Princess of Wales, Blackheath, SE3

Tris C left this review about Princess of Wales

I didn’t check to see if the Giles Gilbert Scot-designed K6 phone kiosk was in place, but as they’re all listed it was probably still there. Otherwise, this would appear to be a late Georgian pub recently stripped of its CAMRA listing, following remodelling of the interior in November 2022, so if you want to see what it was vaguely like, look at Roger Burton’s photos.
The pub is one of two in Blackheath with a view out over a bleak, eponymous, rain and windswept pitch of grass. The interior has been messed around with – presumably November 2022 – now trendified, with a tiled bar apron, bare boarded floor, occluded glass partitions and Ready Brek colour scheme. The original bar back now features some tubular steel, the attractive cornice the only obvious sign of heritage now that the historic bar back embellishments have been ripped out. Furniture is conventional with some booth-style banquettes, then décor in the form of eclectic prints and ferns, with a rather loud soundtrack featuring the likes of Lou Bega’s Mambo No. 5 or stomping Albion poster boys The Proclaimers. Customers were unsurprisingly local types, many eating, a women seated next to me contributing to the stifling smell of fish ‘n’ chips.
Cask, come my rainy Saturday 9.20pm visit, amounted to Proper Job and Tribute (‘Coming Soon’), then just Doompride and Landlord at an eyewatering £3.25 a half, but in excellent shape, served by a friendly barman.
A bit corporate, this isn’t a brilliant pub, about average for the area, but it’s no match for the superior Hare & Billet across the mud; the prices here are extortionate, presumably to reflect the location and its bleak vista.

On 2^nd May 2024 - rating: 5
[User has posted 2005 recommendations about 1971 pubs]