Kings Head – Chingford

1016 Reviews

Star Travel Rating

3/5

Review type

Things to do

Location

Date of travel

September, 2020

Product name

Kings Head - Chingford

Product country

Chingford, London

Product city

Chingford, London

Travelled with

Reasons for trip

During COVID-19 we’ve amused ourselves and tried to keep fit by walking, walking, walking. We’ve often caught the train from our home in Walthamstow for the 12-minute journey to Chingford where we’ve tramped around Epping forest and Connaught Water. One day, we spotted the “KIngs Head”:https://www.classicinns.co.uk/thekingsheadchingford pub and thought it would make an ideal lunch spot if we walked to Chingford instead of taking the train.

Whilst there are a number of routes, we decided to walk along the River Lea Navigation. Having already completed and enjoyed a number of stretches of the river, this was not one to be repeated. It was industrial, noisy from the Edmonton incinerator plant, and boring as few boats were moored up.

Having left the towpath, it was then a much longer walk than we anticipated along Kings Head Hill to the pub. And for me, what was worse, was that it was up the hill rather than down it: not how I like to finish a walk.

So, it was with some relief when we arrived. We sanitised hands, grabbed menus and sat outside in a lovely quiet garden area with well-spaced tables of all shapes and sizes, colourful hanging baskets and planters, two covered areas and a rather interesting piece of art on one wall.

Having checked out the “menu”:https://www.spccs1.co.uk/menus/classics_core_30_07.pdf in advance, I realised it was part of the Classic Inn chain. We’d visited another pub in the chain, the “Ferry Boat Inn”:https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review?id=167265, a few weeks earlier when we’d not been particularly inspired with the Covid-19 restricted menu, with Roy remarking it read like the contents of our freezer.

So, we opted to share a starter and a sandwich, liking the fact that the latter didn’t automatically come with chips.

The ordering was done at the bar (or could be done using an App which always seems a bit tiresome when somewhere is quiet) and we were soon quenching our thirst with pints of cider delivered to our table (strawberry and lime Reckordlig for me, and Magners by the bottle for Roy).

The pub has continued Rishi’s Eat Out to Help Out initiative during September on Monday to Wednesday but unfortunately, we were there on Thursday. However, it was surprisingly busy and obviously popular with ladies that lunch.

The food was good. The grilled chicken was crisp and golden and served in a long brown roll with a little salad garnish and an artistic drizzle of mayo on the top. The chip shop croquettes (baked pea and potato bites in a salt-and-vinegar-flavoured batter), served with vegan mayo, were interesting and light.

The loos were upstairs but were immaculate, and on walking through the pub, we found a range of seating suitable for groups of all sizes.

It is definitely somewhere we would return to, but this time, we might catch the train there as well as back.

Helen Jackson

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