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Duke's Head, Wallington
Wallington
SM6 0AA
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Duke's Head
Situated on Wallington Green and looks pretty nice from the outside. Reading reviews elsewhere it sounds like I missed out by visiting here after the Youngs wrecking crew turned up. So anyway, enter to what I assume is the last surviving part of the old interior, a loveliness of floor-to-ceiling wood panelling and impressive curved bar with three pumps for show. Mid-section holds the dispense, six pumps with Youngs Bitter doubled and two off (no clip turned or sign) so a measly selection of Bombardier, Youngs Bitter and Youngs Gold on offer. My half of the latter was warm, pump tired and quite possibly aspiratored. Further on is a light, airy and bland dining section. A disappointment, perhaps worth a quick look at the old wood panelling but that’s about it. 5.5
On 1st July 2017
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Dukes Head
This large Young's pub and hotel has a pleasant location in front of Wallington Green and presents a large multiple roomed interior which has been much altered over the years. Entering through the door to the left of the pub, you find yourself in a rather bland lounge area with a lot of comfy seating options and a few run of the mill black and white photos on the walls. The room gives way into the main bar - a lovely dark panelled room with an attractive curved servery, split in two by a pillar. A nice fireplace stands in a front alcove and some interesting old paintings line the walls, with a smattering of seating and plenty of standing room at the bar. One particularly interesting feature here is the strange looking clock that dates back to the pub's 1930's refitting. This is undoubtedly the nicest part of the pub, although I hadn't visited prior to Young's 2012 refurbishment works, so sadly I can't compare it to its former state. The room turns 90 degrees here, into a second bar with a long stretch of bar down the left side and some huge beams above, painted white. A seating area opposite the bar offers bucket chairs in front of a brick fireplace and a TV showing Sky Sports News. Further on, into a newer extension, there is a restaurant with modern décor, a neutral colour scheme and some enlarged images of old train tickets to Wallington station on the walls. Doors open out onto a sizeable rear garden although the view out the front over the Green is far more preferable.
The bar has several banks of handpulls but they were all offering the same three beers - Young's Ordinary, Special and Hummingbird. I tried the latter, having never encountered it previously, and was let down by a poor flat pint that I struggled to get through. The keg options included Young's London Stout and Aspalls Cider.
There are a few glimpses of the wonderful pub this clearly once was, but too much of it has a bland, corporate feel and I found it difficult to settle down anywhere. It's a shame and I wonder if it will drop off CAMRA's inventory of historic interiors as a result. I'm glad I've finally visited but I just wish I'd got there a couple of years earlier.
On 21st August 2014
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Nick Davies left this review about The Dukes Head
In the twelve months since I wrote the review below Young's criminal wrecking team has been in as predicted and destroyed seventy years of history. The public bar has been knocked through though it still remains vaguely separate but has no character whatsoever, just another leather sofa clone bar. And so it goes on all the way round, the decorations all gone, the traditional pub furniture replaced by a few too-big tables and therefore much less seating space; all completely out of keeping and making it totally devoid of atmosphere. You could be any pub of the genre.
Its one redeeming feature was that the Ordinary was spot on when I called and about the only reason one would now want to visit.
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This is a Grade 2 listed mid-Victorian pub situated in the original village of Wallington on what was the village green, and this little corner remains a conservation area. The centre of activities moved half a mile south when the railway came and the area got swallowed up by suburbia. Well described Rex below, a thirties refurbishment remains remarkably well preserved, especially the snug and public bar, through the three rooms to the right would have been knocked through more recently and the crass hotel and restaurant extensions came later still. However all of this is in grave danger. Young's had a planning application in last year for alterations which fortunately got knocked back. With Young's being what they are these days that is unlikely to hold them back. Even if they aren't allowed to do anything internally the interior isn't listed and they are likely at any time to perpetrate a similar act of barbarity to that done to the Greyhound down the road.
It's a pub well worth vistiting; catch it while you can.
On 18th January 2013
- rating: 5
[User has posted 567 recommendations about 559 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Dukes Head
This is a Young’s pub, but with Sharp’s Doom Bar as a guest when I was in there at Wednesday lunchtime. Food is available – in fact there was a single sheet lunchtime menu on the tables. The sandwiches were quite substantial and reasonably priced at £4 to £5, with a handful of chips for an extra £1. Main courses were around £8 - £12, and thus much the going rate, although I thought that the curry of the day, even with rice and naan, would have to be something pretty special for the £12.15 they were asking.
This pub is situated on Wallington Green, with a bit of grassed area and some trees separating it from the main road. It’s on the CAMRA inventory of heritage pubs, due to its inter-war fittings. The previous multi-room format is clearly discernable, in particular the snug on the left as you enter the main bar area. There’s also an original Public Bar on the left, which I only just glanced in, but was able to see that it was just a bit more basic than the main (ex Saloon Bar) room. The main room where I spent my visit retains the original wood panelling, much of which is decorated with Dickensian style prints, and the ceiling beams have hanging from them an assortment of mugs, jugs, steins and the like. It’s clearly been extended to the rear with a more recent add-on room, plus the hotel annex has been added on the right. The older parts retain the essential pub atmosphere, but overall it is an attractive pub, in a fairly attractive location, and in my view is easily the best pub in Wallington. Not everyone is a fan of Young’s ales, but I quite like them when they are kept properly (as they were here when I was in) and would be happy to visit again.
On 7th May 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]