The Watermans Arms, Barnes, SW13

Very surprised this is not in the Good Beer Guide. I was very impressed. Externally stunning - with a lovely balcony to watch the river traffic go by. Interior - Drinking and dining areas - more dining upstairs. Service - First class. Friendliest staff you could hope to meet. Food - good value for the area. Beer - an impressive selection of Cask (Superb Harveys Sussex Best taken) and craft keg filling the back wall of the bar. Very close to the station and if you dont like it, the bulls head next door!

This is one of the more recent additions to the Big Smoke Brewery stable of pubs. Like all their other pubs, the range of ales available is impressive - this one had the standard 10 ales on. I went for the Big Smoke unfined Solaris session ale, which at £4.40 a pint is not particularly cheap for a low 3.8% ABV ale. But of course with the loyalty card, which is usable at any Big Smoke pub, you do get a free pint when you've bought nine. The weekday lunch menu has some reasonably priced pub grub options, such as the full English breakfast, or sausage & mash, both at £6.50. I went for the honey roast ham and mustard sarny at £5, with chips an extra £1.75. Apart from my usual moan about the chips coming ready salted (is this a new fad? - I don't remember it being a thing in the past) my only observation (not a complaint of course) was there was too much ham in the sarny! It must have been half an inch thick! I've had smaller gammon steaks. But the ham was delicious so I had no difficulty in disposing of it. There were what looked like good value daily meal deals advertised for a meal and a drink, in which the drink could be any pint of real ale. The pub occupies a prominent corner site next to the iconic Bull's Head. But inside it's smaller than it appears from the outside. There's a very nice restaurant area upstairs (all tables laid for diners) with doors that can open onto a balcony. The main downstairs bar has a handful or so tables with a mix of fixed bench seating, small stools and normal chairs, plus a few tall stools at a ledge by the window. Unfortunately the sounds we were subjected to were a bit discordant, with the TV on with sound enabled showing the rugby, competing with some Wings album playing over the sound system. But I'm prepared to forgive these minor inconveniences for a pub with such an impressive beer range. I've never been in a Big Smoke pub I've not liked, and I would be very happy to visit this one again