The Woodman, Battersea

I'm afraid the Woodman no longer has the Fruities, pool table or most importantly the dartboard as described above. Why not? Because a Landlord with the charm and charisma of a dung beetle moved in and decided there weren't enough Gastro pubs in the area. Oh, how we mocked his talk of getting 'a really good chef in' and quietly seethed about the missing dartboard. Being tucked away on Battersea High Street we thought he couldn't possibly draw the food punters in. We were wrong. The 'jus' has been flowing ever since, but in all honesty the food I've sampled has been nothing to write home about. The crying shame is that when we first stumbled upon this establishment it was what can only be described as a 'proper boozer'. A place with the odd happy hour, a place for playing Jenga or Trivial Pursuit and yes, a place for a good ol' game of arrows over a quiet pint.
Maybe it needed a little bit of tweaking but it was a nice 'local's local�, without a lingering thought that it might kick off at any minute for looking at someone's pint.

So where are we now? Well, I'm still there every weekend so they must be doing something right. It's very near to where I live (which helps) and the HB on tap is very nice. Apart from a couple of long term friendly staff (not the Landlord!) they do seem have a high turnover of bar staff. The regulars at the bar are a mix of born and bred locals and 'professionals' (although maybe a bit unfair to refer to them as 'Hugh Grant look alike twerps' - you might see a couple of �celebrities�, say someone from a nineties boy band or a very drunk actress from a certain religion themed BBC One sitcom talking about a particular form of feminine waxing!) You're better off going to The Castle if it's sunny as the 'garden at rear' is not exactly a sun trap (unfortunately, the Landlord can't be blamed for that). Most of the paintings on sale look like a GCSE Art student did them. Oh, and one last thing... Why suddenly decide the pub does need a big screen for the sport and then erect it in the most cramped and ridiculous space, necessitating anyone sitting on the sofa to move, and enabling about three people at the bar to see the screen? For the benefit of the Landlord perhaps?
Right, I'm off for a pint...

15 May 2005 14:44