain a modern pub.  

As of July 2015, Prince pub is now boarded up again. The former manager and the leaseholder of the residential accommodation above the pub have just been sentenced to six months in prison each for putting lives at risk by breaking fire safety laws. Disabled smoke alarms, inadequate fire detection and defective fire doors led one senior Brigade officer to describe the pub as a "death trap”.The Prince is is the last pub in the area between Wood Green and Bowes Park along the Bounds Green Road. The Alexandra in Commerce Road closed in 2003 and has been demolished. The Fishmongers Arms at the end of Trinity Road has been redeveloped into a police station and The Kings Arms (later The N22 Bar) close to White Hart Lane has also been long closed.

The Prince falls within the Trinity Gardens Conservation Area –designated by Haringey Council as an area of special architectural or historic interest, and it has also been listed in Haringey’s Register of Local Buildings of Merit since 1997. However, it is unclear what statutory protection against inappropriate redevelopment of historic buildings these listings offer. The Prince has suffered constant mismanagement and under-development as a public house over many years, and a number of locals from the Bowes & Bounds Connected website are keen to ensure that does not fall into the hands of property developers and speculators with little concern about its long history or future value to the community.

The loss of the Prince, in its current form as a public house, would leave the community impoverished and the loss or inappropriate redevelopment of the historic building itself would detract from the local landscape. For this reason, we wish to make an application for Prince to be recognised as an Asset of Community Value, so that, should it ever be threatened, it will be clear that this is a both building and social hub valued in the local area, and that local people might have some kind of option to intervene.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Cordwell James on July 29, 2015 at 13:18

Terrific Richard, thank you for doing this.  Nothing to add except my support!

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Permalink Reply by Caroline Simpson on July 29, 2015 at 13:40

Brilliant!

Well done.  Thanks.

Here are bits about ownership that I got earlier in the year.  I doubt if that the actual property ownership has changed since the court case, but might be wrong

I phoned Radia Estates in January and spoke to a chap there. (Not very friendly but.....) Might be a good idea for someone to phone them again and chat.

Attachments:

• Prince of Wales RegisterPlanAGL219596.pdf, 153 KB
• Prince of Wales Freehold RegisterPlanNGL142594.pdf, 154 KB

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Permalink Reply by Richard McKeever on July 29, 2015 at 15:22

This is excellent and I'm very happy for it to be sent in the name of Bowes and Bounds.

Thank You

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Permalink Reply by Richard Matz on July 29, 2015 at 15:26

Thank you, Richard - your endorsement will give the ACV application pwopa local gravitas!

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Permalink Reply by Alison M on July 29, 2015 at 17:36

Looks great - well done.  With my proof-reading hat on, you may want to correct the typo in the third word of the statement.....

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Permalink Reply by Richard Matz on July 29, 2015 at 18:53

Well spotted - thanks for scratching that itch, Alison....

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Permalink Reply by Lindsey Berthoud on July 30, 2015 at 10:58

this is excellent! well done Richard. 

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Permalink Reply by Tom Bowers on July 30, 2015 at 11:32

I completely agree. I live a the end of Finsbury Road and for this to become a decent pub venue would be greatly received - great work.

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