The Dukes Head, Putney

Jumped the gun a bit here by sneaking in to the residents' preview tonight and I have to say: it's a bit alright, this is.

So - yes - they've gone regulation gastro (artisanal benches and dun emuslsions with shabchic detailing); but they've kept enough of the really nice stuff - the old glass especially - to make this doing-up feel like less of a doing-over. Certainly retained enough to survive the panderings to the new world chardonnay drinker whose limited attention span seems to drive the business, nowadayz.

It's still a pub, most importantly, and that's a good thing.

But... the front bars as they were are no more - Footie is nicht erlaubt - and neither is smoking. The long-defunct skittles have gone also, as have the agricultural gents. The new gents are poncey and despicably 21c and will look wrecked in a fortnight. (Important note to pub refurbers: downlighters make loos hot and smelly and this makes gentlemen drinkers irritable and less-inclined to hit the porcelain. Give us a cold tiled room with a tin trough and neon strip lighting or - better still - no lighting at all. It's what we want: it's what we deserve.)

Still - as a whole it could have been terrible and it's actually very nice so that's a good thing.

29 Oct 2006 00:13

The Sun Inn, Barnes

Take a great historic old pub in an amazing location with wealthy customers on your doorstep and... make it the worst pub in Barnes! Yay!

I could just about forgive the dingy wannabe Ibiza chillout cum Changing Rooms brothel decor (which was surely pass� in 1994) if it weren't for the preposterously useless space cadet staff and wallet-bleedingly expensive and poorly-kept drinks.

One of the most weirdly unpleasant pubs I know.

25 Oct 2006 15:16

Star and Garter, Putney

It's bad but it's not that bad. The food's bland, the drink's poor and overpriced and the whole thing is a sad drab cliche of a 90's bar; but it can actually be a very nice place for a spot of lunch and there are worse places in Putney (shame on Putney). However, it's a real shame when you think how good it could be in the right hands. It's painted plum: It's called 'Bar M'. Whoever's responsible deserves to be beaten soundly with a pointy stick.

2 Oct 2006 23:57

Walkabout, Putney

Hell on earth. If Wandsworth Borough Council need evidence that Putney High Street really is as bad as everyone says then this surely is it. I never thought I could ever miss the Litten Tree. The Litten Tree! That's how bad this place is. The rating should be a minus number as even walking straight past it (through the puke) makes me angry.

27 Sep 2006 10:01

The Cat's Back, Wandsworth

This depresses me. I suppose we _should_ be grateful it wasn't just bulldozed, but in truth the Cat's Gone already. What's left is a fake. The fact they carefully took down all the tat, dusted it down, repainted the walls and then put all the tat back where it was _should_ make me feel happy, but I'm sorry - it just doesn't. It's a bit like when they changed the set on 'Cheers': It sort of looks the same but I have the queasy feeling I'm being cheated. But it was always going to happen. Hidden gems can never stay that way. And at least, apart from the horrible new punters from the horrible new flats, the faux-Cat's Back is still a pretty good pub.

27 Sep 2006 09:15

The Bell Inn, Harborne

Oh dear. I have such fond memories of this pub it was tragic to go back last month for the first time in 10 years or so. Tatty. Smelt of stale food. Back bar full of grumpy couples unhappily toying with huge platters of dull-looking 'pub-fayre'. Garden a concrete jungle. Piped music - outside.

The beer was still good and the staff seemed chirpy
enough, but what a waste of a great pub. Really sad to see this one slip.

5 Sep 2006 21:55