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The Boaters Inn, Kingston Upon Thames
Kingston Upon Thames
KT2 5AU
Pub Type
Metropolitan Pub Co (Greene King)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Boaters Inn
A modern building next door to the rowing club,but now weathered into it's surroundings ,and offering fine views across the River Thames,it still has the feel of a club house.The interior has a wooden floor throughout,with a raised dining area infront of the large glazed windows with the best views,the rest of the interior has some seating booths and traditional furniture elsewhere.There are some very interesting photos dotted about featuring Kingston over the years,while outside there is a substantial beer garden under the plane trees,the wicker furniture having the best river views,while the bench seating seemed more utilitarian.The picket fence marks the boudary with Camley Garden,the towpath runs infront of the pub,which has it's own mooring for waterborne customers,although these need to be booked.
At the bar there are 5 handpumps,with three working on my Monday lunchtime visit offering Sambrooks Lavender Hill,Wadworth Horizon,and a reasonable Aylesbury Brewing Beaver State.Some craft keg from the taps.There are signs for meet the brewer nights and a tap takeover by Redwell was advertised,together with it's GBG listing and CAMRA discount this marks the pub as somewhere to visit if hunting for good ale.The lunchtime food from a short menu was very good,so this pub ticked a lot of boxes for me ,given that it also hosts a quiz it's more than just a foodie pub and has a friendly ,community vibe at quiet times.
On 31st July 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2728 recommendations about 2728 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john mcgraw left this review about The Boaters Inn
This is not a great pub its just a comfortable pub to have a drink.What makes it is the location.On a long summer's day sit in the garden or sit on stools at the side which offer fantastic views of the Thames and on a day such as yesterday will take a lot of beating.There were 5 real ales on which on my visit were mostly local and in good order.I lived in this area for many years but never knew this pub was here.you learn something new every day!
On 15th June 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2044 recommendations about 2025 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about The Boaters Inn
The Boaters Inn occupies a riverfront position near the northern end of Canbury Gardens, a short walk along the riverfront and towpath from Kingston Bridge.
It’s a relatively newish looking single storey, hut style building and with its part whitewashed, weatherboarded exterior, it could, at first glance, be mistaken as an extension to the boathouse of Kingston Rowing Club, which stands next door.
Inside is a single room bare boarded L shaped bar with, up a couple of steps, an area that is laid out for diners. The walls are decorated with artwork for sale from a local artist – Paul Stafford.
There’s a large outside shaded area and drinks can be taken into the gardens, off the pub premises, if a plastic glass is requested.
Like the Bishop out of Residence, a 10 minute or so walk away, the Boaters Inn opens early for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday from 10 am. Live jazz is staged on Sunday evenings.
On my recent early Saturday morning visit, my entrance at around 11.15 am and order of a pint of beer initially seemed to disconcert the young barmaid and caused me to momentarily assume, incorrectly as it turned out, that the pub’s licensing hours didn’t start till midday. This was presumably because every other customer – obviously not early risers like myself – were still having breakfast and coffee and toast.
Since my last visit several years ago, The Boaters Inn has been acquired by the Capital Pub Company ( they also have The Anglesea Arms in South Kensington ) and, pleasingly, although the pub doesn’t have much of a traditional pub feel, the interest in, and range of real ale on offer, has evidently increased. The 5 pumps were serving beers from Dorking Brewery, Surrey Hills, Twickenham Brewery and Ascot Ales ( 2 beers ). All beers sampled were in fine form, notably the Ascot Alligator Ale - £ 3.40p.
The pub is listed in the 2011 CAMRA Good Beer Guide. A beer festival is advertised for the Spring Bank Holiday, starting on Thursday 26 May, when over 40 different ales and ciders will be available.
This pub doesn’t have enough of that traditionally pubby feel for it ever to become a regular haunt of mine, but I shall certainly return. An interesting and adventurous beer range – particularly when compared with central Kingston’s pub offerings – means you should certainly make the effort to come here if you happen to be in Kingston
On 10th May 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Boaters Inn
After a nice walk in the sun along the Thames path, this pub makes an ideal stop-off point, being located right on the riverbank at the northern corner of Canbury Gardens.
