The Victoria, Surbiton

This is a large Youngs High Street pub that is a bit of a squeeze in the narrow front bar area, but there is more seating to the left of the central bar and a large room at the rear offers more space including some booths up the left hand wall. There is also a projector screen in this back room which compliments the plasma screens found throughout the rest of the pub when Sky Sports is being shown. This pub also has Sky Sports 3D which seems to be more prevalent now than it was. There is a nice sized beer garden out the back, but the weather dictated that I would not visit it on this occasion. Pub food is served all day and there is a weekly quiz from 19:30 on Sunday evenings. There are five hand pumps on the front bar and one of these was unused, but Ordinary, Special, Bombardier and Winter Warmer were available form the working four. There are another five hand pumps with the same ales available in the larger rear bar, but the Bombardier in here had been rebadged with a Bombareindeer clip – same brew though! From what I could gather from a sign outside, this pub has an hour extension every night. Unfortunately when I visited just before Christmas there was an extremely drunk and threatening man present who kept shouting obscenities at the top of his voice and abusing the bar staff. Strangely they kept serving him and his friends to the detriment of the other customers. It did somewhat mar my experience of this pub and I would hesitate to return.

The Victoria still possesses many early if not original features, the side panels to the now single entrance door have the old bar names etched upon the glass, and the windows to the street have some fine pictures of the old lady herself. Once inside, the front area opposite the bar is very narrow, the island bar itself being highly polished dark wood with an attractive carved back section and large lanterns suspended above. Seating here is at bar stools or on leather banquettes. A fine dark wood fire surround with mirrors over remains on the right. This is my preferred area of the pub but it can get very busy in which case I would decamp to the side area on the left which is quieter and allows conversation. This area has wood panelled walls and a selection of books and board games. The pub has a much bigger room at the rear with direct bar access but it can get too busy and noisy in here. A rear yard with covered facilities extends past here. Beer wise we're talking Youngs, but the choice is certainly getting better in their busier pubs. Bitter and Special, Courage Directors, Bombardier but also Butcombe Bitter. I've spotted the Butcombe before in other Young's houses. Food menu looks ok, reasonably priced standard pub mains plus speciality pies at £4. The Sunday night quiz advertises free chip butties, good stuff.