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Submitted on Monday, 31st August 2015
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Detail Pages
Trafalgar Arms, Tooting, SW17
SW17
SW17 0RT
Served areas
Reviews of Trafalgar Arms (Average Rating: 5 of 10) see review guidelines
Tris C left this review about Trafalgar Arms
I know not from when this pub dates, but it’s a very imposing place and given the name, would look more at home as a riverside hostelry in Maritime Greenwich; it closed in 2013, coming painfully close to residential conversion before Young’s opened it as a Geronimo Inn in 2015.
Up front is a large patio which the pub calls ‘Tooting’s finest beer garden’. The interior is rough boarded, an apple sauce colour scheme, some walls seemingly rag washed, with some pale wood punctuations. The bar exhibits modern tubular steel additions, furniture being conventional and mixed, though a few tables could have done with clearing and were a bit sticky, illuminated by a variety of lighting styles. Décor comes by way of knickknacks, bored games and quite interesting framed posters for FIFA World Cup tournaments long passed; to the rear left is a dining room. Customers were young professional types, none interested in watching faceless men driving cars round and around on the multiple TVs, all to quite loud music with amplified interjections courtesy of a quizmaster.
A departure from the Young’s norm with aside from London Original, By The Horns Stiff Upper Lip and Southwark LPA at a very central London price of £3.15 a half and not bad, delivered by a friendly barman.
This isn’t a bad place I suppose, better than the Manor, but the prices are an indication of unjustified self-importance.
On 9th May 2024
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2001 recommendations about 1967 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Trafalgar Arms
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.
On 4th September 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about Trafalgar Arms
This is a large and imposing building, set back from the perennially gridlocked A24. The exterior still shows the original Hodgsons of Kingston branding with the three fishes badging on high over the central main door. Lots of external seating, some covered, to the frontage but it would have taken a hardy soul to sit out here on a bitterly cold afternoon.
Once inside, the pub is essentially now one space with the bar running across the rear, although part of the original dividing walls and chimneys have been retained, so the area feels semi-separated into three chunks. There is a small room to the rear right which has a bar football table and a dartboard.
It's one of those mucked about places where some contemporary design student or someone has been allowed to play around. The bar counter is hewn from a log with the bark remaining, seating is mixed with untreated rustic look high tables, garishly patterned banquettes and of course the usual sofas. Bare boarded of course and lots of grey paint everwhere including now to the front elevation. Naturally there are candles on the window cills and vases of flowers dotted about. Open mic nights, late DJs and cocktail evenings are advertised. Food menus on the tables, burgers £10, steaks £14.5-17.5, not .50, just .5. None of this seemed to be working, the place was sparsely occupied and those present were certainly not looking for a sophisticated venue.
The young Irish barmaid was friendly and personable though, a chirpy welcome. Two handpumps, Sambrooks Wandle was turned around leaving Doom Bar, ok but at £3.50.
A fine old pub sadly redesigned without a thought for either tradition or harmony. But its open and it serves beer!
On 5th February 2012
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
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- Official site of Trafalgar Arms - www.thetrafalgararms.co.uk
- Facebook - The Trafalgar Arms
- CAMRA WhatPub :: Trafalgar Arms - whatpub.com
Haydons Road, 1.29 miles, 24 min walk (show)
Earlsfield, 1.76 miles, 34 min walk (show)
Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 05 April 2022 by Tris C
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 05 April 2022 by Tris C
- Beer Festivals : No last updated 07 May 2024 by Tris C
- Beer Garden : Yes last updated 04 September 2015 by Rex Rattus
- CAMRA Discount : No last updated 07 May 2024 by Tris C
- Car Park : No last updated 05 April 2022 by Tris C
- Darts : No last updated 07 May 2024 by Tris C
- Dog Friendly : Yes last updated 07 May 2024 by Tris C
- Function Room : Yes - Two indoor, one outdoor. - last updated 07 May 2024 by Tris C
- Hot Food : Yes last updated 04 September 2015 by Rex Rattus
- Jukebox : No last updated 07 May 2024 by Tris C
- Karaoke : No last updated 07 May 2024 by Tris C
- Live Music : No last updated 07 May 2024 by Tris C
- Live TV Sports : Yes - Sky Sports/BT Sport. - last updated 05 April 2022 by Tris C
- Micropub : No last updated 19 February 2024 by Tris C
- Pinball : No last updated 05 April 2022 by Tris C
- Pool Table : No last updated 07 May 2024 by Tris C
- Quiz Night : Yes - Sundays 19.30. - last updated 07 May 2024 by Tris C
- Real Ale : Yes last updated 04 September 2015 by Rex Rattus
- Real Cider : No last updated 07 May 2024 by Tris C
- WiFi : Yes last updated 07 May 2024 by Tris C
