The City Arms, Thames Ditton

This may have been a country pub at some time, but it’s on the now very busy Portsmouth Rd. As you enter, the bar counter is right in front of you; to the left is a small room that looks just like your front room, with a TV in one corner at waist height, a nice carpet on the floor, sofas and a fireplace. But the hideous games machine in another corner rather spoils the front parlour effect. The main bar with the bar counter is bare-boarded, and also contains a one-armed bandit and some normal tables and chairs. This leads to another carpeted room on the right with a few more standard tables and chairs, and with each table decorated with a spray of daffodils. There's also a rather attractive exposed brickwork fireplace in this room. This leads to yet another bare-boarded room with tables set for diners. Something of a mixed bag then. Décor on the walls amounts to various prints, many seemingly of wine and whisky bottles. There were three ales on – Hyde’s Over a Barrell; Courage Best; and London Pride. The Pride was £3.30 a pint, which is a bit on the steep side. The food was fairly standard pub style grub. The mains were in the £7 - £8 bracket, and the baguettes around £5 - £6. I’m not convinced by the cerise painted walls and pinkish ceiling, although it didn’t look as garish as it sounds. The walls up to the dado rail level look to be wood panelled, although it may be false panelling as it is coated with a wood effect varnish. It all sounds a bit tacky, but actually as a whole it didn’t look too bad. The pub had a cared for look about it, and I found the barmaid to be friendly and welcoming. It’s not a great pub, although it’s a reasonably good one even if the ale prices are just a little on the pricey side.