Fire Stables, Wimbledon Village, SW19

Bar restaurant that feels very foodie. 1 real ale and various “craft keg”.

A comfortable large bar/restaurant, with lots of dark wood and muted colours giving a lounge bar feel. The layout is slightly strange, presumably due to its historic origins, and you enter through a side hallway and pass the kitchen on the way in. It extends back in a couple of areas and is bigger than it first appears. Sadly the sole handpump is now unused, with a row of keg fonts dispensing 3 craft IPAs, 3 lagers and a cider. The emphasis is very much on the restaurant though.

Official site of Fire Stables - www.firestables.co.uk

Official site of Fire Stables - www.firestables.co.uk

This pub has now lost its title as the only Young's pub without real ale. I saw "real ale" advertised on a board in the entrance and decided to test that assertion - and had a swift half of the excellent Winter Warmer (£1.90 a half). That was the only ale on offer, but that's a very good start. I gathered from the lady behind the bar that the usual ale is Young's London Gold, but occasioanlly replaced by other Young's ales. There were also three of Meantime's keg beers, including their (presumably seasonal) Octoberfest. This is a food based pub, although I didn't get to see a menu. But there's the gastro feature of an open view kitchen, and a room at the back had all the tables laid for diners. A dollop or two of gastro grey, both inside and outside the pub, enhances its gastro credentials. Inside there's loads of exposed brickwork, and some unusual decor on the walls, such as ancient tennis racquets (of course), gilt framed mirrors, and small grey painted chairs (yes, hung on one of the walls!). Furnishings are mainly solid scrubbed tables, with the increasingly seen mish mash of mismatched chairs (and that's not easy to say!), a couple of sofas - but no tall tables or tall stools. There are no fruit or games machines, and I didn't see any TVs. This is he sort of place that sees itself as upmarket (just like everywhere in Wimbledon Village) that wouldn't tolerate vulgar and plebeian pastimes. But for all that it's a distinct improvement now that it does a real ale. But it's very different to when it was The Castle, and well known to the late Ollie Reed as one of the pubs on the "Wimbledon 8" Wimbledon Village pub crawl. It's not the sort of place I usually frequent, but nonetheless I did enjoy a relaxing half-hour in here.

This Youngs pub is a modernised and rather bland affair, with grey wallpaper and exposed brick and sky-high prices; With only one ale on handpump, I chose to go for a pint of Kirin Ichiban and was charged just shy of £4 for the privilege. Clientele comprise unsurprisingly of well-heeled Wimbledon village types. My dad tells me this once used to be a traditional locals boozer - bit of a shame it couldn't have stayed that way for a bit longer.