Trafalgar Arms, Tooting, SW17

Official site of Trafalgar Arms - www.thetrafalgararms.co.uk

Official site of Trafalgar Arms - www.thetrafalgararms.co.uk

I recently paid my first visit to this pub since it's been taken over by Young's, and predictably it's been given the typical Young's treatment.You enter the pub by walking through the extensive outside seating area at the front, into a small room furnished with a quartet of round tables accompanied by armchairs. The bar counter faces you, and to the left is a room with tables laid for diners (the whole works, including cutlery and wine glasses), and to the right is another fairly large room that seems to be available to drinkers, but even in here a large table was reserved and laid for diners. Entering here is a bit like walking into a country house, but without the ornate staircase. There were three ales on - Young's Bitter of course, Sambrook's Wandle, and Cronx Kotchin (£2.05 a half), with a fourth pump having a reversed clip. I didn't see a full menu, but a chalkboard in the dining area gave a taste of what's available - the "skipper's catch" of "whole bream with lemon caper butter and Cornish new potatoes" is £12, and the "bangers & mash, roast red onion gravy, Yorkshire pudding" is a whopping 17.5, which I guess must be £17.50 in old money. I know that omitting £ signs is a ploy to make prices look less expensive, and if anything needs that treatment it's the bangers and mash in here. Another option would be to charge a reasonable price. There were snacks on a plate on the bar - Scotch duck egg, or pork neck sausage rolls, both at £5. It's that sort of place now. This place is typical of the new Young's brand. Typical gastro, with a glorified wine rack in place of a bar back, the obligatory vase of lilies on the bar counter, with sprigs of flowers on the tables, and glass demi-john type things with spigots on the bar counter containing water and something green (sliced cucumber?). But this is a pub that's been brought back from the grave of the clutches of a developer. Although it's not the sort of traditional pub that I prefer, I'm mighty glad it's still here to be enjoyed by the well-heeled residents of Tooting.