Sticky carpets, pickled eggs and pints for a fiver: why there’s life in the old-school boozer yet

Landlady Mandy Davis of the Kings Head pub in Finsbury Park, London, raises a glass to pubs on Friday. Photograph: Andy Hall/The Observer

In the Palm Tree pub, east London, barman Alf is taking only cash at the rattling 1960s till. The building, which is Grade II-listed, stands in the middle of Mile End Park, and Alf has worked here since 1976. “It’s a wonderful pub,” he says.

It is also ranked fifth in Time Out’s 50 Best Pubs in London list, published this month, and marks a clear preference that has emerged for traditional boozers.