The Manor, Malden Manor, New Malden

Occupying a prominent position on a roundabout just by Malden Manor station is The Manor, a solid looking red brick inter war pub. As we exit Malden Manor station ( Chessington line ), we see a large blue square sign – “The Manor” – on one of the brick walls facing us , and we’re immediately transported back to the days of Minder, The Sweeney etc. Outside on the pavement, a large sandwich board shows Lord Kitchener pointing sternly at us and reminding us that “Your local needs you”. Notably, there’s 3 separate entrances and bars ( although 2 are interconnecting ) and, as we enter the main large saloon bar, the time warp feel continues. In one corner is a relatively small wood panelled bar and gantry. The interior features half height wood panelling and is traditionally decorated and furnished, apart from a couple of sofas with colourful fabric covers positioned so that punters can sit and watch televised sport on the large drop down screen. At the far end of the room is a stage, which I imagine is where the advertised karaoke and occasional jazz is performed. There’s a piano here. On my recent Saturday afternoon visit, a number of locals were keenly watching the horse racing but, apart from them, the pub was just about empty. It seemed clear to me that this is a locals pub, probably deriving its trade from the nearby council estates. I imagine passing trade is negligible. Somewhat incongruously, against this background, on each table was “The Manor Wine List” – but I can’t imagine much wine is sold here, particularly as there didn’t appear to be any food available. There’s a few tables on a grass lawn outside at the back accessed through a door in the main bar which contains glass indicating that the bar was originally a “Saloon and Luncheon Room” From this bar an unmarked door takes us to the Private Bar, which is the smallest of the three bars and is the bar directly facing the roundabout. This is a comfortable well appointed room, also with a panelled bar counter. To access the public bar, we have to go outside and access directly from the street. This room is dominated by a snooker table and dartboard. The Manor is a former Hodgsons Kingston Brewery pub as evidenced by the trademark three fishes, “K” letter and beer barrel logo over each of the three separate entrances. The pub features in the CAMRA book of London Heritage Pubs. On the real ale front, beers on in the saloon were Tribute and Bombardier. The Tribute, at a notably cheap price of £ 2.95p, was pretty good. Also on, in the other two bars, were Old Hooky and Courage Best. Slightly irritatingly, I didn’t see anything in any bar to indicate that other beers were available in the other bars and I wasn’t until after I had ordered the Tribute that I saw that Old Hooky was on. The beer range was however slightly better than that reported on by Maldenman below some months ago, so maybe things are on the up. This is the type of old fashioned, unpretentious locals pub that generally seems to appeal to the more mature drinker. Whilst I’m not rushing back for an early re-visit, I’d be more than happy to drop in again sometime.

As stated below, this pub is unusual in so much as the original three bars remain intact. A fair few original features remain too such as the art deco detailing to the ceiling beams, the interconnected circles in the glazing above the doors, and the wood panelling. I took the trouble to visit all three bars,the lounge is the largest and has wooden floors with the raised area at the end carpeted and having a piano. There is some traditional seating plus a few totally garish sofas and a couple of settles. There is a scruffy bit of garden accessible from here with a few bench tables and a brick barbecue. The door to the lounge viewed from out here says "Saloon and Luncheon Room". Through a door inside to the middle room (Private Bar), a small room having a fireplace with a large mirror over, traditional seating and a few books on a shelf. You can't access the Public Bar from here as you need to go outside and back in. This room has a pool table in the middle and a dart board on the end wall. Seating is limited to just a couple of small tables and stools. A sign over the bar in here says "Irwing Golf Club, National Amateur 1907, and has a couple of clubs, one above and one below. I do not know what the significance of this is. Beer choice was pretty mundane, being Courage Best or GK IPA, but the Best was in good order. Certainly worthy of a quick look in if passing by for the interior if not for the beer selection.