Canbury Arms, Kingston Upon Thames

Very much a foodies' pub, with lots of bare wood, old church seats etc but with several good ales on, a couple from local breweries and a couple of national brands. I sampled the Autumn Amber from the Park brewery just up the road, and it was in very good condition (Cask Marque listing). One for eating at rather than a drinking session perhaps, but fine to stop by for a pint or two.

For a gastropub this one had on a decent range of ales, with Surrey Hills Ranmore, St Austell Tribute, Sharp's Doom Bar, Timothy Taylor Landlord, and Ascot Alligator all available. My half of Tribute came in a dimpled mug, and was at the top end of gastropub pricing at £2. I didn't bother to look fo a menu (they weren't on the tables) as I had no intention of eating here, but I have no doubt of the sort of food on offer judging by the overwhelming smell of fishy and other assorted upper class food wafting around the place. The furnishings are essentially scrubbed wooden tables and hard little wooden chairs - mainly re-cycled school chairs by the look of them. I would say that that particular novelty has long worn off by now. They can't believe that people prefer to sit on too small hard wooden chairs can they? Anyway, enough of such moaning. The walls are painted a light pastel shade, have some photographs tastefully arranged on them, all with little labels under them to inform you of the subject. Nothing wrong with that of course. The floor's bare-boarded of course, and the bar counter's full of clutter - a large floral display in a vase (OK, not clutter I suppose), ice bucket, glasses, lemons & limes, etc. But there were a couple of stools at the bar so they must be happy for drinkers to sit there. As well as the main room in the original pub, additional seating is provided in a large conservatory on the right, plus a garden and picnic benches at the front of the pub. This is nothing like the traditional pub it no doubt once was. It's now an everyday gastropub. On the plus side it has a decent range of ales, but the big minus for me is the uncomfortable chairs.

Located down a reasonably prominent side street, not too far from Kingston train station, initial impressions of this pub suggested that I'd made a poor choice, thanks to its full-on gastro stylings, but I was pleased to find a healthy beer selection at the bar which certainly helped to sway my opinion back in favour of the place. The U shaped room has scrubbed wooden flooring and furniture, with formal table arrangements mostly set up in anticipation of diners. The area to the left of the bar in particular seemed designated for food and there were one or two couples enjoying their dinner from the interesting, if somewhat pricey menu and specials board. The decor isn't up to much, with a few art prints breaking up the dull cream coloured walls and only a fireplace and upright piano to distract the eye. The area to the right of the bar is a bit more open and although there is a lot less seating this side, it is probably the best spot to enjoy a pint. A doorway from here leads to the conservatory and garden at the rear and there are further benches located on the paved area at the front. There were five beers on the bar - Twickenham Naked Ladies (£3.80), Hogs Back TEA, Sharps Doom Bar, Surrey Hills Ranmore Ale and St Austell Tribute. The barmaid tried to serve me a short measure of the Naked Ladies (which at £3.80 a pint, was not going to happen), but before I could pull her up on this, she contrived to spill it whilst putting in down on the bar, therefore obliging her to top it up anyway. The beer was in great shape, but I still think it's very steep to pay that much for a low strength beer that's made just down the road. There wasn't much atmosphere in this place when I visited and judging by the layout, I'm not sure it ever would get that lively. Having said that, the beer was in top condition and if you don't mind splashing out a bit, this would be a pretty decent place to try if you fancy having a meal.

Was here early evening yesterday with about 10 people to catch a drink between events elsewhere - I had an excellent pint of Otter from the five real ales available. The pub clearly goes heavily on the gastro side, but I certainly didn't feel that drinkers were unwelcome. I'd happily come back here when in the area

Randomness Guide to London - Canbury Arms entry

Randomness Guide to London - Canbury Arms entry

In for an office do for 20+ people. Decent food and service and 5 well kept ales, Surrey Hills Ranmore, Taylors Landlord, Harveys Sussex, Sharps Doombar and Hook Norton Old Hooky. Its a foody pub, not a drinking place but it does what it does reasonably well. Gripe today was despite the fact we put over £800 quid into the place, the lad who requested an extra scoop of ice cream on his pud was denied unless he paid more! Not acceptable, perhaps we should have withdrawn the non compulsory service charge of over £80 in protest. Rating dropped a point. 19 December 2007 Not sure if I'd call this a pub or a restaurant, certainly a gastropub anyway, but with a decent selection of beer. The food is excellent, and the beer line up the other day was Twickenham Best, Harveys Best, Hook Norton Old Hooky plus something else I don't recall, so there clearly is an interest in serving proper beer not just food. I just felt that if we were to arrive at lunchtime or evening peak with the intention of just drinking we may feel uncomfortable as it seemed all other customers were there essentially for meals. The main room has a horseshoe bar, with the seating winding around, however as suggested, all set for eating. An adjoining conservatory space can be used but it is cold or hot, depending on the weather.