The Royal Standard, Belvedere

It's got an impressive, but typical inter-war, half timbered brewers' Tudor frontage, with beige tiling at ground floor level and a Tudor arched entranceway. Inside it's bare-boarded and a bit brash and Spartan, with pop music blaring out during my Wednesday afternoon visit. There's some fielded paneling on the walls that looks original, but now painted a horrible dark cream colour, but the pub is furnished with mainly normal tables and chairs, which is of course a big plus. The glazed screen dividing the main bar area from the conservatory at the rear now features a Royal Navy ship apparently called the Royal Standard - I guess this must have been where the glass cannon Roger saw was located. The pool table's still there, and of course the conservatory leads onto the garden at the rear. One very unusual feature in here is the mainly wooden rail at the front of the bar counter, presumably for punters to lean on, with brass elephant's head fixings to the main part of the counter. There were three ales on - Young's Bitter, Doom Bar and Banks Lock 16. I didn't see any sign of food. This is a decent enough pub, but for me didn't really have the warmth and charm of the other Belvedere pubs I visited. But there's nothing wrong with it, and it had a fair number of apparent locals in enjoying themselves, a couple of them focussed on their game of pool.

The current Royal Standard was built in 1929 in place of its predecessor of the same name that dated back to 1862. The exterior is the Mock Tudor style that was popular with Breweries at the time and the deceptively long interior echoes the style of the era. The furnishings and décor are quite traditional with largely banquettes eating, paneled walls, brick arhed firplaces and a a coloured glass cannon built into one of the dividing screens. A surprisingly long open bar stretches down the right hand side. At the rear is a pool table and I also noted a Big Screen and a brace of TV’s at either ends of the pub. Beyond the pool area is an extension containing a dart board and further beyond, an attractive garden.. Of the 5 hand pumps, just 2 were in use albeit an interesting couplet of Wells Eagle and Ringwood 49’er which at £3 and £2.90 respectively, were very reasonably priced and also good quality befitting their Cask Marque accreditation. It was reasonably busy for a mid-Sunday evening with a mature and seemingly well mannered customer base and overall the place is a surprisingly decent find for an area not really noted for its pubs. One word of warning though, it closes early (9pm) on Sunday evenings.

Randomness Guide to London - Royal Standard entry

Randomness Guide to London - Royal Standard entry