The Crooked Billet, Wimbledon Common, SW19

Dating from the early 18th century, this has been in Young’s care since 1888, expanding into a neighbouring cottage in 1969. The location is attractive and idyllic, situated overlooking a small green space just to the south of Wimbledon Common. The interior is a bit ‘olde worlde’, with some flagstone flooring then bare boarded to the rear modern restaurant, but there are typical pastel shades of smoky blue or sage green and a ‘60s’-looking modern plank/t ‘n’ g bar back, with traditional furniture – some booth-style dining to the rear – with a few eclectic prints. Customers were locals of a very mixed age, so mixed in fact that the pub seemed also to double as a crèche, with lots of little children running round underfoot at the time of my Saturday 8.25pm arrival. A Young’s lineup of Original and Special was augmented with Wimbledon SW19 at £3.10 a half and dull, but despite the upmarket location, 20p a half less than at the awful GK Prince of Wales in the town centre, dished up by a friendly barman. This place is about ok, but as others have mentioned, the Hand in Hand next door is more authentic, less child orientated and has a far better cask lineup, despite the Young’s stewardship.

Very much on the modernised and gastro side of things,with wooden flooring and lots of exposed brick walls. Four handpumps on the bar providing a choice of Young's Bitter, Special and Hummingbird as well as Rosie's Pig cloudy Cider,also a mid range of craft stuff on keg and in bottles. Its not worth a dedicated trip here but worth a look when doubled up with The Hand In Hand a few yards up the road.

The Crooked Billet is a really nice looking pub in a nice location close to Wimbledon common. Once inside there were a few different rooms and all these had a cosy feel to them and looked olde worlde. This pub is a Youngs tied house and there were three real ales on the bar i had a drink of Youngs bitter and this was a very nice drink the other beers were Youngs Special and Winter Warmer. I thought this was a really nice pub and well worth the walk up hill from the station. Pub visited 14/12/2002

This is a large, multi roomed Young's pub situated near Wimbledon Common, which has a real country pub feel to it. There is a lot of bare brickwork, some nice carpets and a good variety of furniture, most of which has a bit of a rustic feel to it - none of your standard pub tables and chairs here. A central fireplace provides a nice focal point in the busy front room and there were plenty of people sat around it on a bracing February afternoon. There is a second bar in a room to the rear, connected by another area which has a few seats as well. We stopped in here for some food and found most main courses were around £10, which seems to be the going rate in this type of pub. I thought the food was pretty good quality, so I wasn't grumbling too much about the price. The staff were very friendly and helpful and the day's papers were available at the bar. Beer choice was a little wider than in many Young’s pubs with Ordinary, Special, London Gold and Bombardier supplemented by Courage Directors and Sambrooks Wandle. I tried a pint of the Wandle and found it to be in reasonable condition. A good place to stop off after a walk across the Common, although there is another Young's pub virtually next door which may well be better, but I found this place served its purpose well enough.