The Hope, Wandsworth Common, SW17

A rather decent ale selection was available here - Doom Bar; Sunny Republic Shark Head; Brewhouse Lemon Grass; Butcombe Great Grey Owl APA; and Vale Brewery Black Beauty (£3.95 a pint). This struck me as a food led pub, but with a varied ale selection it must attract it's fair share of drinkers to sustain demand for five ales. There are also various keg offerings, such as Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Fruli, Kozel, Leffe Blonde, and even San Miguel. I didn't get to scrutinise the full menu, but I did see that sandwiches ranged from £6.75 for some odd things like "buffalo mozzarella, creme fraiche, on focacia" up to a 6oz steak, plus extras on ciabatta for £10. A chalkboard offered burgers of various types for £12.50 a go. This is now a sigle room wedge shaped pub. At the blunt end of the wedge the bar counter is up half a dozen step. Furnishings are mainly normal tables and chairs, although there are of course a few sofas sprinkled about the place, both at the lower level and surrounding the raised area near the bar counter. It's bare-boarded, and quite upmarket, with prices to match. Interesting features include long curtains framing an archway in the middle of the room (where there would once have been either a wall or screening separating different rooms), and a couple of sideboards, one bearing a phalanx of large candles presumably for deployment in the evenings. The colour scheme is essentially various shades of brown. An upmarket place like this obviously has no room for fruit machines and others of their ilk, although I did spot an ATM machine lurking in a corner, and a TV screen (switched off when I was in on Friday afternoon). There's not much in the way of decor, being mainly chalkboards with winelists and food specials, but there is one very large chalkboard bearing the most unusual feature of a graphic representation of the brewing process. Being right by Wandsworth Common, they offer plastic glasses to anyone wanting to take their drinks over the road to the Common. This is now an opened-up "pub & diner", and no longer a treaditional pub. Yet it is comfortable enough and the ale selection is good enough to warrant a visit if you're in the area.