The Woodman, Battersea High Street, SW11

This is a Hall & Woodhouse pub, but just Tanglefoot and Badger Bitter on during my visit. The Badger was in good nick, and at £3.10 a pint fairly reasonably priced. I didn’t spot any menus or see any sign of food being available, but at 3.00 PM on a Thursday perhaps I was too late. The pub itself is nothing special. It’s clearly had a makeover at some time in the last couple of years or so, and it probably hasn’t resulted in an improvement. Philip Carter’s exterior photograph from 2007 shows a more welcoming facade than its current appearance, especially the fact that the mural of a woodman has been replaced by a large sign advertising the “quality pub & dining”. The interior has a modern look, no doubt designed to give it a more sophisticated and chic look. There’s an island bar facing you as you enter, with a modern looking pine coloured top and battleship grey painted top, and the walls are a greenish duck egg colour. There are some armchairs and sofas at the front, some banquette seating on the right plus some standard tables and chairs. There was another largish room at the back beyond the bar counter containing more standard seating. They probably show sport (although I didn’t see any advertised) because there was a large pull-down screen (but rolled up during my visit) in one of the corners at the front. I reckon that this is a pub that someone has tried to make look more sophisticated in order to attract a more chic crowd, but is probably in an area where they just can’t cut it. The commercial radio station being played didn’t help much either, although perhaps they want to attract an evening crowd, and are not too fussed about one old bloke who drops in for a pint in the middle of the afternoon. But on the plus side they did serve up a decent pint of Badger Bitter. I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit again.