Grove SW19, Merton, SW19

now a tesco

Nowadays this is a large single room with a central horseshoe bar and circular iron columns holding up the floor above. The bar back still has the Taylor Walker branding (from when it was a real brewery). There is a stage set up on the right. Boarded flooring, a few sofas but some traditional seating too. The exposed brown tiling remains on the front wall to the street, other decor includes small guitars and some swirly wallpaper. The CCTV blobs on the ceiling and monitor over the bar are a bit offputting. The pool table, a couple of fruit machines, a sweets dispenser, a sparsely occupied bookcase and the fairly loud juke box are about the only other things of note. Three handpumps, one unclipped but an ok pint of Pride, and at least they generally offer a choice, evidenced by the reversed Landlord clip.

We dropped in here the other evening as it seemed to be a contravention of natural law that a pub in my “own backyard” had not been reviewed. We were expecting something pretty dire, but luckily this one exceeded our expectations, and in my estimation qualified as average. There was one ale on – London Pride of course, which was in excellent nick (£3.20 a pint) – plus a Timothy Taylor clip reversed on a second handpump. There was no sign of food or menus, but we were in at about 9.00 PM so I wouldn’t expect any, although I have to say that this doesn’t look like the sort of pub that would do food. In the past this has been both a Cannon Brewery and Taylor Walker pub. I think it’s now owned by Punch Taverns. Interestingly when they were planning to rebuild it 100 years ago there was a big debate over the novel idea that it should include a ladies’ toilet. How times have changed. Also, back in 1905 it played a large part in the local celebrations to commemorate the death of Admiral Lord Nelson (whose home was just down the road) in 1805. But nothing like that in 2005 as I recall. A fair amount of the interior walls have brown brewery tiles on them, which is a feature most commonly seen only on exterior walls in my experience. It is definitely a musical themed pub, with guitars adorning the walls and a large stage on the right, with a serious array of stage lights trained on it. Luckily we moved on before the “open mic night” activities commenced. There was a bloke sitting in the corner strumming a guitar, but he couldn’t be heard above the noise of the loud piped music. The furnishing was mainly well worn normal tables and chairs, but there were a couple of puce, and a few red coloured sofas. A pool table dominated the left hand side of the room, being used enthusiastically by a trio of young girls. The Pride in here was apparently well kept, and that is a big plus, but I cannot see myself being drawn back to this pub with the Trafalgar around the corner.