Old Sergeant, Wandsworth, SW18

Official site of Old Sergeant - www.theoldsergeant.co.uk

Official site of Old Sergeant - www.theoldsergeant.co.uk

This is a former Youngs pub that has been opened out by their pub refurbishment team, but in this case, the remaining open-plan room is thankfully still quite compact, making it feel like a cosy enough place to relax over a pint or two. Two front sports now both lead into the same room, which has bare boards throughout, broken by a nice colourful rug to the far right. The walls have low wood panels with plain painted and wood-effect uppers, whilst the bar is positioned centrally along the rear wall and has a nice curved counter that extends quite far out into the room, with lots of space between it and the attractive dark wood bar back. A very large high table with a great many stools around it, fills the space directly opposite the bar and the table had a surface that is so uneven, it turned the simple act of putting your pint down into a thrilling game of chance. Over to the left, standard tables and chairs have been arranged around a small arched fireplace with a bright image on the TV screen above and various pictures covering a disparate array of subject matter on either side. The room runs a short way back here, possibly giving access to a beer garden - I didn’t fully explore. The right side of the room has more high tables and stools, button backed banquettes and a sofa around a tiled fireplace with a carriage clock on the mantelpiece, arty prints above and another TV, this time turned off, to one side. Stairs to the rear lead up to a function room which sounded very busy, so I didn’t go up and snoop around. Pop tunes were playing quietly in the background and aside from the large crowd in the function room, there was only one other group of customers on a Tuesday evening. The pub is no longer tied to Youngs and as such, the two cask ales - Engine Pale Ale and Ram St Special - had instead been sourced from the Sly Beast Brewery, who brew just up the road in part of the old Ram Brewery. The lone barmaid poured me a pint of the Engine Pale Ale whilst taking a reservation on the phone - nice multi-tasking - which I thought was pretty good and definitely a big improvement on the usual Ordinary or Special options associated with this part of town. At £4.15, it was also competitively priced/ I liked this place and thought they’d done a good job of softening some of the interior design disasters Youngs no doubt inflicted before they left. The place felt comfortable and well presented with some interesting beer to top things off. You can’t really class this as anything like a destination pub, but if you’re crawling around Wandsworth, it would be worth the effort of a short detour to check it out.

Another Youngs pub but seems to be a bit scruffier than on my previous visit.Many as there were only a few customers I could see more of the pub.Youngs -original and Cityscape on cask.Some outside seating to front.

Finishing off the Wandle Trail and the Camra guide to london pubs suggested this was the place in Wandsworth. Nothing wrong with it - three Youngs Real Ales on and the Special was fine - but nothing that would demand a revisit. Photos at my walking blog - http://mappiman.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/120316-wandering-wandle.html

I was in here recently for a CAMRA meeting, held upstairs in the John Young Room. This room has masses of Young's memorabilia on the walls and in cases. It's worth a look if it's accessible during normal opening hours. As well as the Young's ales you would expect, they also had on a couple of guests - McMullen's Cask, and Otter Amber (£3.50 a pint). This is probably the best pub in Garratt Lane, although that isn't saying a lot. It's worth dropping in for a pint if you're in the area.