please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Nice locals pub by a main road and not far from South Wimbledon station. Youngs pictures, Fullers clock; Wimbledon Common Pale Ale on the pump. Wooden floorboards and has been opened up at some time possibly recently. Food menu is pizza, fish and chips, etc. Nice bar staff and friendly atmosphere.
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Went in on a Saturday night. Only draught beer was Youngs Bitter. There was a pump that had a Doombar pump clip, over which was a Bombardier clip, but that too was Youngs Bitter.
So I had a bottle of Bombardier, which was warm.
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Driven past this pub hundreds of times and finally popped in the other day. Was over the Jubilee weekend and the crowd inside was in nice spirits. One barlady handling orders in a polite and smiley manner.
Only stayed for one - definately seemed a locals joint but seemed friendly enough. Is one of those that is hard to get to unless you are driving which isnt always ideal or up for a small walk
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This pub promises to be everything it claims to be. Plenty of parking space, dart board (shame its not attached to the wall though so it does rock around when hit - good selection of house darts though for a �5 deposit)), Sky TV and a good selection of beers.
The bar is near empty so its perfect for those that want a quiet pint or two whilst watching sport or playing darts, but not for those looking for a more action packed night. The barman was very helpful and was happy to assist with any need.
The toilets on the otherhand were a disgrace and resembled something out of those toilets in 'Trainspotting'.....The pub is just about within walking distance from South Wimbledon tube (around 15 mins).
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Aggh!! Celing in the public bar is slightly flooded out - don't worry, the insurance company are on the case.
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Tied Youngs pub a couple of hundred yards from South Wimbledon tube. A bit quiet whenever I have visited but the landlord and landlady always seem pretty freindly as do the locals which is quite unusual for a South London boozer! If you stick around long enough you get to meet a rottweiler and a pig! Beer quality is consistently good - I've yet to have a bad pint...
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Afraid not mate. We've got a hog roast planned for the royal wedding, and a couple of special Wells & Youngs products for St George's day and the royal wedding... should still be a good summer for beer, bbqs and a bit of outdoor music, but with everything kept in a chilled cellar rather than above ground - so quality should be much better than last year.
Hope this helps. If you need any further info, check the website out, it's fairly up to date..
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ptg, you seem fairly active on here - are you doing another beer festival this summer?
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No sign of any pigs or other creatures in the Prince of Wales on my visit last night. In fact, there were very few ales also. Only Youngs Bitter & Special were available with plenty of unclipped handpulls. The pub is on a main road and is surrounded by trading estates and the like. But inside it is quite pleasant, with the room extending both sides of the central bar. At the rear on the left is a slightly darker room with a large black and white picture titled 'Amy's House'. This room is more like somebody's sitting room. Unfortunately, the pub was quiet on my visit and had little atmosphere. With so few points to recommend it, I doubt I'll return.
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I'm in the process of moving out of the South Wimbledon area, and the thing I'll miss most is having the Prince of Wales as my local.
I'm a cask-beer drinker. I'm the sort of cask-beer drinker who will ask for a top-up if there's more than about a centimetre of froth on my pint. The sort who probably won't return to the place if the beer's not on form.
The Prince is a Young's tie, so it's not always possible for them to compete with other local establishments in terms of beer selection alone. But Paul, the landlord, keeps his ales - two from Young's and occasional guests - in pristine condition. In my opinion, you'll be hard-pushed to find a better-kept pint locally.
When I first visited this pub, it was a bit tatty. A nice enough place, but in need of a bit of work. Since then, it's undergone a refurbishment which, in my view, has done just the job. They resisted the obvious temptation to go all gastro on us, and just given it the freshening-up it needed. Simple, yet effective.
The reason I kept going back to the Prince in favour of other local pubs? Quite simple: the welcome. Whether I wanted a chat at the bar or to mind my own business reading a book or magazine, I felt at home here.
I'm one of those who tells Paul how much I like what he's trying to do, yet I've never stopped to write a review. This note is my attempt to redress that.
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I only wish the people who tell me on a daily basis how they like the pub nowadays had the time to invest in writing reviews - if they had part of the energy that the "haters" seem to, BitE would be a far more balanced reviewing platform.
