The Boaters Inn, Kingston Upon Thames

After a nice walk in the sun along the Thames path, this pub makes an ideal stop-off point, being located right on the riverbank at the northern corner of Canbury Gardens. The interior is of the modern, gastro pub variety and is surprisingly small, despite having been opened out nicely to ensure lots of light gets in. It was doing a great trade on a recent sunny Saturday afternoon with a mixture of local youngsters and family groups filling up the benches in the shaded beer garden and the small riverside terrace section. There were five pumps but only two were operational when I arrived. There was Hog's Back Spring ale and a faultless pint of Twickenham Spring Ale available, the latter at £3.10. Food was proving popular with many visitors although a quick glance at the menu suggested that the pub was taking advantage of their location to put the prices up. Worth a look, especially if they can put a few more of those pumps to use.

Pleasant location right on the river bank and in a parkland setting. The interior has a modern feel, an L shaped room, wooden floors with occasional rugs, a mixture of seating types including high tables and stools and a few sofas as well as the more traditional. A narrow terrace directly overlooks the river and there are a few typical benches set outside. An impressive line up utilising all five handpumps and not including any of the usual suspects; a good local feel too to the selection. Sambrooks Brewery Wandle, Surrey Hills Ranmore Ale, Pilgrim Silver Sovereign, Hogs Back TEA, and Brakspears Bitter. I have to say the Ranmore was superb and just the job on a hot afternoon following a river walk from Richmond. Whitelands Farm Hampshire "Cirrus Major" cider and "Midnight Perry" also on from plastic barrels behind the bar. A blackboard says Twickenham Summer Gold and Hogs Back Summer Ale coming soon. Live Jazz advertised for Sunday evening (21st June) but not sure if a regular venture. Reading other reviews perhaps I struck lucky today with the beer range but I'm not compaining, first class selection in a great riverside setting.

It’s quite a reassuring sight when walking up to a pub you see the “Locale” sign displayed on the door. And it wasn’t an empty promise – they did Twickenham Old Original; Twickenham Smiler’s Ale; Sambrook Wandle; Hogsback OTT; and Pilgrim Porter. They also did the rarely seen Bitburger lager. I went for the Twickenham Smiler’s as that was a new one for me, and very nice it was too (at £3 a pint). This pub enjoys a superb setting right on the river, and there are some picnic benches on a patio outside, as well as a grassed area that would be nice in the summer. Inside it’s a single room bar, with a varnished bare-boarded floor, except that there is a raised area to the left as you go in that has some rugs to break up the expanse of floorboards. Furniture is mainly normal tables and chairs, plus a couple of settles. I saw that there was a TV tuned to Sky Sports, but muted during my weekday lunchtime visit. Some of the décor on the walls was a bit modernist for my taste, but I can see that artistic touches like the red rose on each table would probably be an attraction for a lady. On its own such a touch is not a deciding factor, but adds to the overall refined atmosphere. The food menu is a bit more “haute cuisine” than it was a year or two ago; gone are the pub staples like a cheap burger and chips. The food is inevitably more expensive than it was. As I was ready to eat I ordered the ploughmans lunch, which although of good quality, was, I though, a little expensive at £8. But there were a fair number of people in for lunch, so the pub style appears to be working. It’s not what I would call a drinkers’ pub, but more a destination pub for those wanting to eat in an attractive riverside setting. Superb ales, superb setting by the river – worth paying a bit more than the going rate for the food I suppose. I imagine that I’ll be back some time, probably with Mrs R in tow.