September 2025. Enfield.
Or “The joy of being wrong about a neglected Greater London town” (see also : Carshalton, Brentford).
With an alleged population of 333,587, almost as big as Waterbeach when it’s finished, Enfield ought to have something to commend it. But my impression of it, based largely on a few floodlit matches at its huge non-league ground in the 90s and a large run of retail parks on the A10, was a of a grim old place.
But the descent from the Jolly Butchers towards the market place is a joy,
And once there you get the site of the very first ATM,
opened by Reg Varney in 1967. Rumours that it dispensed CAMRA vouchers are unfounded.
The small market place is a cracker.
I skipped the market bar,
but did buy a £12 watch from The Watch Man. It still works.
And then I ignored the lesser appeal of the Palace Garden shops,
admiring the architecture above the chicken shops,
and headed along an algae coloured New River,
through the charming little enclave of Chase Side,
stopping at the Spoons.
Well, you can only get a sense of a place once you’ve drunk Abbot (NBSS 3+),
and eaten chicken bites in a Spoons.
Or something.
retiredmartin 
That food reminds me of being in town longer than expected yesterday morning ( at 10.30am seeing an Adnams Southwold Bitter pumpclip through the window of the Shrewsbury Arms which doesn’t open till noon, and not there two days earlier indicating proper fresh ale ) and so using the former-Tim’s Butlers Bell where the £5.95 Small Breakfast was improved more than I could have expected.
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You could’ve kept walking to The Wonder (McMullens) which comes and goes from the GBG, usually described as “a backstreet gem” but which recently had a terrible makeover.
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And so I did. Actually I missed your reference to the makeover !
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“September 2025. Enfield.”
Gorgeous pic above.
“Or “The joy of being wrong about a neglected Greater London town” (see also : Carshalton, Brentford).”
So they really are undiscovered gems?
“ought to have something to commend it But my impression ”
Ought to have a full stop after ‘it’.
“But the descent from the Jolly Butchers towards the market place is a joy,”
Agreed. You’d hardly know it was London(ish).
“opened by Reg Varney in 1967”
Was that when he was on the buses?
“Rumours that it dispensed CAMRA vouchers are unfounded.”
In the pic below, is that a bank opening or a bank run?
“bud did buy a £12 watch from The Watch Man”
Is ‘bud’ the bloke who likes to change clothes at the drop of a hat?
“And then I ignored the lesser appeal of the Palace Garden shops,”
Dr. Who has certainly seen better years.
“admiring the architecture above the chicken shops,”
Better than below the chicken shops. Think of all the guano.
“through the charming little enclave of Chase Side,”
Very scenic pub.
“stopping at the Spoons.”
Not sure how I feel about them being able to use that name for the pub.
“and eaten chicken bites in a Spoons.”
Probably came from that chicken shop.
“Or something.”
My go to phrase when I’ve forgotten what to say. 🙂
Cheers
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Those folk standing outside the bank in 1967 are watching Reg Varney, during his “On The Buses” fame, use the very first cash machine (ATM).
I guess there’s dozens of towns in the UK that are actively thought to be dull, as opposed to just unknown. That’s particularly true of outer London, but also of quite a lot of Yorkshire.
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Yes, 1967, I remember it well, the year Bass Charrington was formed from the merger of Bass, Mitchells & Butlers Ltd and Charrington United Breweries Ltd.
Yet little did I know that it would be fifty-five years before a bus pass would get me “On The Buses”
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