When we took over the Prince of Wales, we decided on an animal friendly atmosphere, we allow customers to bring their pets in the pub (something that was never allowed before due to the aggressive boxer who couldn't handle other animals being allowed in), and our dog and pig are also allowed down at the end of a night - when there's no food service going on; unfortunately, when your place of work is combined with your living room, customers have to make the decision whether they are prepared to be part of this, and honour us with their patronage or not; to be frank, when nothing is said to me or my staff at the time, it cannot be resolved; for example, if there was a concern with Zack being in the pub, we would happily oblige in giving him his daily evening exercise in the garden; but there is little I can do to remedy a situation when it takes over a week for me to be alerted to your concern; incidentally, the pig is something that most customers have bought in to, and many customers leave disappointed when they come on the occasions he's not invited down.
Without trying to be pedantic, the "best" is not a hound, he's a Rottweiler, so falls in to the mastiff category rather than hound - don't think he cares, but it's a bit like me calling an Englishman French; and for every one person that raises a concern, ten become part of his pack.
I apologise if this seems like it's directed at you; it's not, it's directed at the keyboard warriorship that seems to be over-apparent on Beer in the Evening; When takings are consistently going up, and people are telling me they like what we're trying to achieve, it's disappointing to see such a negative review; it reminds me that we can't please everyone.. and the ones we can't please usually have a fast internet connection (!)
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Loads of pubs have pet cats and pet dogs. What on earth's wrong with a pet pig?
Personally I liked it when there were chickens. They had a habit of escaping, leading to the surreal sight of the staff carrying them underarm through the pub!
And then there was that wonderful carol service years ago under the previous owners. It was done to raise money for nearby Dean City Farm, who brought with them a sheep and a pony. You've never seen a sheep in a pub on a tinsel leash look so nonchalant. Brilliant. One of the best nights I've had in a pub EVER!
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I have been reasonably regular here over the last 23 years and have seen many changes in name, staff, decor etc - some of which ought to have been quicker!
In the last few years, the group that I joined here on a Monday evening has declined, so I have probably visited 4 times in the last 6 months rather than the usual weekly.
My last two (with particular emphasis on LAST) were last week and the week before.
On the first of these , we were greeted in the car park by a dog barking from the roof at us - rather oppressive to the more jumpy in our group, and definately not welcoming. When we mentioned this to the bar chap, he told us it wasn't a problem, and that the dog would come down when it felt like it - we suspected that he didn't get the point that we weren't overtly concerned with the animal's welfare, rather our own wellbeing! And, true to promise, the hound came around all the tables later on and inspected all of us - yuck!
Last week, the welcome was initially less oppressive, but the beast had multiplied. As well as the dog, we had a pet PIG wandering around the public bar - I jest you not! When you want a pleasant evening with friends, you don't really need something looking for truffles in every bag or around every foot, or racing the length of the bar floor. Apparently the bar people think this is fine - not sure about animal welfare concerns, but I do know that up to 10 Monday night regulars of many years are now going elsewhere for good.
Rather ironically, the lunchtime food board was suggesting roast pork!
ASR
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Hi Allen, Interesting that you detected the same rubbery taste in two Youngs pubs that you've reviewed - I've had a word with a couple of regular WW drinkers today and they've assured me that it's the best brew they've had in years; so possibly just not reacting well with your palate?
Abteilung, thanks for the feedback - it's the Prince of Wales, that was originally the Prince of Wales, then had its nuts cut off to become the Princess of Wales for a few years, then turned back to the Prince last summer... Beer In The Evening are dragging their heels to update the record on their database. Apologies for not having a good selection of beers on for your visit - we do try to keep three on, but for the lull we've traditionally had between boxing day and new years eve, it'd be wasteful to do any more than the essentials.
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Decent enough pub with Youngs beers on tap - unsure about the Winter Warmer which had a 'rubbery' sort of taste - don't think that should be there. Worth a visit is you're passing by & like Youngs beers.
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Is this pub the Princess or Prince of Wales? Most confusing. Came here on the strength of the BITE reviews and was sadly disappointed, only 2 Young's beers on and a bit average in quality too. A comfortable enough pub but if you like your real ale make the effort to walk to the Trafalgar on High Path off the Morden Road.
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OK.. the new photos I posted are up, the SEO Friendly url now works as Prince, yet the master photo and the pub name still say Princess - The cynic in me hopes this isn't a ploy by BiTE to get me to subscribe to make changes :(
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Went to the Beer Festival on Sat, beers available were
Sanbrooks Junction (4.5%)
Sanbrooks Wandle (3.8%)
Brains SA (4.2%)
Chiltern Cobblestones (3.5%)
Darkstar Solstice (4.2%)
Darkstar Espresso (4.2%)
Cotleigh Harrier (3.5%)
St Austell Tribute
Jorvik Blonde (3.8%)
Hog Roast was yummy too...
