Jolly Gardeners, Putney, SW15

Official site of The Jolly Gardeners - www.thejollygardenerssw15.co.uk

I’ve not much to add to Maldenman’s review. It’s certainly not the backstreet pub that I remember from nearly 30 years ago. The quiz night was certainly very well attended and was undoubtedly the most raucous one that I had encountered. Still, I’ve no objection to people having a good time, but it’s not the sort of pub that I would make a beeline for – at least not on quiz nights. Maybe it’s a different place at lunchtimes. But I really enjoyed the pint of Brewdog Alpha Dog, and at £3.25 a pint not exorbitant for this part of town Main meals were in the £7 - £10 range, and a Sunday roast at £8.50 was advertised.

This is a seemingly fairly upmarket back street pub in an affluent area. One largish space around a central bar, dark stained wood floors, plenty of sofas plus more traditional seating, odd large pictures of a gardener plus a row of watering cans laid out on the nearby river wall. The extensive chalkboard menu suggests it may be a bit foody, but the prices seemed about the norm for this part of the world. No one was eating however, as our visit coincided with the pub's Tuesday quiz night. The pub was packed, without a seat available, with the majority of the clientele being mid-late 20's, early 30's. The bar had four ales on, and we soon realised there was some sort of mini festival going on. The helpful barmaid handed us leaflets with a list of 10 on, last night's choice were Brew Dog Alpha Dog, Black Sheep Golden Sheep, and Wychwood Wychcraft. The other pump had Pride, I suppose this is a house regular although what normally appears on the other three pumps I don't know. The festival finishes on 7th August. The fonts contained three ciders, Addlestones, Aspells and one called Hogan. There was also one carrying a North American craft beer called Blue Moon. Unable to find a seat and not being part of the quiz, we moved outside to the garden/terrace to the front, however we were soon asked to return inside as this area has to close at 10pm, presumably to appease the neighbours. Back inside the quiz soon wrapped up, only to be replaced by fairly loud and intrusive music, shouty voices etc, not helped by the hard furnishings. It seems to be a pub for the younger set, in the evenings in any case, perhaps the afternoon clientele are different. This does however lead on to the four handpumps and beer festival. A look around revealed few people drinking the real ales, most on wine or continental lagers, so where does the throughpull come from? There were however lots of different beer mats around the bar. Perhaps we just hit the pub on the wrong evening.

Official site of The Jolly Gardeners - www.thejollygardenerssw15.co.uk

I walked in here and was hit by a very friendly greeting from the barmaid and a strong smell of incense. The strange chill out music and the lack of other people had me wondering whether I had fallen unconscious. Only the Deuchars was on with premium lagers and Frulli and my pint of lager was a little dubious to say the least. There is an array of different seating from high stools to sofas along with a nice fireplace. There is also covered and uncovered seating outside the front of the pub. This is not a bad pub, but it's nothing to write home about.