Pratts & Payne, Streatham, SW16

This is the 3rd Antic pub I have been in and the best by miles.Nicely furnished in a quirky style with a large very busy garden to the rear.Dull keg selection but 4 real ales on.My Kings -twisted mild and Belleville -black ipa were very good.Antic pub chain is expanding at a fast rate.When I was a boy my dad used to say "stop your antics" I say continue them if they can open decent pubs like this.

Well positioned on the bust Streatham High Road, this is a former Goose pub now thankfully converted to a typically quirky Antic pub. You enter into a spacious main bar with the servery towards the rear and plenty of seating space in front, broken in part by a couple of short walls and a small shelving unit. There is an eclectic mix of seating throughout, including a disproportionate amount of armchairs, servicing tables of various sizes and shapes, with one particularly large circular table in the front corner and a small coffee table in front of a low fireplace lined with sports trophies. On the right hand wall there are some display cases full of glass and silverware items, whilst over on the left side there is a large sideboard and shelving unit which has been filled with more trophies, books, hat boxes, a table lamp and a photo montage of seemingly random people. A TV screen in the front left corner was showing the afternoon's Premier League football fixture with music playing instead of any commentary. To the rear, a sign pointed to a restaurant in a separate room behind the servery, but I didn't bother exploring on this visit. The pub seemed unusually noisy, with the sound really echoing around the room - perhaps a few rugs and other soft furnishings are needed to dampen down the sound a bit. I counted five ales on the bar - Cottage Trick or Treat, Adnams Ghost Ship, By the Horns Wimbledon Blonde, Sharp's Doom Bar and Late Knights Full Moon. Snails Bank Tumbledown Cider was also available and later on I noticed a big pot of Rekorderlig Winter Cider warming up at the end of the bar counter. I opted for a pint of the Wimbledon Blonde, which was in excellent shape and served by one of the friendly team of busy bar staff. I do enjoy the Antic pub style and thought this was a good example of what they do best. I enjoyed a good pint in comfortable surrounding with prompt, friendly service and would suggest this is probably your best bet for a decent pint in Streatham.

Next door to the local Wetherspoons is Pratts and Payne which is much improved since losing the Goose branding. The interior is L shaped with an open plan front area that is full of seating and more seating that runs up the left hand side of the pub. The bar on the back wall to the right is stocked with an interesting range of draught products and six hand pumps are supported. One of these was unused during my recent Friday afternoon visit so the five ales available were Sharp’s Doom Bar, Adnam’s May Day, Blindman’s Icarus, Thornbridge’s Jaipur and Ilkley’s Siberia. There are no televisions in here, but there was some background music playing and live music is advertised for weekends. There was also a hog roast advertised which was due to take place in the rear beer garden that I didn’t get a chance to visit on this occasion. The décor is a little quirky, but the staff are friendly and the Jaipur was spot on. I would have no problem returning here for another beer.

The former Goose is now taken over and is one of the latest additions to the Antic stable. The main area is a large room with the bar on the back wall, around to the left and behind the bar is another quieter panelled room. The usual mix and match Antic decor prevails, old unwanted furniture items, a load of Bakelite radios, heating system radiator valve clips, unattached trophies and so on. I also thought the job lot of old family B&W snaps a bit uncomfortable, especially if as thought they had come from house clearances, peoples memories and all that. Antic pubs are always a bit trendy and boho, this is no different, and you expect to find a decent ale selection, as is found here. Beers as Rex's review below, no complaints about quality.

This is one of the latest additions to the fast growing list of pubs belonging to the Antic pub company. It’s named after two erstwhile Streatham institutions – Pratts, which was a department store on on the site of the pub, and Cynthia Payne, who provided services of a very different nature to those available in Pratts. The interior follows the usual Antic model, containing a vast collection of miscellaneous odds and ends, and a mish mash of unmatched furnishings. I couldn’t work out whether there was a theme to the decor – my companion reckoned that they had got hold of a job lot of “junk” and used it to decorate a pub, and I have to say that some of the stuff on show (ancient box camera, box of 78 records, etc) looks like it might have been sourced from a house clearance. But a few things, like the board on the wall displaying men’s ties, display cases, sideboard/desk drawers, look to be the sort of things that might have been found in a fifties department store. Luckily there were no whips on the walls, so dear old Cynthia (Payne by name and pain by nature) doesn’t seem to be commemorated in the pub decor. One feature that I thought was a bit odd, and somewhat inappropriate, was a gallery of old (some pre-war) black and white family snaps. Some of them featured important family occasions such as weddings, which seemed to be trivialised by being displayed in this manner. But who knows, maybe the people featured would have been quite happy had they known that their likenesses would one day turn up on a pub wall. It still struck me as one of the most bizarre bits of pub decor that I’ve encountered. But enough of that, and onto the beer. Antic pubs invariably have a good ale selection – this one had on Thornbridge Jaipur, Doom Bar, Skinner’s Cornish Knocker, Adnam’s IPA and Mild, and a 2.8% ABV offering called Burnham No2, apparently brewed at Twickenham Fine Ales. We had pints of the Jaipur and Cornish Knocker, and both were in fine fettle. I didn’t get to scrutinise a menu, but I’m sure that they would do food. If you like the sort of quirkily decorated pubs that Antic seem to specialise in, then you will like this one. The ale selection is excellent, and it’s reasonably comfortably furnished. I’d be happy to visit again.