Shady spots in the garden to hide from the sun, live music - a very comfortable afternoon!
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Beer Festival kicks off in about 18 hours - get down if you can, it should be a good craic.
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Mr Babble, thanks for the feedback - I've got a hog already ordered for the beer festival - We need to find a way to stop the pet pig seeing next time though- I think he sussed what Horace was.
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mmm hog roast baps .....SPA was good too. Refurb has replaced tired sagging seats with sturdy, high, leather seating near entrance while leaving the eating area at the back light and roomy. There's a Beer Festival first w/e in July....hope they have those baps!
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Woo hoo! The refurbishment is complete - we're just waiting on BITE to change our listing now.
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We've got a refurbishment coming up soon - I'd be interested to hear what you'd like to keep/junk.. Email me via the pub's website :)
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I wholeheartedly endorse a dish of the Cod Croqueta. Yum!
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New daytime menu kicks in at lunch time Wednesday :)
Hope people are enjoying the tapas.
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Hi to all, the new evening menu kicks in from 6pm Friday night - we'll see you soon :)
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Hi to all, just a reminder that the Caribbean theme night will be on this weekend - Tickets will only be on sale until Wednesday evening due to purchase and marination of meats and so forth..
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�2.20 a pint actually ;) Glad the madrass was appreciated pal :)
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We had a chat with the landlord today, and he asked if I'd pub my comments up here for all to see....
I've not visited this pub for a couple of years, but met up with family members today. As someone has already mentioned there was a large variety of real ale on tap, all themed around the rugby teams and I believe some were �2.50 a pint - not bad for London. We arrived half way between the Chelsea game and were only staying for one drink and planning on going elsewhere for food, but to our shock the landlord produced what can only be described as a vat of home made beef madras for the rugby's half time interval, and needless to say it tempted us to stay. Overall, a good way to spend an afternoon with people you like, and excellent value too.. I may try and get down for the England game today.
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Check out our website - I've been experimenting with a forum and mini-social network.... it's in the fledgling stages, but I'd appreciate a few of you registering and giving me your thoughts :)
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Just had the satellite tv engineer leave, we now have all premier league, and most mainland Europe games, along with Guinness premiership Rugby :)
Brains SA will be in and ready for Friday evening, along with Deuchars.
What would people prefer for the Six Nations meal, Sausage and Mash or Chilli? There's a poll on our website :)
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Good old fashioned Boozer with friendly new management.
Serves excellent Youngs Ordinary; some nights @ only �2.20 per pint .
If you like a friendly local pub & have a sense of humour; preferably on the dark side, then you won't be disapointed.
Getting established on the music scene with their Sunday Lunchtime Jamming / Open Mic sessions; proving very popular.
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Just had some good news - My BDM at Youngs has authorised me to stock Brains SA for the duration of the six nations, meaning that we'll be running a beer for each team for at least a couple of weeks each of the tournament:
Scotland - Deuchars
Wales - Brains
England - Bombardier
Ireland - Guinness
Italy - Peroni (Bottled, sorry :( )
France - Kronenbourg 1664
There will also be complimentary half time food for the six nations games.
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Can't understand comments about notices in the car park - the car park should ONLY be for the patrons of the pub. Like others, I too have struggled to find a space... As I understand it, children are not welcome inside after 8pm, which seems reasonable to me. The landlords are biker-friendly, and have always been accommodating to the wishes and needs of our motorcycle club. I don't drink beer, but I'm told that it's fine.
Parrotmad
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Was in the pub last night and overheard the landlord and one of his staff mention the last posters opinion. I don't visit often, but find Amanda and Paul to be friendly and since they took over, the beer quality hab gone up tenfold. Never had a problem getting them to crack a smile or enjoy a conversation. As for ruining the atmosphere - if you prefer an open pub with a bit of background music to a silent and clicky place from the walls have eyes, then the changes made are an improvement - even the pub dog has changed to one that doesn't drool.
Good luck with it Paul. I can see you're trying.
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Just to say that the Pub has been recently taken over by a wonderful couple Paul and Amanda. They have certainly made a change to the place and apparently will also be renovating it soon. Every other Sunday there is an open mic for live music and there are also artists performing there each month with some incredible sounds. Good food and a very relaxing and welcoming atmosphere.
