The Antelope, Surbiton

This pub still had the usual Greene King range of ales on, but a chum and I were enticed here by the prospect of some additional local ales being available. There were pumps clipped with Twickenham Original, Sundancer and Naked Ladies (£3.50 a pint), but unfortunately the first two (plus GK St Edmunds) were “still settling”, leaving the Naked Ladies as the only guest. Now I thankfully don’t have much in common with DSK, but I do quite like Naked Ladies, the liquid version of which was in good nick here. However, for some inexplicable reason, all of the ales were dispensed through sparklers. The exterior didn’t look as inviting as other reviewers seem to have found it, but it was dark when I visited, so perhaps it would look better in daylight. The interior has recently been given a thorough makeover, and is not much like a traditional pub now. Duck egg green walls, much favoured by gastropubs, seem to be the order of the day here, but I didn’t see a menu (we were in there after 9.00 PM) so can’t confirm that the food is of the gastropub persuasion. The front bar now has no traditional tables and chairs – just tall tables/stools and the like. There were a couple of barrels in the middle of the room, presumably intended for use as glass depositories by vertical drinkers. The rear room, reached down two or three steps to the left of the bar counter, does contain normal tables and chairs and to my mind is much more comfortable than the front bar. The rear room has a modern wood panelled wall on the left, which also bears a large cast iron (by the look of it) clock, and is also adorned by a garland of hops. There were at least a couple of TVs on, showing the Napoli v Chelsea game. This visit was a bit disappointing because I was expecting better on the ale front. But the pub is OK if you like these thoroughly modernised places; and perhaps we were just unlucky that so many ales were unavailable during our visit.