The Prince Of Wales, Summerstown, SW17

Historical Note: A blue plaque commemorating musician Marc Bolan is apparently to be fixed to the building, he lived nearby and played here in his formative years.

I am pleased to report that this is still a traditional pub that has not undergone the gentrification process endured by a couple of other nearby Wells and Young's pubs. Separate public and saloon bars are divided by a leaded obscure glass screen, a third area beyond the saloon having a raised stage area and speakers for music and comedy nights. There are framed CDs and pictures of musicians in here but the feature fireplace on the back wall remains. The saloon still has the carpet with the Prince of Wales' feathers pattern, moulded ceiling and leaded windows, although a couple of these are now clear glazed, suggesting they are replacements. The public bar has a dartboard and TV and I spotted another dartboard in the back room on the stage itself. Just Youngs Ordinary Bitter on handpump (£3.20). A proper old fashioned community local of a type rarely still seen, lets hope it can remain that way. A bit more ale choice would give a higher mark but rather serve one well kept than two or three if the demand and throughpull isn't there.

Occupying a prominent street corner position on Garratt Lane is The Prince of Wales, one of a sadly rapidly diminishing breed of traditional old school Youngs pubs. It’s in an area between Tooting and Earlsfield known as Summerstown, reasonably close to where Wimbledon’s old football home at Plough Lane was. It’s a fine relatively unspoilt community local with two carpeted comfortable bars separated by a glazed wooden screen, but serviced from the same central bar counter. The interior features a splendid moulded ceiling, iron columns and a carpet bearing the Prince of Wales motif. Another room leading off one of the bars has a billiards table and a raised stage where live music and karaoke is occasionally staged – thankfully not during my recent visit. Somewhat incongruously, in this room is a fine Bass mirror. Frosted leaded windows for the main bars help contribute to a cosy welcoming feel. Along with a rare sighting of that Queen Mother framed photograph was a certificate proudly announcing that the pub scored 100 % in a recent Youngs mystery shop. There’s several dartboards and relatively unobtrusive TV screens for the benefit of the friendly locals. A fine collection of trophies above the bar attest to the darts prowess of the locals. Externally, there’s some fine glazed tiling, disappointingly now painted in a gastro pub style burgundy colouring. The entrance on Garratt Lane has a floor mosaic bearing the name “Prince of Wales”. The pub features in the CAMRA book of London Heritage Pubs. On my recent Saturday lunchtime visit, the Youngs Ordinary - £ 3.10p – was basically as good as it gets nowadays, but was the only real ale on. I do hope that the Wells and Youngs refurbishment hit squad can refrain from carrying out “improvements” to this pub. It’s not a must visit pub by any stretch of the imagination, but if you like unpretentious community orientated locals like this, do call in if you’re passing.

Randomness Guide to London - Prince Of Wales entry

Randomness Guide to London - Prince Of Wales entry

This seems very much a pretty standard locals’ pub, although as it’s a Young’s house the back room has been tarted up a bit. It still has separate Public and Saloon bars, with their own doors to the street. The Public Bar is still fairly basic, with a dartboard in place. It’s small enough that there is only room for a single one-armed bandit; that’s one too many in my opinion, but others may disagree. The Saloon Bar is a bit smarter than the Public Bar, but still retains much of its original character. The Young’s Bitter I had was pretty good – or as good as Young’s Bitter gets. There was no food menu available during a weekday lunchtime, but they did do cheese or ham rolls, and the cheese and tomato roll I had was fresh and just the job if all you want is a quick snack. I’ve been to this pub a good number of times over the years, and I’ve always felt comfortable in there. This is a decent enough little pub – clean and comfortable without being pretentious. It has now been painted red; Lord knows why anyone thinks that painting a pub red improves it. But that’s just my opinion – I suppose some people must like their pubs painted red. Anyway, it’s a rather nice pub – if one likes (as I do) these sort of unpretentious boozers.