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The Country House, Earlsfield, SW18
SW18
SW18 4EP
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Tris C left this review about The Country House
With an address that sounds like a villainous race from an episode of Dr Who, this is a mid-19th century backstreet pub, a stone’s throw from Earlsfield overground station. It’s on CAMRA’s inventory of pubs with historic interiors, this being of Outstanding National Historic Importance, pics available on their site.
This is a very traditional pub with a games machine, unobtrusive sport, darts and some sort of coits/skittles game overheard in a separate room. Customers were a mixed local bunch and seemed in good spirits on my Saturday visit at 10.00pm.
An initially enticing six pumps on the red lino bar top, amounted to four unused, thereafter a reversed Landlord clip then Sussex Best at a reasonable £2.60 a half, served by a friendly very old-school landlady and in very good shape it was too.
This is as far as you can get from the neighbouring Earlsfield, where no doubt the young crowd sup gins infused with anchovies or some such; this place is certainly worth a visit, but the electronics are a distraction and the cask choice is limited.
On 15th October 2023
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Country House
Just a short walk from Earlsfield station, this is a nice, traditional multiple room backstreet boozer that serves a down-to-earth bunch of locals, in sharp contrast to the many fancy gastro pubs that plague this neighbourhood. Entering through the corner doors, you find yourself in a good sized public bar, with exposed floorboards, dark beams across the ceiling and the servery along the rear wall. The bar has an attractive, curved dark wood counter with a matching mirrored bar back. Tables and chairs fill the space to the left of the servery, whilst a run of high tables and padded stools can be found under the front windows, which have a mix of etched lower panes, and smaller bulls-eye inserts in the upper row. The walls have mid-height dark wood panels and have been decorated with a series of wall-mounted plates, offset by some TV screens showing horse racing to a rapt group of customers. An opened out doorway to the right leads into a small side room with its own little serving hatch under a frosted glass screen. Three high tables with stools fill the room with a bit of space left for a dartboard and oche, whilst further TV screens were showing muted live Italian football to no-one in particular. A brick fireplace on the end wall was sadly obscured by a large advert for the pub’s smartphone quiz, but had a few posters and brass items on the mantelpiece and above. A rear lounge could be viewed through the servery, but it appeared to be in darkness, so I was unable to explore properly.
I received a very warm welcome from the old-school landlord, and was faced with a choice of three cask ales - Taylors Landlord, Wychwood Hobgoblin and Three Sods IPA. I tried a pint of the latter which was in very good nick and I enjoyed supping whilst listening to the locals chatting nonsense to each other.
Pubs like this, offering a traditional multiple room layout with well-kept beer and no concessions to family dining or hipster craft beers, are increasingly hard to find in South London these days, so it was great to stumble across this place which ticked all those boxes. Definitely the place to go in this part of town if you want some good quality ale in a proper pub environment.
On 21st January 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Country House
This place has had a refurbishment recently, and I dropped in to see what they had done to it. The answer is little of substance, which is a good thing. If it's not broken don't try to fix it. The pool table and pinball have gone, and there are now quite a few tall tables/tall stools around the place, but enough normal tables and chairs to keep me happy.
There are six handpumps in the public bar, but when I visited Monday lunchtime there were only two ales on - Three Sods Session IPA and Black Sheep Rye Mild. The other four were clipped, with "coming soon" (or something similar) labels on them. The four coming soon were Doom Bar, Wandle, and the By the Horns pair of Diamond Geezer and Lambeth Walk. The landlord told me that they normally have three ales available, with either Doom Bar or Wandle on with a couple of guests, as this is currently the most that can be sustained by current demand. Prices are expensive, with real ale at £4.70 or so a pint, but you get a £1 off a pint on Mondays. The only food available was pork pies, sausage rolls or Scotch eggs at £2.50 a pop.
This remains a delightful little backstreet pub. I'll certainly be back sometime.
On 20th November 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
train man left this review about The Country House
Went here yesterday seeking Harveys and a dartboard, unfortunately neither remain.
I very much liked the décor and feel of the place, but just Doombar and Wimbledon Brewery Common Pale, both doubled up, on handpump. Friendly publicans, the guv expected to be busy later for the England rugby.
Another miserable mcfc failure was the early showing on the flatscreen.
On 13th March 2016
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 412 recommendations about 411 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about The Country House
The three bar format remains intact, Public, Saloon and the Meal Room. The bar serves all areas from the centre, I decided upon the meal room which was occupied by other drinkers and felt comfortable. I peeked into the other areas but these seemed a bit basic and Spartan, wooden floored and quiet. The Meal Room was carpeted, regular banquette and small stool seating, wood panelling and beamed ceiling. Some exposed brickwork. Straight into a conversation with a friendly Irish chap, old days and pub stuff, very good, I liked it here very much, TV showing tennis muted, music at a low volume. A few framed hunting prints on the walls, pool table and a dartboard in the public bar. London Drinker magazine available, tends to be a good sign.
Good sign it was too, a decent range, Doom Bar, Harveys Sussex Bitter, Bank's Bitter on shared across six handpumps.
A lively pub with a good atmosphere and a decent ale choice, well worthy of a visit if near Earlsfield Station.
On 4th June 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Country House
This pub still retains its 3-bar format. The Private Bar is not connected to the other two. But the Meal Room (a new one on me) is connected to the Public Bar by an archway, with the former being used as a pool room, with one table and a few chairs. There’s a dartboard as well as a pinball machine (Spiderman) in the Public Bar. Ales on were Young’s Bitter and London Pride; I had the London Pride (at £2.90 a pint) which was not particularly good, although drinkable.
This struck me as very much a locals’ drinking pub. Not the sort of place you go to for a taste of comfort. I didn’t venture into the Private Bar, but the Public Bar only had a couple of tables and a few stools. This is very much a basic backstreet boozer (although it’s very visible from the trains on the Waterloo line). The clientele were a bit basic as well – workers from a local builders by the look of them – but this is an observation, not a criticism! Worth dropping in to see the sort of boozer that was commonplace 30 to 40 years ago, but I don’t feel any great compulsion to return.
On 23rd July 2009
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]