aspen & mersault, Battersea, SW11

I arrived the other night to find that this is now a very poncey wine bar with - according to CAMRA - canned beers only; indeed, all outside were drinking waine and were young and beautiful. As I fulfil neither of these criteria, I moved swiftly on.

Official site of aspen & mersault - www.baraspen.co.uk

Official site of aspen & mersault - www.baraspen.co.uk

This has been returned to pub use, following several years as an Indian restaurant. The old Watney, Combe, Reid signage is still in place on the sides of the building. They seem to have made a futile attempt to make it look a bit chic, leaving the exterior painted the grey it was as an Indian restaurant, and adding a bit of minimalist decor on the walls showing silhouettes of stag's heads. But it remains an estate pub so chicness doesn't really work here, because the customers they attract aren't really very elegant. The furnishings are OK, being very basic tables and chairs, and the floor's bare bare-boarded with scruffy light varnished boards. The walls are mainly a light brownish colour, but with the wall at the back, where the pool table's located, being painted a sort of purple colour. I gather from a female chum that all these off-colours have their own names, but I have no idea what they are. The bar counter is possibly the most ugly one that I've ever seen (maybe not, but it's a contender) being sloping outward, looking like it's made of concrete and painted a combination of black and grey. There's no real ale of course, just Guinness and the usual bogstandard lagers. At least one of the locals at the bar thought I had made the wrong choice of lager (a half of Kronenburg 1664), or perhaps he thought I was being a flash git because I could pronounce it (I decided against calling it soixante-quatre here). He thought the Carlsberg was a better bet; perhaps he was right as it was only £2.60 as it was happy hour, and the Foster's was £2.80. Not my idea of happy hour drinks, but everyone to their own I say. I probably won't be making a return visit, although it's still very good to see a pub like this being returned to its original use.