The Masons Arms, Battersea Park, SW8

Official site of The Masons Arms - www.masons-arms-battersea.co.uk

Official site of The Masons Arms - www.masons-arms-battersea.co.uk

Another nice Fullers pub that is allowed to serve a bigger range of craft beers.Cant remember any cask but they must have had pride.Went for 3 x thirds of keg and they were really really good.Out of curiousity asked the barmaid if they sold much thirds.She said she had been there a couple of years and i was the first to ask for them.Bloody nora whats going on with the local drinkers.Great pub.

This is a deceptively large Fullers pub close to Battersea Park Station and the famous dog’s home. The pub has quite a smart interior, but it has been massively opened out over the years and struggles a bit from a ‘drinking barn’ feel as a result. There’s a horseshoe shaped bar on the right-hand wall, close to the entrance, with a nice wood panelled counter contrasting the knocked about bar back that would appear to be the legacy of opening out from what would have once been a two bar or more layout. A blackboard to rear of the servery has the full craft range listed and the white tiled side wall further enhances the pub’s craft bar feel. Seating around the bar area is confined to the perimeter, with lots of banquettes under the front and side windows and some good quality chairs in support. Lots of small support pillars are dotted through the room, each with a decorative capital. The pub extends a long way back through a few bare boarded areas with more padded banquette and chair seating under half panelled walls with plain painted upper sections. The rear section employs some good partitioning screens with obfuscated glass panes and also a small metal shelving unit, all of which helps to break the space up a little. The whole pub has been decorated with a mishmash of items, including modern art prints, a goat's head, bottles in wall mounted drawers, a stuffed bird in a glass case, random bric-a-brac, an old radio and a great black and white photo of customers stood outside the pub ahead of their annual beano, sadly undated. More seating can be found outside, in the shadow of the railway bridge, but this is alongside a busy road and looks to only be of appeal to smokers. Music playing quietly but lack of soft furnishings meant that even on a moderately busy Saturday afternoon, the collective noise totally drowned it out. On the bar, Fullers London Pride, Dark Star Hophead and a rare sighting of Fullers Revelation, which a very cheery barmaid poured me a pint of before taking £6.25 for the privilege. I haven't tried this beer for a few years and have to say it tasted very watered down - not sure if this was a pub problem or a new recipe following Fullers takeover a few years back. The pub seems to excel in the craft beer department, with countless taps offering brews from the likes of Signature Brew, Siren and Pomona Island, with a Signature Brew tap takeover promoted for the coming weeks. This is a nice pub with a high-spec interior that sadly feels a little too large and opened out for its own good. The rear part seems like a more cosier area and I enjoyed exploring the place and checking out the vast craft beer range. Definitely more plus points than negatives here and therefore well worth a look if you’re in the area.

A rare 10am opener (on a Saturday). Grade II fuller pub that has been stripped back internally for that distressed light industrial unit look of bare brick and low hanging light fittings from an exposed ceiling. Central bar and roomy open plan table and chair seating around the L-Shape. Obviously run by beer lovers with 20 Keg and Three Cask lines. I had a very conservative but excellent condition London Pride (no ESB, even though a Fullers pub). I possibly should have been more adventurous with the Signature Brew Tap Takeover that was running on the Keg lines. But it was 10:50am.

Fuller's pub within spitting distance of Battersea Park station. Wandsworth Road station is also just around the corner. I'd first tried visiting here back in mid-December, only to find it unexpectedly closed. I seemed to recall a notice saying that there was an issue with the kitchen. On a second attempt, we found it open. A handful of customers were in and bar staff looked quite bored. From what I could see, everybody was in for drinks only. There was certainly no sign of any food. London Pride is the real ale here. Quite how the pub gets in the Good Beer Guide by serving just this, I'm not quite sure. Maybe it is for the quality of the Pride. But I didn't order it to find out. Far more impressive is the craft beer range, which included Brew By Numbers #10 Coffee & Vanilla Porter, Dig Brew Super Potion, Signature Roadie IPA, Mondo Captain, Brick Ribes Rubus, Exale Oona, Siren Caribbean Chocolate Cake Tropical & Triple Point DIPA. The 3 of us each chose a different beer from this range and all were nice. The interior is much larger than it appears from the outside, with seating continuing quite a way back. Toilets can be found down some stairs at the rear. Worth a visit if you like craft beers. But there's plenty of other (and cheaper) places around London to drink London Pride.