I love this place and would certainly go again.
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Just remembered why I logged in to BITE.
Just to keep our not-so regular regulars up to date on a few things that are going on.
We have a series of ticketed theme nights which for the most part include food and drink, along with the theme nights, I've had Youngs agree to fit us (space permitting) with an anonymous nitro-keg line, meaning I can run special kegs for the associated evenings; so expect to see Red Stripe for the Caribbean night, Peroni for the Italian one, and so on - it's not a great gesture, but one I hope will be OK for those of you who drink lagers and fancy a change.
On the subject of Lager, we're adding Amstel as a permanent fixture on the bar, this smoother and slightly stronger lager for those of you that hasn't tried it sits nicely in between the standard end of the scale and premium... be warned though, it's a lager that actually has a flavor. The lines should be fitted in the next few weeks, and we'll be stocking it as soon as the infrastructure is there.
Everything's rolling tonight.. in the wake of the departure of winter warmer from the POW, we'll be back up to three ales from Thursday, with the addition of St Austell Tribute - something I hope will be OK for customers.
You may have noticed the lack of food lately; which is due soley to the lack of a chef - something that should be rectified by the end of the week - I've got a stack of CV's for myself and Amanda to work through, and will be interviewing soon. The bar snack menu has taken off extremely well, and will be staying as an option on evenings and Saturday day times also.
Finally, to quash the rumour that's working it's way around SW19 - myself and Amanda are here for a good while and are tied in to the place, both financially and personally, we're not selling up, moving out, burning down or going bust. Not dragging the kids out of school, emigrating or trying to swap the pub for a city wine bar :)
Hope to see you soon.
PG
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Codge, sorry you feel that way; unfortunately the situation with the car park when we took over was something that had spiraled out of control; on two occasions prior to take over, I couldn't physically park in the car park, and came in the pub only to find ten people (two of them on pushbikes, and two of them parking in other local parking areas), so pay and display seemed the fairest way to go - sorry you feel it's an aggressive way of going about things. Not quite sure how my background comes in to that, but I can assure you I'm not quite up to the SAS standard (too fat for a start!) - Will have to have a chat with Amanda - normally she's got a smile for everyone, so I hope it's nothing personal.
Thanks for highlighting the fact that children are now welcome in the pub - a message that's not been easy for us to get across after 23 years of draconian refusal; again, I can't see how this retards the atmosphere in the pub, and atmosphere is actually an area where we've received more positive comments in recent months :s
I couldn't agree more about the traf being an excellent little local, it's actually one of my haunts on my evening off, sorry we've lost your custom, but at least it's gone to a great replacement.
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I would avoid this pub. Have used it for many years, mainly as a quiet bolthole or to meet freinds. Beer has always been excellent. Recently however I have noticed that children are allowed in and the pub has lost its atmosphere. As much as I have tried I have never managed to get a smile from the landlady and the landlord appears to be ex SAS and has posted some scary notices in the car park. Beware if you use the resturant next door or you may find your car clamped!
On the plus side there are still some pleasant chatty kiwi bar staff. Much better to walk a few more yards and enjoy the Trafalgar Pub at High Path which is freindly and won many awards from CAMRA.
codge - 18 Jan 2010 17:47 |
Cheers MrBabble - good to see a happy customer (although we do have a couple of pet Kiwis that we keep for occasional duties)
Munt81 - thanks for letting that secret out... at least we don't stock Stella ;) (at the moment)
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Great pub.... at �2.20 a pint, lets hope the chavs don't invade it.
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A huge improvement now the Kiwis have gone.
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Forgot to mention, we've now got Titanic Iceberg on. If you fancy something a bit different; 4.1% proof, and same price as Youngs Ordinary, then pop in!
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A good pub - even has a piano in the corner!
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Hi to all, we've just had the coal fire cleaned, serviced, and tested it - so if you're looking for a traditional pub where you enjoy a pint of Youngs, still hear yourself think, and sit around a warm fire, then come on over and I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.
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This pub is really great now. A good choice of food (especially the bagguettes!!!) great beer and friendly people.
A great time and loads for the kids to do.
Thanks.
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Oops.. meant Wells not Courage... had Courage Best on the brain the other day..
