The Trafalgar, SW19

Tucked away on an unremarkable estate is this unremarkable former local Camra pub of the year.Very old fashioned interior with obscure glass windows letting little light to enter.Good beer selection 2 from Surry Hills,Downton -quadhop By the Horns-stout(it was st paddy,s day)and my choice Keystone -Cheer up which was good.No music so I had to listen to others conversation whether I like it or not in this little box of a pub.I did not like it.

Visited in May 2010 Externally, a rather unattractive looking building, The Trafalgar is a small community orientated traditional local situated in a back street of South Wimbledon / Merton. It's a single bar pub with two distinct drinking areas separated by a notable ship's wheel. There's some Nelson related memorabilia and frosted windows help contribute towards a cosy feel, but, taken as a whole, the interior is somewhat nondescript. To be honest, I've never warmed to this pub in the past. Being only a small pub, there's not a lot of room and the regulars tend to congregate by the bar, leaving little room for the passing visitor to manoeuvre into a position to see what beers are on. In addition, the friendly welcoming atmosphere that other posters refer to has always appeared lacking to me. Plus of course, it's in an area that I would prefer to avoid after dark, thus restricting visiting opportunities in the winter months. However, in my book, a pub is as good as I find it on my last visit and my visit on a May Sunday afternoon, coinciding with the afternoon jazz between 2.30pm and 5.30 pm, enabled me to see the pub in a more favourable light. Yes, it was busier than on my previous Saturday visits - and the regulars were still hogging the bar space - but I detected a much more welcoming and relaxed atmosphere overall, probably because there was a much wider customer mix, with a good number of people obviously there specifically for the jazz. On the real ale front, there's six handpumps. Both beers sampled by me - Dark Star Hophead and a chocolatey tasting Lytham Dark ( both at £ 2.90p ) were in excellent condition, served incidentally by a barmaid who bore an uncanny resemblance to Becky in Coronation Street's Rovers Return ( but minus the permanent scowl ) The pub is a CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular and has won local awards ( eg - CAMRA Greater London Pub of the Year 2008 ) Two smallish TV's were showing the afternoon's Premiership football, one oddly positioned in a corner behind and above where the jazz band was, but the game was attracting little interest and it didn't adversely affect the atmosphere. I'm now more enthusiastic about this pub and I'll try and get here again soonish - probably on a Sunday. Finally, do note that, according to the CAMRA GBG, it doesn't open until 3pm in the afternoon between Mondays and Thursdays.

Randomness Guide to London - Trafalgar entry

Randomness Guide to London - Trafalgar entry