Cricketers IG8

London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
East London: Other locations – Woodford Green

The Cricketers, Woodford Green IG8 (London)

Traditional pub (McMullen)
299 High Road, Woodford Green IG8 9HQ
T 020 8504 2734 w www.mcmullens.co.uk/cricketerswoodford
Open 1100 (1200 Sun)-2300 (2230 Sun). Children welcome at lunchtime if dining, no buggies.
Cask beer 3 (McMullen), Other beer 3 bottles.
Food Pub grub lunches, Outdoor Benches in side yard. Disabled toilet.
Sun quiz, darts, occasional live music, golf society.

A wonderful thing happened when the Cricketers was refurbished in 2009: rather than indulging the current fashion for bare floorboards, church hall chairs and floppy sofas, the designers stayed faithful to the sort of traditional decor that would have been recognised by pub goers in the 1950s. It’s a perfect fit for this roadside ‘brewers’ Tudor’ building in villagey surroundings close to a swathe of Epping Forest. The pub retains its original layout with two rooms either side of a central bar area – a plain public bar with lino floor and dartboard, and a posher carpeted saloon bar with padded furniture. It’s still very much a community local, with pensioners’ meal deals on decently priced lunch offerings like steak and ale pie and various curries, a popular quiz and its own golf society. Long noted in the Good Beer Guide for the quality of its McMullen ales, it regularly stocks AK, Cask Ale and Country Bitter, with retro bottled offerings including Gold Label Barley Wine and Mac’s own strong ale, Stronghart. A recommended stop if you’re exploring the southern part of the Forest.

Visitor note. A corner of the saloon bar commemorates Winston Churchill, who among many other things was MP for Woodford from 1945 until he retired from politics in 1964. A little to the north, an imposing statue of Churchill commands the open space of Woodford Green.

Underground Woodford, South Woodford Bus Woodford Cricketers (179 W13 South Woodford) Walking Link to Epping Forest Centenary Walk, 2012 Games Epping Forest route