Tattenham Corner, Epsom

Blessed with a great elevated location overlooking Epsom Downs and easily walkable from Tattenham Corner station, this is a large Beefeater pub that has clearly seen better days. You enter via a large front garden, which is definitely the pub’s best asset, thanks to its excellent views across the Downs and racecourse, with plenty of bench seating available, with almost all of the pub’s customers choosing to sit out here on our visit. Upon entering, you quickly see why sitting indoors is a considerably less appealing prospect. The pub has a split level interior, with a small front seating space quickly giving way to steps (and a small lift) up to the bar and dining areas. The servery is over to the right, along the back wall, in a small space with enough room for a couple of tables on a very grubby carpet that looked like some sort of library for unidentified stains. The bar itself is fairly nondescript, with a big pillar splitting it midway and a few sticky menus scattered along the counter. At first glance, I thought this was all the pub had to offer, but I realised you could pass through the left-hand side of the pub, to reach an opened out rear dining space full of wipe-clean upholstered seating, making it look a lot cleaner than the front part of the pub, but as with most Beefeater-type establishments, it was full of noisy kids. On the bar, just Sharps Doom Bar as the sadly predictable cask ale option. I took one look at the two wet blankets operating the bar, and decided I’d be better off just having a soft drink rather than risking whatever they might serve up. Even then, it took an age to get served, as they faffed around with the most basic of orders and served people out of turn. This is essentially a nice garden with an inconsequential pub/restaurant attached. We enjoyed the view and a nice cold drink was just what I needed after a few hours spent walking across the Downs, but I can’t imagine coming here for anything other than a cursory quick drink and was glad the weather was nice enough to allow us minimal time spent inside.

It's a Beefeater, so you know what you ware going to get, Whitbread's bottom end chain in the same market as Toby Carvery or Hungry Horse. This one does clearly separate the bar area from the restaurant, and if you look hard you can still discern some original 30s features under many layers of ever crasser refurbishment. There are still signs of a multi room layout, much wood panelling is there under a thick patina of puke-coloured paint, even some of the furniture is in keeping. On a sunny afternoon you can enjoy the wonderful view but on a rainy winter's night, with just a few lone punters about there's not much going for it. On a race day the bars on the course are probably a better bet. Pride and Hobgoblin.