The Brompton Cross, SW3

The Hour Glass first gained its licence in 1852 as a beer house, the current incarnation dating from 1936. I came here once before in the late ‘80s, to find the place – and customers – less than inviting; we didn’t stay; I also recall bullseye glass and most likely the original Charrington’s windows, now gone. What still remains is a very fine example of a period exterior, with great faience tiling and some of the best Charrington’s ceramic plaques I’ve seen (see photo), also featured is a very rare pre-Hoare’s ‘winged tankard’ mosaic between the first and second floors; the Charrington’s lanterns are original too and may once have had Toby jug motifs applied to the glass panes. The interior is relatively wide in comparison to its incredibly shallow depth, with a boarded floor, sea green woodwork, terracotta hessian wallpaper with some floral patterns. A notable feature is the illuminated Charrington’s bar back parapet, the name flanked by the brand’s ‘snob’ character and Toby jug. Furniture is traditional and minimal, with just seating for around four at each end of the pub, otherwise drinking to ledges, with traditional studded velour bar stool tops. Lighting came from fluted sconces, other notable touches being the doorknobs, looking suitably 1930s’; indeed, the place does have something of a time warp feel to it, save for the two TVs showing the football, with the sound off so as not to interfere with a decent soundtrack, Squeeze on my visit. Customers didn’t seem typical to the area, so may come from the neighbouring Peabody estates; no braying in here. A rather dull ale front amounted to an unused pump, then Pride and Landlord, price forgotten and not in great condition, served by an unmemorable barmaid. This isn’t a bad place and probably one of the few places in Chelsea to watch the football, despite the area having its own team, apparently. Otherwise though, it’s yet another typical poor Chelsea pub experience, but for reasons that are entirely different from the area’s other pubs; a better quality and more exciting ale range would get the score up.

This is a former Charrington’s pub which has retained its excellent façade, including original tiling and the Toby House sign, located at the Southern end of Brompton Road. The pub has a wide but shallow interior with doors at either end leading you in to the same simple room with the servery along the mid-part of the rear wall. The room has dark floorboards, plain windows along the front wall and a full height mirrored wall to the right which makes the pub appear a lot bigger than it really is. There are limited tables and chairs at either end of the room, plus a few short, button backed banquettes, with the only options being the row of high stools along a drinking ledge under the front windows. The bar has a square ended, dark wood counter, impressive modern gantry and basic mirrored bar back, all embellished with a fancy looking coffee machine and a spectacular bouquet of flowers. A TV screen on the right-hand wall remained turned off throughout the course of my visit, despite a high-profile Chelsea fixture taking place at that very moment in time, suggesting live sports coverage is unlikely. The left side of the room has a few old local photos on the walls alongside a nice Charrington’s mirror, a rather bleak and solitary painting and a small book swap scheme. There are four handpulls which had a line-up of Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted, Fullers London pride and Wimbledon Copper Leaf (£5.00) on this visit. The friendly barman served up a pretty good pint of the Copper leaf and I noted that the keg lines also included several Harviestoun beers, whilst lots of their promotional material could be seen around the room, suggesting they may have some sorts of link to the brewery. I liked this pleasant, uncomplicated pub with its fantastic exterior, unfussy interior and decent, well-kept ale range. The pub felt a lot more homely and welcoming than a lot of the other pubs in this part of town and I was glad I went out of my way to check it out.

Tiled exterior with Charrington / Toby logo. Quite a narrow bare boarded interior with some mini bar games on the window ledge. 3 real ales and "craft keg". Food served.