Tim Bobbin, Clapham, SW4

Official site of Tim Bobbin - www.instagram.com

Official site of Tim Bobbin - www.instagram.com

Dating from the 19th century, this was a beer house/off-licence until at least 1944, before becoming a pub, named after a Lancashire poet. With some vestigial etched glass, the exterior is gastro-blue, a theme which continues inside, with a white ceiling and exposed rafters. The floor is bare boarded, a modern bar back is white tiled, though with a bar front that’s possibly original with attractive wrought iron footrail. There’s a smart rear – dining? – room illuminated by many fairy lights. Furniture was conventional, upholstered then painted the same colour as the pub’s interior, graced by the buttocks of young trendy customers, though with three old codgers incongruously sidelined to the right of the bar. Like the young customers, wall mounted prints were similarly trendy with light coming from hanging translucent white spherical lamps; there were no signs of electronic entertainment. A feeble cask choice amounted to just Pride then a reversed Landlord clip, more Oil at £3.60 a half. Although let down by loud acoustics and poor cask choice, this is a lot more restful than the cask-less Old Town Tavern and more pubby than the Pig’s Head; make of that what you will.

A popular pub located in a residential side street just on the edge of Clapham’s Old Town, it looks quite attractive from the outside with the extensive blue wooden façade covering the whole of the ground floor, although that’s obviously not original and thus not quite as traditional looking as it may have been at one time. Internally it’s clearly been renovated as well, with what was presumably the original pub forming a U shape around the bar counter, and then a large conservatory extension at the rear as well as an adjacent beer garden. The main bar was almost elegant in style, with dark wooden boards on the floor, Farrow & Ball blue paintwork on the walls and a ceiling where both the beams and the ceiling itself had all been painted white. Not something I’m normally a fan of, I much prefer the original black beams, but to be fair that probably wouldn’t have gone with the rest of the décor. A large TV to the left was showing the rugby, as well as a smaller one off to the right, whilst a darts board was through an archway. Seating looked to be fairly limited, with mostly just high stools around the permitter and at the bar counter. The conservatory at the rear was very much geared up for eating, with a kitchen hatch off to the side and all tables occupied by diners. This had flagstones on the floor and pale green paintwork on the walls, along with some areas of exposed brickwork. The menu offered a decent enough selection of dishes, although they were certainly a step or two up from your usual “pub grub” both in terms of price and style. Even a burger was £17.50, with the majority of the main courses being around £25. That said, my Penne & Italian sausage ragú which was one of the cheaper options was pretty good and served by a friendly waitress, although she had absolutely no idea how to pour a pint – my London Pride must have been at least 25% head. That said, the landlord spotted it immediately and whisked it away to be sorted before I’d had a chance to say anything. Besides the Pride, the other beer option was Timothy Taylor Landlord, whilst the ciders were Stowford Press and Old Rosie. Overall, not a bad pub, but it was too busy and frantic to be really relaxing. Perhaps if I had caught it at a quieter time I would have warmed to it more.

Official site of The Bobbin - www.thebobbinclapham.com

Official site of The Bobbin - www.thebobbinclapham.com

The Bobbin consists of a bar area with dartboard around to the right hand side, a seating area aimed at diners in an extension to the left and a conservatory at the rear. Out the back picnic tables are found in the U shaped yard that runs around the perimeter of the conservatory. During my visit early on a recent Saturday afternoon there were a few groups in attendance including a young family who were dining. I had a quick glance at a menu to find that all of the mains were priced over £10, which wasn’t surprising for this area. A premium keg range and Fosters were available from the bar that also supports three hand pumps. These were drawing an offering from Butcombe Brewery, Harvey’s Best and Sambrooks’ Pumphouse Pale Ale. I noted the presence of a large plasma screen that was switched off in favour of some background music. This is not the sort of place that I would expect to find Sky Sports. I found the service to be very friendly and I would consider returning here to try the food, but I probably wouldn’t pop in again just for a pint.

They had on three ales when I visited – Adnam’s Ghost Ship, Harvey’s Best, and Sambrook’s Wandle (£4 a pint). It looks the sort of place that must do food, but nobody was eating when I arrived at 5.30 PM on Saturday, and I didn’t spot any menus. Seating all seemed to be standard issue, pretty much surrounding the servery that faces you as you enter. The room at the back is still in use, and as far as I could tell it was available for drinkers as well as for diners. This looked to be a young professional person’s pub. When my chum and I arrived I reckon the average age went up a few years. It was well patronised when we arrived, but the pair of us managed to get a small table. But it got a fair bit busier by 6.00 PM, and noise levels increased considerably as everybody in there was having to shout to make themselves heard. I suppose that everybody was having to shout at their companions because everybody else was having to shout. There’s probably a law of physics to describe this phenomenon. The pub itself is nice enough; the beer range is OK and those of us who drink in London are de-sensitised to the £4 pint. But if you visit when it’s busy it’s not the place for a relaxing pint. The place was noisy and frenetic when we were in early on Saturday evening – but if you like noisy and lively places then The Bobbin will suit you.