Kings Head, SW17

This is a pretty spectacular Victorian pub on the main road down through Tooting. Entering through an elaborately tiled front porch, you emerge into an impressive U-shaped main bar area with a small partitioning screen notionally dividing the space into two halves. You’re immediately struck by the scale of the grand, curved bar counter, which forms part of an island servery and has a decorative dark wood front, badly scuffed top, two large arches as part of the chopped-out bar back and plenty of etched glass and detailed woodwork. More of the fine glasswork can be found in great quantities throughout the pub, including an amazing rural scene across a divider at the far end of the bar and in a full height partitioning wall that screens a small left-hand side room. Another such room hides behind similar screens to the rear left and has plenty of formal seating compared to the sofas, high stools and basic chairs that furnish the main bar area. Also worth noting are the decorative friezes that run around much of the room, some smart modern wallpaper that doesn’t look out of place, lincrusta ceiling decorations and a large skylight. A couple of slot machines and several TV screens showing muted live football were a bit distracting from the overall look and a quiet soundtrack chuntered away in the background without really disturbing. A roadside seating area out the front offers a good amount of picnic bench seating and great people watching opportunities. This is a Greene King pub and sadly not one which makes an effort to get guest ales in, so I was left with a rather uninspiring choice between Greene King IPA and Abbot Ale, both doubled up on the pumps along with two Lilley’s ciders. A friendly barmaid served up a tolerable pint of the Abbot which I slowly supped whilst trying to take in as much of the pub’s fine interior as I could. Tooting’s pub scene is all much of a muchness in my experience, with a couple of middling Antic pubs, a half decent ‘Spoons and some craft beer spots all failing to stake a claim as a must-do venue. That means that places like this, with pretty average beer, are just as much worthy of checking out and whilst I can’t say I was blown away by the beer, I loved the interior and thought it was a nice place to settle down in for a while. Date of visit – 16th April 2023

This pub has got more heritage features than you could shake a shitty stick at,it listed by CAMRA as a Historic Pub of National Importance.Owned by Greene King,it's a miracle it has survived given the multicultural make up of this part of Tooting and the cultural reluctance to drinking ,although that reluctance may extend to all beer drinkers given the ale options are just GK Abbot and IPA (boring,NBSS 3,£5.10).However 4 Lilly real cider pumps may hint at the USP on the drinks front. The exterior is extravagant and the interior largely original with great tiling and mosaics to both entrance lobbies,etched glass room dividers in the front area ,a near complete island bar,a rear skylight to the entrance of the large rear room which is wood panelled throughout. However the dead hand of Greene King is never far away and every room had a multitude of sports flatscreens,the furniture was a mismatch of worn items not in keeping with the surroundings and the fruit machines cheapen the atmosphere.At least the muzak was gentle.On ordering food it appeared a lot of items were off the corporate menu,forcing a move to higher priced options.However it's not pricey,just standard fodder. There is a beer garden,pub quiz and all sport will feature here and maybe that's enough for it to survive.It's vast and does feel unloved when quiet but at least it's still there waiting ,possibly in vain,for someone to recreate the Victorian splendour.Pop in ,revel in the heritage then move on to pastures new.

Originally the King’s Head Inn, the place dates back to at least 1791, though was rebuilt in 1896. Grade II-listed and on CAMRA’s inventory of pubs with historic interiors and garnering a Nationally Important accolade, this pub’s interior is best appreciated on their site, though as usual, it doesn’t really do the place justice. That’s the good news, now the bad. Lacking much respect, the pub’s interior is dominated by a multitude of TV screens (not to mention games machines), rendering the place in effect a sports’ bar. The next problem is the customers: some drunken youths arsing about then some rather boorish east European types. This is also a Greene King outlet, though thankfully the choice of guests was more extensive and more appealing than their indigenous offerings, with a ‘house’ ale (Greene King?), GK IPA, Landlord and Wimbledon Common at £2.60 a half and good, though served by an understandably despondent barmaid. This is a very pretty pub, but a pretty poor pub experience; having seen it, I don’t plan to return as it would seem that the Antelope rules the roost in this region.

Official site of Kings Head - www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk

Official site of Kings Head - www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk

Cavernous Greene King pub with an island bar. Several hand pumps, nothing of any strength. Loads of TVs on the walls. Not worth a revisit.

Impressive exterior with an equally grand interior that still retains most of its original fittings and layout. Central U shaped bar serves 7 real ales and "craft keg".