The Marquis of Granby, Hinchley Wood, Esher

Large carvery pub opposite the top end of Littleworth Common. Various seating areas, with the dull semi-modern furniture and decor that you would expect from a food-led outlet. Two-part patio beer garden to the side, but set back from the main road enough to be reasonably quiet. A lack of real ale was a surprise, but there are a few bottles in the fridges including Old Speckled Hen (£4.00).

This is a large pub occupying a massive site by a busy roundabout on the Portsmouth Road. I would assess it as more of a carvery restaurant than a pub. As you enter in front of you is the small desk with the restaurant bookings computer on it, manned by a young lady when I visited. To the right is the restaurant, with all tables set for diners of course. Ignoring the restaurant bookings desk, and moving to your left, you come to the bar area. You will see from the outside that colour scheme is cream and battleship grey. I didn’t venture into the restaurant, but the bar continues the battleship grey colour scheme with the walls up to the dado rail level, and the wooden beams, painted this colour. The remainder of the walls are either painted cream or had “swirly” patterned green wallpaper on them. There were some prints on the wall of nothing in particular, and certainly not worth the effort of getting up to look at them. In general I found the bar area to be a little tatty – the wooden tables were not the cleanest I’ve seen and the surfaces of some looked as if they had been scarred in some way. It’s the sort of bar you often get where dining is the rasison d’etre. There was a cash machine, a ciggy machine and a games machine in evidence. The only ale on was London Pride (at £3.00 a pint) and two pumps were unused. This looks nothing like a locals’ pub, and my guess is that this is a destination pub for those looking for a carvery meal. Its location is such that it’s not pedestrian friendly, and I expect that this will be my only visit.