The Grey Horse, Kingston Town, Kingston Upon Thames

This is a good sized pub and BBQ restaurant situated just the 'wrong' side of the station for the town centre and therefore full of locals rather than passers by. On my early evening visit, I entrred to a very dark interior, made worse by the venetian blinds that were partly drawn in the front windows, as well as all the dark wood flooring and dark painted walls and ceiling. The front part of the pub is formed into a sizeable seating area with button backed banquettes to the front and left, padded chairs in support and a few high tables and stools to the right. The bar is on the rear right wall and has a curved, dark wood counter with coat hooks and fairy lights across it, a mirrored bar back with a modern white tile surround and whisky boxes on top, and an insanely huge whisky board to one side listing innumerable options. The room extends to the rear down the left-hand side, past another banquette, into a rear dining room with loads of additional seating in a more formal setting. The whole pub is liberally lined with whisky boxes on just about any flat surface going and various random art prints and pictures are on display across the walls. Doors to the left lead out to some sort of partly outdoor overspill area with more seating and a trellis above with leafy plants trailing across it. Retro pop tunes were playing unobtrusively in the background and there was a surprisingly lively Thursday night crowd starting to build. There were two clipped and two unclipped handpulls when I arrived, but my attempts to order firstly, a pint of Twickenham Naked Ladies, and then a pint of Wadworth 6X, were scuppered when both died whilst being pulled, apparently due to an unusually busy Monday evening. This left me looking at the craft keg alternatives from the likes of Beavertown, Twickenham, Brixton and others. I eventually settled on the Twickenham Session IPA and a very apologetic barman gave me an unpromted 10% discount to compensate for my bad luck with the cask. I thought this was quite a basic, functional pub with a fairly standard, if impressively gloomy, interior and a couple of modest beer choices. The customer service was top notch though and I liked the lively atmosphere from a good crowd of local customers. A bit of a mixed bag all round and whilst there are definitely better options in the backstreets on this side of town, I wouldn't complain if I found myself back here again in the future. Date of visit - 11th April 2024

Tidy looking street corner pub. The main high-ceilinged bar at the front if the pub is best described as ‘bookend shaped’ and has a dark varnish floor, burgundy leather banquettes and intricate green ceiling moulds and a large Bass mirror. Noted that a regular comedy night was advertised. There’s a massive whisky list on the wall, at least one bottle from each Scottish distillery is available we were told. A formal dining area is located in a rear room with a jumbo wall mural of Hendrix, though no-one was eating and the over-loud music probably wasn’t helping matters much. Four pumps, three on - Youngs Special, Cameron's Fridge Magnet and an unbadged Twickenham Grandstand (very good shape). Eight kegs also available with some leftfield selections as well as a wall shelf of bottles and cans. Friendly barman. Overall, not bad for the area and we enjoyed our 15 minutes here. 6.5