The Happy Man, Egham

Called in for food as we thought it was a Thai food pub, but the menu was normal pub fayre with a couple of Thai curries thrown in. 4 real ales and the two we sampled with the food were in good nick. Goffs Summer Knight and Whitstable East India Pale Ale. The fish and chips and the steak and ale pie and chips went down well with good portions. The pub is not far out of Egham centre and the 71 bus goes by the road end. Featured in the CAMRA North Surrey Pub Guide, and was their pub of the year in 2008. Also 2011 Good Beer Guide entry.

Excellent little pub, with four interesting ales on handpump. Very handy for the Royal Holloway campus, but obviously not just a student pub. Very apt name!

There is something about crossing a river to get to a pub that makes me have high hopes of a finding a decent establishment, but unfortunately this place was a let down. As has been said before it is tired and needs some work doing. This is a Greene King pub and they had three of their ales available during my visit alongside a standard draught selection. I found the staff to be polite enough, although they certainly gave the impression that the last place they wanted to be was standing behind the bar. The beer garden is huge and the grass is thin and patchy, but I was more put off by the thousands of cigarette butts that have been thrown on the floor and there has been no effort to clean them up for some time. Nice location, shame about the pub.

Lovely old style village pub, a real gem. Very traditional with three seperate small drinking areas, parlour style, with wooden floors, wooden settle/benches with cushioned seats. There is a garden to the rear, where beer festivals are occasionally held. The bar mantle and several walls are covered with beer mats from previously served ales, there are pictures of classic comedians, but card players may enjoy the picture "The Winning Hand" in the main room. I thoroughly enjoyed my short stay here, the landlord was very friendly, knowledgeable and interested in his beers and pleased to see my interest too, with tasters being offered both on arrival and when a new one was added. Normally four on term time but the guv stated with the students away he is running at three to ensure the turnover to be quick enough to keep the beer in condition. No complaints with that honest assessment. My afternoon visit had, Hopback Summer Lightening (the regular), Wayland GBA, and Andwell King John. A Caledonian banana beer was being pulled through for later as the KJ was going. A fine example of an increasingly hard to find proper old pub, superb.

A side street boozer sited close to Royal Holloway college, that has seen ups and downs. Currently on the up. Choice of 3 ales: London Pride plus 2 changing guests.