The Gazebo, Kingston Riverside, Kingston Upon Thames

The pub's selling point is clearly the riverside location. The downstairs bar is wood floored with nothing of note to make it stand out, upstairs (accessed separately from the side) the terrace bar is better and a good spot on a sunny day with the outdoor area directly overlooking the river. if you can't get a spot here the room doors fold back and the upmarket sofas and leather stools still allow the same vista. Minimalist up and downstairs, there are a few arty style river prints. Food served and seems to be the pub's mainstay. If this place served a couple or more decent real ales it would be a destination pub on a nice day however the rather dull and always freezing cold Sam Smiths keg version does not add to any allure, hence some indifference on my part. I'm sure the riverside location especially the view from the terrace will tick boxes for many people but it could be so much better.

This is not a particularly good pub, but it is certainly not an Evil Gazebo. This was my first visit to this pub for a few years, and it looks pretty much unchanged. Inside it’s very unexceptional, with a few tables and chairs; a pool table on the right; and that’s about it. It’s still a Sam Smith’s house, with nothing on handpump, although the keg Old Brewery Bitter was OK. There is an upstairs bar, with a balcony overlooking the river that is really this pub’s redeeming feature. Being here on a late sunny Sunday afternoon there were no seats outside, and there were also quite a few customers sitting on the steps at the river’s edge. The only advantage of sitting inside is the fact that you get to drink out of a glass glass rather than a plastic glass. I don’t think that I would make any effort to return to a pub with such a limited ale choice, but if you can bag a table outside on a nice day it is certainly a decent place to sit and watch the swans, and the world, go by.

Randomness Guide to London - Gazebo entry

Randomness Guide to London - Gazebo entry