The interior is of the modern, gastro pub variety and is surprisingly small, despite having been opened out nicely to ensure lots of light gets in. It was doing a great trade on a recent sunny Saturday afternoon with a mixture of local youngsters and family groups filling up the benches in the shaded beer garden and the small riverside terrace section.
There were five pumps but only two were operational when I arrived. There was Hog's Back Spring ale and a faultless pint of Twickenham Spring Ale available, the latter at £3.10. Food was proving popular with many visitors although a quick glance at the menu suggested that the pub was taking advantage of their location to put the prices up.
Worth a look, especially if they can put a few more of those pumps to use.
On 19th April 2010
- 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 Boaters Inn
It’s quite a reassuring sight when walking up to a pub you see the “Locale” sign displayed on the door. And it wasn’t an empty promise – they did Twickenham Old Original; Twickenham Smiler’s Ale; Sambrook Wandle; Hogsback OTT; and Pilgrim Porter. They also did the rarely seen Bitburger lager. I went for the Twickenham Smiler’s as that was a new one for me, and very nice it was too (at £3 a pint). This pub enjoys a superb setting right on the river, and there are some picnic benches on a patio outside, as well as a grassed area that would be nice in the summer. Inside it’s a single room bar, with a varnished bare-boarded floor, except that there is a raised area to the left as you go in that has some rugs to break up the expanse of floorboards. Furniture is mainly normal tables and chairs, plus a couple of settles. I saw that there was a TV tuned to Sky Sports, but muted during my weekday lunchtime visit. Some of the décor on the walls was a bit modernist for my taste, but I can see that artistic touches like the red rose on each table would probably be an attraction for a lady. On its own such a touch is not a deciding factor, but adds to the overall refined atmosphere.
The food menu is a bit more “haute cuisine” than it was a year or two ago; gone are the pub staples like a cheap burger and chips. The food is inevitably more expensive than it was. As I was ready to eat I ordered the ploughmans lunch, which although of good quality, was, I though, a little expensive at £8. But there were a fair number of people in for lunch, so the pub style appears to be working. It’s not what I would call a drinkers’ pub, but more a destination pub for those wanting to eat in an attractive riverside setting. Superb ales, superb setting by the river – worth paying a bit more than the going rate for the food I suppose. I imagine that I’ll be back some time, probably with Mrs R in tow.
On 19th February 2010
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about The Boaters Inn
Pleasant location right on the river bank and in a parkland setting. The interior has a modern feel, an L shaped room, wooden floors with occasional rugs, a mixture of seating types including high tables and stools and a few sofas as well as the more traditional. A narrow terrace directly overlooks the river and there are a few typical benches set outside.
An impressive line up utilising all five handpumps and not including any of the usual suspects; a good local feel too to the selection. Sambrooks Brewery Wandle, Surrey Hills Ranmore Ale, Pilgrim Silver Sovereign, Hogs Back TEA, and Brakspears Bitter. I have to say the Ranmore was superb and just the job on a hot afternoon following a river walk from Richmond. Whitelands Farm Hampshire "Cirrus Major" cider and "Midnight Perry" also on from plastic barrels behind the bar. A blackboard says Twickenham Summer Gold and Hogs Back Summer Ale coming soon.
Live Jazz advertised for Sunday evening (21st June) but not sure if a regular venture.
Reading other reviews perhaps I struck lucky today with the beer range but I'm not compaining, first class selection in a great riverside setting.
On 15th June 2009
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
train man left this review about The Boaters Inn
Fairly new-build feel, but well positioned literally adjacent to the river with just the width of the towpath to the lapping water, a young lad was fishing from his spot a couple of yards from the side entrance, I imagine flooding may be an occasional issue? Panaoramic riverside windows make the most of the location, albeit blinds were masking the low sun, but rowing 8s were cutting serenely past & white-railed property on opp bank had a couple of boats moored outside. Antipodean barstaff were ok, 5 handpumps, 4 looked to be in regular use but only 2 were on (Sat06), Doombar & HogsBack Advent Ale, Blacksheep & Adnams were reverse clipped.
On 15th December 2008
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 412 recommendations about 411 pubs]