The Riverside, Vauxhall, SW8

A new build is always unlikely to appear to be traditional, especially when it is part of a development of exclusive riverside apartments and also run by the Young's brand. It is however very bright and airy, benefiting from lots of natural light and having decent river views. A large interior with an off-centre island bar, mostly boarded flooring with a pair of carpeted semi-separated areas towards the front. The rear has an open to view kitchen and an adjoining area with set dining tables but there are seating options of all kinds elsewhere. Framed local photos plus a few based upon bowler hats form the decor as well as IKEA style shelving units with bits and bobs and a wall mounted boat of the style used in the University Boat Race...is it a skiff? Youngs Bitter, Special and London Gold plus guest from Truman's, Hoptoberfest which was uncharacteristically disappointing being far from hoppy and rather bland and £4.40 as well. It all feels a bit corporate, too "nice", shiny and modern, I can think of many people who would like it here but I'm not one of them.

Located in the Blade Runner-esque St George’s Wharf development, this is a modern plate glass Youngs pub and all that entails, though it could be worse and it does indeed have a riverside location with decent views if you can nab a decent seat or brave the outside. Vast open interior with the usual corporate modish stylings that will no doubt be ripped out and replaced at great expense by 2030 but as noted below at least some effort has been made to break up the interior a bit using a mix of wood, copper and stone materials. Four ales on from the CW stable – Youngs Bitter, Special, Gold (pedestrian) and Bombardier. A couple of interesting kegs, including the Stout. Expensive, as expected. I can’t see myself returning now I’ve done it.

Set in the St Georges Wharf complex, one of many similarly bland, modern developments along this stretch of the Thames, this is a large riverside Young’s pub, easily reached from Vauxhall station. The pub comprises a vast open space with a sizable rectangular island servery and numerous seating areas throughout. The side of the pub closest to the river obviously offers up the best views (you can even see the pier from which the River Bus departs, should you need to keep your eye out for the next service), and so the seating here is unsurprisingly the most prized. The rest of the room offers a good mix of seating options and the volume of seats means there should be enough to meet everyone’s preferences. The pub suffers from an unpleasant, corporate feel that is endemic across the entire complex, although efforts have been made to mitigate this. For example, there are numerous interesting pieces of contemporary art dotted around the room, bookshelves have been set up to act as partitioning and house a few interesting items and there is also some essential outdoor seating with patio heaters for the colder months, providing somewhere to escape to should the interior fail to lift the spirits. We visited for a bite to eat and found the food to be pricey, which wasn’t that much of a surprise, but the seafood board that we sampled turned out to be pretty decent value when you considered how much food was on it. On arrival we were met by a member of staff who offered us table service, but they have no problem with customers coming just to enjoy drinks. As with most Young’s pubs, there aren’t too many decent drinks to enjoy and we found a decent row of handpulls offering Young’s Ordinary, London Gold and Wooden Spoon, with a Wells Bombardier clip reversed. Keg options included London Stout and a few of the less obvious continental lagers. My pint of the Wooden Spoon was okay but not really inspiring enough to make me want a second. This is a good example of how all pubs would look if they were all run by big business. The plus points are the location and the decent food, but the usual downsides of bland interior, uninspiring ale range and premium prices mean that this place is better left to the suits.