Graveney and Meadow, Tooting, SW17

Visited 23/09/24 No cask. Limited keg offering of Amstel, Inch's cider, Tiny Rebel (which one not revealed), Guinness, Brixton (again I assume Reliance Pale Ale as a counter to the lager choices) and Red Stripe. Large venue with bar on the left-hand wall and a U shaped counter with a divider (on staff side) dividing it into two halves! Stone floor, old tiles, there were a couple of booth tables in the front window and a couple of yellow velvet sofas in the left-hand back corner but other than that regular tables thought the front part. Ceiling is beamed with lots of warm white fairy lights in the part at the very front of the venue. Taking a right turn at the open kitchen opposite the bar takes you into the similar back part of the inside of the venue, nothing much different apart from the banquettes along the left- and right-hand walls. There was a large area outside at the back, but I didn't venture to investigate as the weather meant you wanted to be inside as much as possible today. Apparently, the venue does quizzes on subjects like Taylor Swift so no prizes for guessing the target demographic here.

This is a late Victorian pub and quite a plain one too, originally known as the Horse & Groom. I’m not sure where the current name comes from, but not being pub-like isn’t a great way to attract customers; the current name sounds like a firm of undertakers. A Moby mentions, it’s a bit bohemian, with seemingly nothing of the original pub remaining, other than some seemingly very old dark wood creaky stairs to the lavs. With a flagstone floor, walls are either floral wallpaper, mustard yellow or bare brick, with knickknacks and some trendy prints. There are exposed black ceiling rafters, light coming from modern sconces. There’s an open kitchen and a room to the rear from which clapping emanated; further investigation revealed and open mic night. There were bored games and an off-centre bar with metal top and a front which appears to have been fashioned from lockers, painted brick red. Customers were few in number compared to the other six pubs visited along this strip, but they were young professional types. There are now no ale pumps, the choice being Gamma Ray, Amstel or Staropramen at £2.75 a half, served by a grumpy yet noncommunicative barman. This isn’t a great place by any standards, the lack of ale diminishing the appeal, but perhaps it redeems itself in the form of the variety show; it’s certainly better than the Long Room.

Official site of Graveney and Meadow - graveneyandmeadow.com

Official site of Graveney and Meadow - graveneyandmeadow.com

One room Antic pub with the bar to the left. Somewhat uncomfortable cinema type seating. Two reversed hand pumps so I had a Leffe which tasted like Leffe always does.

A kind of bohemian mix of cafe restaurant and bar,obviously food led but an interesting buzz about the place. The interior walls were a mix of exposed brick and retro ,floral wallpaper, in the best Antic tradition. There was just the one cask beer on, Little Beer Corporation Little Geyser, which was very good but obscenely expensive at £5,50 a pint, given I had just had a pint of the same strength beer in fellow Antic pub The Antelope a couple of hundred yards down the road at £3.20, they are obviously targeting a particular type crowd, one I'm not in.