The Harrow Inn, Sutton

This is a large roadside pub which I assume is an old coaching inn, located on a prominent junction in the centre of Cheam. The pub certainly looks the part on approach, thanks to the classic Brewer’s Tudor facade, but as soon as you step through the front door, you’re greeted by nothing but disappointment thanks to an ugly modern refit straight out of the Beefeater/Harvester/Toby Carvery handbook. A multiple room layout has been smashed through to create one very large open-plan room with bare boards throughout and the servery midway down the left-hand wall. A couple of seating areas to the front offer a mix of tables and chairs and bar stools around high tables and ledges. The bar has a nice tile floored area around it, under a modern counter with distressed wood panel frontage. The bar back is all mirrors and white tiles, splashed with neon signs and a few modern decorative bits of tat. Down the right, another seating area emerges, offering two ros of tables and chairs running towards an end window bay, plus a row of banquette booths, each with their own TV screen inside. Further back is a rather dark dining area with more regular tables and chairs, plus a few tub chairs around a window that looks out towards the car park. Decor is all fairly standard stuff, including some old photos and paintings, bright murals on a couple of the walls and endless TV screens, all showing a live Premier League match. The almost total lack of soft furnishings meant that the pub was extremely loud, despite being some way from feeling full. There’s also a garden to the rear, which I didn’t explore, although I did notice some of those beach hut-style seating areas that you see in pubs like this. I wasn’t expecting anything interesting on the bar, so was a little surprised to see Dorking DB One line up next to the ubiquitous Sharps Doom Bar. Two other pumps had ‘Coming Soon’ tags and one pump was being used to hold a notice explaining that the DB One had been pouring hazy, so customers might wish to use discretion before ordering, which I thought was a nice touch. I threw caution to the wind and ordered the DB One regardless, which a cheerless barmaid slopped into a glass for me. It was marginally hazy at best, and tasted pretty good, so fair play all round to whoever keeps their cellar. I think the beer was probably the only thing I really enjoyed about this visit, which was generally a bit of a let down, thanks to the drab interior design, cookie-cutter décor and miserable service. Cheam has a couple of decent pubs that I enjoy visiting, hence never making it to this place before, and I don’t see me adding this to that particular list.

Official site of The Harrow Inn - www.craft-pubs.co.uk

Official site of The Harrow Inn - www.craft-pubs.co.uk