The Lucky Rover, Chessington

Originally operating as a grocers and butchers, the Lucky Rover has been around since at least the 1850’s when the area began to expand after the improvements made to what is now Hook Road and the introduction of the railway through Surbiton. Today this is a relatively cosy and relaxing pub that, when I lived in Hook 30 years ago, was better known to me for its bus stop than its beers. Externally, the building still retains a cottage like character with a couple of benches on the pavement outside. Inside, the bar is divided into a main bar with a small side section to the left hand side in what appears to have once been a separate but rather narrow building. Both bars are carpeted and similarly decorated with a few brass bits, plates, dangly pots and pans, a couple of flat screen TV’s and in the main bar, a jukebox and a small face-on [portrait of the pub. The smaller side has a signed London Irish rugby shirt on display above the fireplace and from the few Guinness related odds and sods I suspect there is a bit of an Irish presence within the ownership or management. The 3 hand pumps contained Harveys Best (doubkled up on 2 pumps) and Courage Best. The Harveys at £3.10 was the most expensive pint in town but not what I would call unreasonable for Surrey and the quality was at least better than some of its competitors. The presence of London Drinker magazines shows that they do at least show some interest in their beers. If I still lived in Hook I would certainly make more use of the place now than I did all those years ago although the pub isn’t really anything so special that it would warrant a specific journey.

The Lucky Rover is a small U-shaped pub with a couple of plasma screens for showing horse racing and a jukebox that was playing some classic rock hits when I visited one evening just before Christmas. There’s a little fireplace that was crackling away as some locals enjoyed a game of poker. As I was half way through a decent pint of Guinness a couple of blokes sat next to me and stared up a game of cribbage meaning that half of the people in the pub were engaged in some sort of gambling card game. This was the quietest place I encountered during a crawl of the area, but everyone seemed to be local and I was made to feel very welcome. Alongside a standard draught selection the bar supports three hand pumps, two of which were drawing Harveys Best and the other Courage Best pump was off. There are three picnic tables set back from the path outside the front of the pub and a bus stop is directly adjacent. I liked it in here and would have no problem returning.