The Sporting Page, Chelsea, SW10

Official site of The Sporting Page - thesportingpage.co.uk

Official site of The Sporting Page - thesportingpage.co.uk

Neatly presented pub in a Chelsea backstreet, sporting (ho ho) a neat dark grey exterior paintwork with a white horse and jockey motif. Enter via a pleasing convex doorway and lobby. A dog-leg shaped interior which has been modernised but in a restrained way with no garish touches. Plenty of sporting prints on the walls as to be expected, alongside a large drop-down screen showing the rugby. Six pumps but disappointingly only ales two on, a fairly uninspiring choice of Doom Bar and Adnams Lighthouse (the latter was fine) plus plenty of crafty cans. Staff were a little haphazard – the barmaid who served my friend suggested a suggested a lager when a request for stout was put in (there were indeed at least two stouts available). Ate here and the food was fairly priced given the location. Service was swift. All-in-all it’s a decent local pub but not one to necessarily make the diversion for. 6.5

This is a nice upmarket pub down a pleasant Chelsea backstreet, marrying a gastro pub look with an extensive list of live sports coverage. You enter past a row of comfy looking pavement seats into a wide but shallow room with bare floorboards throughout and the servery directly opposite the entrance, running along most of the rear wall. The bar has a wood panelled counter and a decent bar back which is partly white tiled in the section devoted to coffee and cocktail making. There is space for three tables with standard chairs to the left of the entrance and a similar layout to the right as well, although there is additional seating to the rear here, once past the end of the bar. One curved banquette adds a bit of variety to the seating options, but things are fairly straightforward and it all looked pretty comfortable but also ideal should you decide to eat. A lot of old sports themed paintings and photos have been hung on the walls, with a pair of cricket bats flanking the front door, and there were large TV screens at either end of the room which seem to regularly feature sports coverage - in this case, Ireland's quarter final exit from the Rugby World Cup. Various blackboards detailed upcoming sporting events and the menus listed some decent sounding food, with most of the mains coming in at around £11, which seemed reasonable enough for the area. The pub has appeared in recent editions of the Good Beer Guide and there were six handpulls on the bar dispensing three ales - Sambrooks Wandle, Colchester Jack Spitty and Vale GMT. I tried a pint of the latter, which came in at £4.00 and I thought it was in very good shape. The bar staff seemed cheery enough and the barman and I exchanged disbelieving looks as around 100 people on roller blades coasted to a halt at the junction outside the pub. Chelsea isn't the sort of place I would ever considered heading to for a pint, but having found myself in the area, I was very pleased to alight upon a proper pub with well kept ale. The place obviously won't be to everyone's taste, but I thought they had found a good balance here and as long as you can time your visit to avoid the inevitable football crowds, this must be the pub of choice when in the neighbourhood.

This pub has now been given an exterior black paint job, which seems to be the colour of choice for upmarket, supposedly chic, pubs. There are a few aluminium tables and chairs outside on the pavement. The main entrance is two convex curved doors, which is an unusual feature. Inside it’s a single room pub, with all the tables on the right laid for diners, and with just three tables, plus benches, on the left apparently for drinkers. Obviously this pub is an upmarket food-led establishment. It’s one of those sort of places that are typical for this well-heeled area – blue/charcoal painted bar counter front; large ice bucket and orange & lemon container on the bar counter; sprigs of daffodils on the bar counter and tables set for diners. Someone came in to book a table for dinner that evening – it’s that sort of place. On the plus side there are no fruit or games machines, the small TV on the wall was switched off, and the background music was just that, being played very quietly. More plus points are for the ale choice of Sharp’s Doom Bar, Meantime London Pale Ale, Purity Mad Goose, as well as Old Rosie cider on tap. The Mad Goose was excellent and at the not too extortionate price (for this area at least) of £3.45 a pint. The menu was on a chalkboard on the back wall. Unsurprisingly it was not at pubco pub grub prices, with main courses around the £9 - £10 mark. I was in there early on a weekday lunchtime when it was very quiet, but I’m not sure it would be quite so comfortable if you were in on a busy evening and just wanted a drink as it appeared that seating for drinkers was limited. But I enjoyed my visit – the excellent pint being a contributory factor – and would be happy to drop in again at a quiet time.