The Duke of Clarence, SW5

Official site of The Duke of Clarence - www.thedukeofclarencesw5.co.uk

Built in 1870 for Truman’s, now operated by Young’s. The interior is really more of a wine bar experience, with mixed furniture, green glazed tiling punctuations, new floor, smoky green paint, tubular steel bar gantry, with large pot plants to windowsills and a large, full bookshelf, miscellaneous mixed framed prints, looking like they’ve been bought as a job lot from Prints R Us; lanterns look like armillary spheres (see photo). Customers are young professional types, certainly not the ‘socialites’ described on the website; me thinks the site’s author is unfamiliar with the term. The only ale on offer was London Original and with authority too, spewed forth by three pumps at £2.60 a half and very nice. This is ok for a stop and better than the other Kensington Greene King pubs further in, but it’s not as good as the Drayton, opposite.

Official site of The Duke of Clarence - www.thedukeofclarencesw5.co.uk

The Duke of Clarence is a corner pub that is now painted white. Once inside there is a single wedged shaped room with the bar on the left side,there is comfy bench seating to the front right and down the right side which had scatter cushions on them,there is a tall bench seat to the front left and one long table in the middle with chairs,probably for what Londoners call community dining. There were three real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Youngs bitter which went down well,the other beers were Purity Mad Goose and Doom Bar. There is a TV to the front which was showing tennis and quiet background music was playing. This pub is a bit too twee for my liking,but it did gain points as it is air conditioned which was really nice on a very hot day. Pub visited 1/7/2015

This is another typical Chelsea pub, with the interior (including the ceiling here) painted the seemingly compulsory light grey. Perhaps there's a local ordnance covering pub decor? Whatever happened to Chelsea yellow? Anyway, inside there's the expected phalanx of tall tables/tall stools on the left, banquette seating on the right with more cushions scattered on them than you could shake a stick at, and a small area at the back with a couple of sofas. But the most unusual feature in here was a "wine rack" suspended from the ceiling containing 30 or so upended wine bottles. Odd, but harmless and ignorable I suppose. When I was in on Friday lunchtime the evening reserved signs were being put on the tables. Well it is Chelsea. They had two or three ales on, but nothing very exciting as I recall. I didn't see a menu, but they clearly do food as there were condiments on all the table. But in this area these condiments weren't ketchup and the like, but some gourmet olive oil, and some sort of vinaigrette stuff. One got the impression that real ale isn't a big player here if the people on the next table are anything to go by, with their toy dog, and drinking something called "Peroni top". Perhaps they were pop stars, or just run of the mill millionaires. One should visit Chelsea every now and then so that one can appreciate the real world when one returns to it. To be honest the pub was OK if a tad designer lounge-like. The beer was OK, though not cheap (obviously). I don't think it was the sort of pub I would rush back to, but for those who like these uber-comfortable places this is a good example.