Grantley Arms, Guildford

Attractive village pub with original half-timbered building set at 90° to the road (with a patio beer garden to the front) and a newer part in a different style facing the carriageway. Features a partly opened-out interior, with the various seating and dining areas refurbished in the usual upmarket semi-traditional Youngs style. 'Original' and Hogs Back's Tongham TEA (£5.70) being served from the four handpumps.

Travelling from east to west across Surrey, there is a definite divide between the more middle class areas to the east and the upper classes in the west. The Grantley Arms was the first place we came to where the clientele was clearly much more affluent. It is the kind of pub where parents will take young Tarquin and Millicent out for lunch followed by a few drinks. Indeed, there were almost as many children as there were adults in here. Children's activities are provided on the tables. The front room is more of a bar, but with a completely empty formal dining room to the rear, I got the impression that the residual drinkers to the front had already eaten where they were still sat. The front section is a nice environment with bare boards, board games on a windowsill and a TV above a fireplace. There are also outdoor drinking areas to the side and rear and seemingly further smaller rooms off the dining room. The regular cask ales are Surrey Hills Shere Drop & Young's London Original. A guest beer was Hogsback TEA. The cider was Aspall's. Not a bad pub, but I don't particularly enjoy the sound of screaming babies whilst having a drink.

An attractive large pub in the centre of the village which, like many in the area, is strongly focussed on diners but it does maintain a substantial bar area and is fine for drinkers also. The interior feels quite welcoming, if a little overstrewn with assorted bric-a-brac, and there are some nice corners, including a set of comfy chairs round a fireplace. It appears to be, or have been, owned by some subsidiary or offshoot of Youngs, so was offering Youngs Original along with the more-usual-locally Shere Drop and TEA - condition good. I wouldn't make a special trip but it is fine if you are in the area.