Village Inn, Belvedere

Formerly the Queens Head, the current building dates from 1871 although there were previous pubs on the site. It initially comes across as a good solid traditional old fashioned pub but inside the door, a different story unfolds. The L-shaped interior has undergone a drastic refurbishment (presumably at the same time the name changed to the Village Inn) and much of whatever character it once had has been wiped out and replaced with a pretentious modern image that isn’t really in keeping with the area. The décor is very plain with bare floors and some decidedly cheap looking paneled walls. The furnishings, predominantly tub chairs, make it all feel very much like a trendy lounge bar than anything pubby although it does retain a pool table and dartboard to the rear. One of the more interesting aspects is the collection of old celebrity photos lining the walls. At the rear is a small patio and it was also welcoming to see a sign at the front door requesting smokers not to smoke outside the front of the building. The drink selection isn’t anything to lift the spirits either with a bog standard selection of keg beers and no ales, not even a redundant hand pump although in its previous guise it did once make the Good Beer Guide. On the plus side, prices are pretty reasonable with my pint of Guinness costing £3. Given that the place was virtually empty it would appear that it hasn’t really found its target customer base. If nothing else, it does offer a different kind of pub environment to its competitors but to be honest I can’t see the place having much appeal to the locals. I can’t see myself gathering much enthusiasm to return in the foreseeable future and if you have to miss out one pub on a crawl of Belvedere (which isn’t actually as bad as it sounds), this is probably the one.