The Bricklayers Arms, Putney, SW15

Not as busy as it was a few years ago when it had the Taylors beers on.Still a good friendly pub with 8 northern beers on my visit..One of the best in Putney.

Sought this one out specially after hearing the hype surrounding it from elsewhere and the awards being thrown its way from the local CAMRA branch. This is a freehouse selling Tim Taylor beers alongside the odd guest or two (Sambrooks Wandle on my visit). Situated up a small backstreet behind a local authority housing block, it was apparently a former boat storage building (hence the long narrow interior I suppose?) and was slated for demolition a number of years ago. The interior seemed a little stark to me, with wooden flooring, scrubbed wooden furniture and a combination of wood panelled and bare-brick walls, however the black and white prints of old Putney were interesting. It was a cold and damp day outside so I settled myself by a welcome fire, though I noticed the pub was still quite cold). The place could have done with a bit more light lift the drab grey afternoon atmosphere too. After settling down I found that I wasn’t overly enamoured with either of my two halves. They weren’t bad but weren’t anywhere near as good as those served up in the Red Lion in Isleworth (my other pub visit earlier that day). The also much-praised friendly welcome was absent, just a young female seemingly going through the motions. There were only four other punters. For such a well-anointed pub I trudged back out into the bleak late afternoon feeling mighty disappointed. I really hope I caught it on a bad day. Overall it isn’t a bad little place but I was expecting so much more.