The North End Tavern, Worcester Park

This is a single room pub with a central squint ended horseshoe bar, the carpeted room wrapping around either side. Mostly standard seating, but there is one modern high table plus another at the rear right I suspect may be an unusual original feature, having footrests and what looks like a walnut surround. Apart from this, this is a pretty regular pubco offering, various daily meal deals plus drinks on offer through the week, several TVs showing the football, two sets of a pair of pumps offering Doom Bar and Youngs Bitter (£2.85) reasonable value. There is a slightly raised area to the front left, then a dartboard (with trophies on a shelf), a couple of fruit machines, cash machine and a less often seen pinball table. To the rear, the lobby opens out to a paved outdoor area. A sign caught my eye, advertising a cask ale festival from 5th April till 7th May with all cask ales at £1.99, which isn't to be sniffed at. Whether it is to be a real festival with a selection offered is another question, unanswered on the poster or the pub website.

This looks to be a fairly unremarkable obviously pubco pub on the edges of Worcester Park. It had the usual roster of games machines, cash dispenser and one-armed bandits, TV screens (but switched off at Friday lunchtime). But it was clean and tidy when I was in there. Plus post-budget prices of Young’s Bitter and London Pride at £2.09 and £2.55 a pint respectively is pretty good. Not quite down to Wetherspoon’s price levels, but good nonetheless. This pub is clean and comfortable and OK for a pint if you happen to be in the area, but nothing special enough to warrant making an effort to find.