The Griffin, Esher

Backstreet pub which was our first stop on a tour of Claygate's pubs and bars. The K3 bus stops pretty much outside. We arrived before midday and there were already a number of punters present in the patio area at the front and also in an improvised area to the side of the pub. As with the previous review, just Young's Ordinary & Sharp's Doom Bar are served on the real ale front. This is easily the most traditional of the Claygate hostelries, with a nice, old interior, which can be briefly sampled with a trip to the toilet in these strange Covid times. But the outdoor area was pleasant in the sunshine and the area is fairly quiet apart from a passing bus every now and then.

A very nice two bar pub that seems to be hanging on to its traditional values. The pub interior is still very much as Malden man describes below, four handpumps remain but with only two in use on a post bank holiday early Tuesday lunchtime, Doom Bar and Young's bitter, neither are exciting beers but the Young's was well kept. It was understanderbly quiet at the time of my visit with just a couple of blokes in the saloon side but the pub dog was friendly and came to say hello, I can imagine this pub having a good atmosphere at a livelier time of day.

This is an attractive and well looked after local which retains a two room Saloon and Public Bar format. I entered to the L-shaped Saloon which was a warm and comfortable looking room with the fire lit. There were a few framed prints and display plates in here however all the tables were set with knives and forks so I felt unsure about sitting down although I reckon I could have done. It was however deserted apart from two women with a child and what I took to be the pub dog, a large terrier, stretched out full length in front of the fire. So I chose to pass through the low door in a leaded glass and timber partition into the Public Bar where it was a bit livelier with a group of old boys chewing the fat at the bar. This room has a flagged floor, comfortable leather benches and stools along the side wall and contains a dartboard and large screen TV. It also contained a large terrier sized dog bowl, confirming my earlier suspicion. There are indications of a Spurs allegiance in here over the bar; a poster advertised a Thursday steak night (a change from curry) depending on the cut from £11-95 to £19-50. Football match deals for jugs of beer and sharing plates also advertised. I didn't see the general menus but it was clear that they do food. The four handpumps are all in the saloon, three were on, Pride, Young's Bitter and Tribute. Sadly I seem to have missed the Oakham but I think it is a regular as there were Oakham beermats about. I opted for the Tribute which was in good nick. I liked it here, if this was my local I'd be delighted, a proper old fashioned and well appointed pub with friendly service.

There were three ales on during my visit – Young’s Bitter, Pride, and Oakham JHB. The JHB was excellent, and at the standard sort of price of £3.10 a pint. I didn’t look at the menus, but they clearly do food as there was a small of diners finishing their meal at around 3.00 PM on Wednesday. There are two separate bars – on the left is what I would describe as a Saloon/Lounge Bar cum restaurant. A real log fire on the go here was a welcome sight on a cold November day. This room is nicely carpeted, is furnished with normal tables and chairs, has an assortment of prints on the walls, as well as some Delft style plates on display high up on one of the walls. The other bar can be reached via a small, low “mind your head” door from the Saloon Bar, and although I didn’t go in there I could see enough over the bar to be able to tell that it was reasonably comfortable as well. A notable feature is the leaded light windows, also bearing the names of the erstwhile brewers “Mann, Crossman and Paulin”. Some picnic benches outside at the front are available for those who want to watch the world go past (though not much of it goes past in this out of the way street) or more probably to have a smoke. I rather liked this pub, although my judgement may be influenced by the fact that it was nice and warm in here, and the first things I saw on entering were the log fire on the go and the Oakham clipped pump. It’s a nice pub, which I would be happy to visit again if I was in Claygate.