The Albion, Kingston Upon Thames

I still find the Albion to be one of the better Big Smoke outlets, not too far behind the Sussex Arms in Twickenham and the Antelope in Surbiton. Having not been here since 2017, I wasn't sure what the ale and cider range would be like, but I wasn't disappointed. However, as Quinno quite rightly states, you can easily get a bad pint here and I duly did later in the evening. The full real ale range was Big Smoke Ceremony, Solaris, Cosmic Dawn & Standing Stone, Brew York Viking DNA, Ampersand The Cap Bitter, Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout, Oakham IPA & another beer from Kent Brewery which I failed to note. Ciders were Gwynt y Ddraig Dog Dancer, Big Smoke/Hogan's Country Mile, Lilley's Mango Cider & Ascension Mothership. Both the Country Mile & the Viking DNA were in fine condition. Having only had halves of those, I decided to have a pint of the 2.5% Standing Stone, with a pint of any Big Smoke beer included in the Tuesday hot dog special. I soon regretted this choice, as the beer was right at the end of the cask. Luckily for me, the barman was very apologetic and let me replace it with a pint of the 6% Ascension Mothership cider, which was a huge improvement in strength and quality. The pub itself has an L-shaped room. The front of the pub is fairly dark in nature, whilst it seems to become a bit better lit towards the rear right-hand side. Toilets are midway along the right-hand wall. After initially sitting opposite the gents, we soon decided that the smell was off-putting and moved to the far corner to a table overlooking a large outdoor seating area with patio heaters. Despite the questionable beer quality at times, I still rate this as easily the best pub in Kingston, with a good range of ales and ciders and I haven't mentioned the extensive craft beer range. With bar staff happy to exchange any dodgy pints and taking them off sale, I'm still prepared to give the Albion the benefit of the doubt and a big thumbs up.

Try-hard Big Smoke outlet. Fairly bland L shaped interior with a load of old pump clips stuck to the ceiling. Nine cask on, ‘four too many’ I mused to my companion and indeed bar the Harveys none of the others were shifting – we both (stupidly) went for the Big Smoke Stout and inevitably pint #1 was warm and flabby whilst pint #2 was better. A number of Big Smoke pubs I’ve been to have given me indifferent cask quality and this was another one…all fur coat and no knickers.

A street corner pub which has an attractive exterior,in an upmarket colour scheme and Big Smoke Brewery lettering.The interior has been largely stripped out,with a long bar opposite the entrance,a dark wooden floor and solid wooden furniture with a tea light at every table.This decor extends to the right side leading to a beer garden ,but carpeted in artificial grass.The very hot weather had resulted in flying ants taking up residence in said artificial grass so we gave up sitting on the pic nic benches. The interior has the feel of a gastro pub,although the food is quite regular pub grub and the real star should be the fantastic range of real ale and craft keg.However the hot weather led to less than satisfactory pints of Thornbridge Jaywick and Roosters Yankee. There were 5 real ciders with always three ales from Big Smoke,with a further 7 guests which included Howling Hops Pale,Siren Breakfast Oatmeal Stout and something else from Thornbridge.There is also a vast array of 20 keg taps. I was disappointed by my ale condition ,but the weather has been extreme and I would give it another go to get a better feel of this pub on the ale front.

Excellent beer exhibition pub, with 10 ales and 5 ciders on pump, plus 20 craft ales on tap. Nice garden area at rear too. There is a loyalty card for beer sales!

Situated just a short walk from Kingston town centre, the Albion is the third pub from the team behind the Sussex Arms in Twickenham, the Antelope in Surbiton and the Big Smoke Brewery. The pub has a large, open plan L-shaped layout which felt rather plain and lacking in character thanks to bare boards, sparse furnishings and limited decor. There is some sturdy looking banquette seating to the left of the entrance and a selection of tables and chairs to the right. Walls have been painted in pastel shades, with a few dark panels retained in places, whilst some visual distraction is provided by a few beer themed posters. As the room extends to the rear down the right hand side of the building, another seating area appears, with a smart row of tables to the left and low stools to the right. The bar runs along the back wall, directly opposite the entrance and has a nice dark wood counter and white-tile bar back. A nice plaster frieze skirts the ceiling in the front part of the pub and there are a lot of pump clips on display here too, including lots on the ceiling behind the bar – one of which fell down and hit the barmaid as she was serving me. Out the back there is a decent sized garden with lots of seating in between plenty of plants and a pretty good covered section for smokers. Lounge-style music played for the majority of our stay and we grabbed a bite to eat from a reasonably priced menu. There were three Big Smoke beers on the bar, plus one each from Roosters, Plain Ales, Electric Bear, Howling Hops, XT, Belleville and Thornbridge. I tried the Thornbridge Galaxia (£4.10), which was in very good shape, and sneaked a quick pint of the Belleville Thames Surf IPA before we left, which was unfortunately a little hazy and past its best. Five cider/perry options and a vast craft keg selection ensure that everyone is catered for and my other half really enjoyed her Lilley’s Mango cider. This is another good venue from the Big Smoke team and will appeal to those looking for a wide selection of beers to work through. I found the pub itself lacking in character, but that is something that will hopefully be rectified over the course of time and I can see this quickly becoming Kingston’s ‘destination’ pub.