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Guest Ale.... now there's a nightmare - Youngs don't have a guest ale policy at the moment, and as we're tenanted, that proves a bit of a problem... BUT... Courage pubs DO have a guest ale programme, so maybe now the breweries have merged the pubco's might start learning some ideas from eachother..
The current lineup is :
Youngs Ordinairy
Youngs Special
Youngs Kew Brew
and Bombardier, along with the entire bottled range from Wells & Youngs.
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Any chance of a guest ale ptg, or is that not permitted by Young's terms? Some pubs did Deuchers and others Doom Bar last year but the policy seems random. The PoW was my local many years ago, and I still have good feelings for the place.
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Bombardier's back... should be tapped and ready to serve Thursday afternoon.
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Under new management - New menu, new managers, and some new products... hope you all like it ;)
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And Bombardier has gone again.
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Bombadier is now on as the third beer. Incidentally long term tenants Debs and Terry will be leaving this summer :(
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This pub retains a fairly traditional interior, something of a rarity these days as many Youngs pubs are being "updated". There used to be two seperate rooms but is now open plan, but still with a feel of seperate drinking areas. Ordinary and Special on, no sign of Bombardier. Beer ok but it doesn't taste the same these days. Pleasant garden area to the rear.
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Nice reasonably traditional Youngs pub on the main road from South Wimbledon tube. Beer in good nick. ( Ordinary - � 2.50p )
Nice to see the pictures of the Queen Mum still being retained here.
A good honest community local
Used to be called the Prince of Wales in years gone by, but was renamed in honour of a certain unassuming publicity - shy young lady who was married to Prince Charles
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Typical but superior Youngs house. The Bitter was enjoyable (if not quite the same as a year ago !), and I particularly enjoyed the gourmet pie @ �2.50 which was a good filling snack.
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Cosy, friendly, welcoming pub. Nice staff, nice beer, nice burgers. Scary picture of Diana but if you arrange it rightly, you need never see her.
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Outside seating area. Inside is fairly 20th Century traditional. Quiet on a sunday. A very nice splash of ordinary & special. If you like Young's ales they appear to be very well kept.
Wanted to get some bottled takeouts but the barman said they charged �2.40 for them. Shame as they almost had the full range and I wanted some.
I wouldn't go out of my way for a visit but it's of a quality.
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Good pub.
Friendly bar staff, fast service, seats available. Mustn't grumble.
dembo - 20 May 2006 10:15 |
Fairly typical Young's house; large-ish, nicely fitted out, smart. Most importantly, the Young's Special was in excellent condition.
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Nice local Youngs pub (not many about now...).
Shame that the Kiwi barmaid thought her enjoyment of the television outweighed the customers - there was no-one else in the bar that wanted the TV on, but her response to complaints was: "But I AM LISTENING TO IT"
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This youngs house is very much your traditional local. Unlike the William Morris at Merton Abbey Mills(really the only other drinking spot locally) the pub is kept spotlessly clean, with staff constantly clearing ashtrays and wipeing the bar - the staff seem to take pride in their pub. The menu is not vast, but the food is good home-made fayre - try one of Debs's burgers...kitchen tends to shut down at about 2.15 at lunchtime and the pub itself closes at 3pm except for Fridays and(I think) Saturdays. Also has a very pretty beer garden with lots of hanging baskets. All in all the place is a little gem.
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A fine pub, I am afraid to say but i think one of the dogs has passed on.
After years of drinking in the Kings Head , i can now say that it was a blessing that its closed cause now the loverly Princess is the Ale house of our troop of chums
anonymous - 19 Jan 2005 16:33 |
Good old fashioned traditional boozer.
Mark - 16 Dec 2004 13:48 |
This is probably the best of all the local pubs round our way - very friendly, good mix of people and a couple of sociable boxer dogs. The whole feel is a bit like drinking in someone's house -very comfortable. It's a Youngs pub so you can't go too far wrong if you like their beers; the only criticism there is that they tend to be a bit shy of putting the seasonal beers on tap (e.g. Youngs' Golden Zest), though in fairness they do usually stock the bottles when they're available. The beer garden's a nice sun-trap with some big tables and there are a couple of TVs showing the usual sports but also whatever the locals fancy putting on. They also do a decent range of pub food, and will sometimes dole out free roast spuds and other goodies on Sundays. If you want a nice Youngs' pub away from the overcrowded alternatives up in central Wimbledon, this slight detour off the beaten track is well worth the (small) effort in getting there.
Steven Jones - 24 Aug 2004 12:02 |
