Rose & Crown, SW17

I don’t know the history of this pub, but I reckon it’s an interwar years’ construction. With an AFC Wimbledon affiliation, there’s a boarded floor with tiled bar apron, grey wainscoting with white walls to an egg yolk yellow Anaglypta ceiling; furniture is old school stuff. Of interest are leaded glass partitions with stained glass rose depictions, all looking a bit Art Nouveau, thereafter little in the way of décor apart from hanging multi-coloured frilly plastic things which looked like pairs of knickers. There’s silent multi-TV showing unwatched sport, then quite loudish music, enjoyed by a mixed local crowd, though few compared to neighbouring pubs on my Sunday evening visit. There was just one solitary cask here, Twickenham’s The Light, £2.75 a half and just about ok – I’d have not said the same if presented with a whole pint – served by an attentive barman. There’s a decent pub lurking somewhere in here; ditching the TVs, frilly knickers and getting in a wider and more imaginative cask lineup would raise the score a fair bit.

Official site of Rose & Crown - www.frontierpubs.co.uk

Official site of Rose & Crown - www.frontierpubs.co.uk

Doom Bar and Spitfire were on, and the latter was in decent nick. I didn’t see any menus when I was in on Wednesday afternoon, but I did see a barmaid holding a plate so maybe they do some food. This is still a two-room pub, with both rooms reached via a vestibule – I firstly ventured into the right hand room, but when I realised there was nobody in there and I could see the handpumps on the counter in the other room then that’s obviously where I headed. This room is bare-boarded apart from a tiled splash area around the bar counter. There’s a raised area at the front by the windows, as well as at the back to the left of the bar counter. Furnishings are traditional, with no sofas or tall tables/tall stools. This is a very ordinary pub. The beer was OK and not too expensive as I recall, plus it was reasonably comfortable inside and the service was friendly enough. I’m glad this one’s still here for the locals to enjoy, but it’s certainly not a destination pub.