Three Fishes, Lower Sunbury, Sunbury-On-Thames

Ancient timber beamed local, handy for the bus terminating point outside. Very old-school, with low ceilings and lots of aged woodwork, there is a public bar one side of the central servery with darts, and a lounge the other rather dominated by a large TV, with a smaller parlour area off possibly once used for food but no sign of that now. Sadly the solitary handpump was also out of use leaving keg GK IPA as the only bitter. The general feel is that it was a bustling pub a few decades ago but is now clinging on to life - what a shame.

Bombardier and London Pride were available here. The Pride was OK, but nothing special. I didn’t see any menus, but we were in there mid-afternoon on Monday so they may have stopped serving. There are two separate, but inter-connected, rooms, separated by a central bar and servery. I sat in the room on the right, which looks as if it was the original saloon or lounge bar. This room had another smallish seating area, containing just a handful of tables and chairs, leading from the rear of it. The ceiling is very low in here, with black painted posts and beams in order to give it a country pub look. Furnishings are traditional banquettes with standard tables, all of which had a spray of carnations on them. There was a large TV on the wall, which was tuned to a music channel called “Bliss” in order to provide the music. Not really bliss as far as I’m concerned, but it wasn’t too loud, so not too annoying. An odd feature that I spotted was the fireplace on the right, with the flue shaped a bit like a coal scuttle, and with the wood to be burned held in a metal frame a couple of feet above the grate. It looked an interesting feature, although I’m not sure if it’s ever used.