The Victoria, Surbiton

A good sized Victorian high street pub,a largish central bar with rooms either side ,five hand pumps in each side although they are mirror image so five beers in all.Being a Youngs pub four were from the Wells stable being Youngs Bitter and Special,Wells Bombardier and Waggle dance along with a guest of Twickenham Naked Ladies ,I plumped for the latter and it was OK rather than outstanding,what wasn't OK was being charged the odd and rather flamboyant price of £4.19.I did note from the tariff on the wall after my purchase I could have had a pint of Youngs ordinary for £3.57,(assuming the tariff was up to date) ,I obviously paid the price for choosing the guest beer.A nice enough pub but the beer I tried wasn't worth anywhere near the price paid so unlikely to revisit in the near future.

The structure of the pub remains as described by previous reviewers. The pub itself was built sometime around the middle of 19th Century, and was thus part of the early expansion of the town, but the pub fitting we now enjoy was probably late Victorian. The bar back, screening (or what remains of it), bar counter and etched and cut glass in the doorways and elsewhere all look to be late Victorian. The other thing that I noticed here was the ship’s bell from the MAV Antwerp, presumably used to indicate drinking up time. For a Young’s pub the ale choice is pretty good, with Young’s Special, London Porter, Bombardier, Directors and the guest ale of Brain’s SA being available. I didn’t see when food was available, but being a Young’s pub I would expect it to be when people usually want to eat. The usual pub grub is available, with steak & ale pie, mash and veg at £9.25, and sausage & mash at £7.50. I thought this was a comfortable pub in which to while away an hour or two, with various drinking areas to sneak into to excape the crowds. I enjoyed my time in here sufficiently to follow up my excellent pint of Brain’s SA with a couple of pints of equally excellent London Porter. I reckon that this is probably one of surbiton’s better pubs.

Disappointing plain and dull.