The Rifleman, Twickenham

Named after a former local resident and dribbling footballer, this dates from around the 1870s, a pert little backstreet place, located amidst some rather gorgeous houses; of note is the increasingly rare Courage golden cockerel straddling the pole sign and the far rarer illuminated red Courage box sign, reminding me of the 1970s. The interior is simple: occluded leaded lights, rough boards, duck egg blue Anaglypta to the dado then white, an Artex ceiling displaying dark rafters from which pewter tankards hang, alongside translucent white glass shades; there’s a suitably aged woody bar array. Décor amounted to miscellaneous framed prints, all lapped up by an older crowd of well-spoken locals. There’s more good news in that the pub has been run by Twickenham Ales since July 2019 and alongside Sussex Best and Wye Valley HPA, there were Twickenham’s Daisy Cutter, Wolf of the Woods, Grandstand and naturally, Naked Ladies, £2.60 a half, tasting all the better for being glugged in Twickers, served by a very friendly landlady. This is a very nice pub, not to be overlooked by the Sussex Arms just to the north-east.

Official site of The Rifleman - www.twickenham-fine-ales.co.uk

Official site of The Rifleman - www.twickenham-fine-ales.co.uk

A backstreet pub in a residential area now taken over by Twickenham Brewery, but rather nicely still maintaining an authentic Courage exterior. Inside is a clean, modern refurb, retaining the bar, ceiling fake beams and a few other touches, but brightened up with painted walls. A large sports TV is to one side and a real fire to the other, while a corridor takes you back to a patio garden behind. Ales are mainly from Twickenham of course, in top notch condition, changing regularly and often featuring special brews. On this occasion Naked Ladies, Redhead, Winter Warmer and a small batch Coffee Porter, along with Youngs Original. A serious beer pub.

A tidy little locals pub, quiet on my early afternoon visit but I would imagine it can become quite crowded when showing the advertised rugby and football games on TV. The beer line up was exactly the same as in the previous two reviews and much like Aqualung I found it all rather boring and although my Redhead was in perfect condition its not a beer that excites me.A nice pub, shame about the mainstream and apparently unchanging beer regime.

This is a small old Courage boozer unashamed to display it's previous credentials on the external signage. Inside it's a small single bar with wooden floors and some nice black and white tiling around the bar. It is 2014 GBG listed. The problem with this place for me was the dull mainstream beer selection consisting of four regular beers, Young's Bitter, Butcombe Bitter, Landlord and Ringwood Best with the only saving grace being a varying beer from the local Twickenham Brewery which on my visit was their Redhead at £3.65. To put this price in perspective it is £1.10 dearer than the Twickenham beer in the (relatively) expensive Twickenham Spoons. This is very much a local's pub and it may well be that there are proper locals in here that enjoy what for me was a boring beer selection. As an unspoilt back street boozer I liked it a lot and the Twickenham beer means it is worth a visit. I preferred it here in some ways to the "beer and cider festival" Sussex down the road but wouldn't like to be here when the footbore is showing on one of the screens.