The Ham Brewery Tap, Richmond

The pub is knocked through into a single space with the bar central. Wood flooring, mostly standard issue tables and chairs but a couple of sofas have sneaked in. There is a pool table and a dartboard to the left, plus unusually I thought an alternative dartboard some distance away to the rear right of the bar. Beamed ceiling, a couple of TVs, some books stacked along the top of a fireplace. The pub seems to attempt to form a community hub, with a weekly quiz, poker night, pool competition and karaoke advertised. Despite this during my afternoon visit the pub felt very mediocre with a handful of lonely looking solitary drinkers dotted around. Outdoor areas to the front and side. Three handpumps serving two, Youngs Ordinary, London Pride with Spitfire reversed. Probably a useful local for the inhabitants of the local estate, and inoffensive really but not crying out for a revisit.

Young’s Bitter and Spitfire were on handpump, plus a third pump was unused. There was no food available during my midweek lunchtime visit. It’s got the look of a country pub from the outside, but inside it’s very different, being a very ordinary pub. I suppose it’s got something of a rustic look with the uneven walls and black beams, but overall it comes over, to me at least, as nothing special. Features include a pool table dominating the left hand side of the room; two dartboards, one at each end of the room; a TV that was switched off; and a games machine. There are a couple of sofas, but the rest of the furnishings are all normal tables and chairs. Poker nights are advertised for Tuesdays, and quiz nights for Thursdays, with a special treat of karaoke one evening this weekend. Some of the paintwork badly needs touching up, and the bare walls would definitely benefit from the addition of some prints or suchlike to break up some of the open spaces. This is a very average pub to which I won’t be making a special effort to visit again. The Young’s bitter was good though.