The Rose, Battersea, SW11

Visited previously on 11/10/22 as Duke of Battersea in BrewDog days when I undoubtedly have rated the place a tad higher. This venue is a disappointment as a waste of what could be a very decent pub. An outside seating area screened off from the road (although the location on a busy junction sees the screwing fooling no-one) greets you. The front area of the pub sees the open kitchen on the left hand side and the attractive bar totally spoiled by the gruesome pink artificial flowers filling the space above it up to the high ceiling. The pub has bare boards throughout and classy furniture - the chairs are v decent leather ones and the tables chunky albeit for general use a bit oversized in the front bar area. Given I was the only punter inside on my visit the fact I chose a table that could seat 10 mattered not a jot. The walls are a vibrant blood red colour. The venue curves off the back right corner into a more formally set dining area and there is an outside space out the back understandably busy on such a warm early evening. It definitely feels this place sees itself more of a dining pub that sells beer rather than as a pub that sells food. Shame as there are lots of dining focused pubs that cater very well for drinkers of all sorts. Beer wise it was a dud. Two hand pumps purely decorative with a moribund keg offering of San Miguel, Estrella, Guinness, Orchard Pig cider, Level Head and given the total pretentiousness of the venue their own branded lager. There was another beer that I didn’t bother to note. The pub is opposite the RCA Battersea campus and so I am sure they do good business from the students on family trust fund backing. Having a science degree training, I prefer more experimental rigour to test theory. This is one where experiment and theory align perfectly - an overstyled dud that I most definitely won’t bother returning to. I ordinarily wouldn’t give such a low rating to such a place, but this place genuinely feels like an opportunity list to be a decent pub.

Facebook page of The Rose - www.facebook.com

Official site of The Rose - www.therosebattersea.co.uk

Facebook page of The Rose - www.facebook.com

Official site of The Rose - www.therosebattersea.co.uk

Originally the Prodigal’s Return, this pub dates from at least the mid-19th century, rebuilt in the 1920s, the current name applied in 2021 as this is now a ‘stealth’ BrewDog. I won’t bother describing the interior as there are piccies on their website, but there are sauce bottles on tables and menus, with offerings such as ‘buffalo wings’ (goin’ round the outside?) to a young crowd with a few out front, maybe more in the garden but no-one in the room at gone 9.15pm on a Saturday, making for a rather lifeless environment. Despite the brand, there was one pump aside from two unused, dispensing an Adnams/DEYA alliance called Boat Trip, £2.60 a half, dull, served by a friendly barmaid. The choice of one just about drinkable cask ale lifts the score, but otherwise it’s a very dull place though certainly better than the Union down the road. Rated: 4.5.

Least impressive interior of the 3 Drafthouses I have visited .Good outside space at the front for drinkers. The rear room seems now to be a dining room.3 handpumps but on 1 beer on from Sambrooke. Interesting and expensive keg beers but the beers from Stone and Wood (Aus) and the Magic rock I tried were worth it.Friendly staff.

I’ve been to a couple of the Draft House chain pubs, and have not been overly impressed. I guess they fall in the “OK” category. This one had three handpumps on the counter; one was unused; another was Wandle clipped but went off when I ordered (but the clip remained unreversed during the rest of my stay); and the third had on Rooster’s YPA. This was a decent enough, hoppy of course, ale at £3.80 a pint and served in a dimpled jug. There were, however, numerous unusual lagers and keg craft beers from the likes of the Brooklyn Brewery. They had a limited menu available when I was in on Tuesday evening. There were five main course specials – with, e.g., gammon and chips at £10.25. They also had three items in a “hop the pond” section- obviously USA themed as my “South Carolina pulled pork bun with slaw” (£8.75) came with a little Stars and Stripes on a stick stuck in it. The pub itself looks like a conversion of some kind. As you enter the open plan kitchen is on the left with the bar counter straight ahead of you. There are a couple of tall tables combined with tall stools, but the furnishings in the main bar area are solid scrubbed tables and normal chairs. At the back and to the right of the servery is another room, which looked to be the area of choice for diners. There’s a bit of decor on the walls, with the most bizarre being a very large framed photograph of some city at night with Chinese lanters floating around, but seemingly taken by someone with a shaky hand. I can’t see the point, but probably I’m missing something. There was some jazz/blues playing, I suppose to reinforce the USA brand. Behind the bar counter there’s a large framed sign on the wall with a John Churchill quote of “no soldier can fight unless he is properly fed on beef and beer.” Modern Army thinking probably wouldn’t agree with him. To be honest it’s not a bad pub - my pint of Rooster YPA was in good nick, but these bare-boarded and noisy places are not really to my taste. But it provides what it says on the tin, and there’s clearly a market for places such as this judging by the fact that they were doing a good trade early on a Tuesday evening.