Tooting Tour

This tour took place sometime in August 2004, accompanied by Matt.
The Castle has been much frequented by us in the past, but fits into this tour quite nicely. The pubs are arranged in the order in which we visited, walking/bussing along Garrats Lane from Tooting Broadway to Earlsfield.

The Castle, Tooting Broadway

A favourite for meetings near Tooting Broadway (you can see it from the tube station), usually prior to a curry in the Sree Krishna. If you haven't been to the Sree Krishna before, you should go as soon as possible and have the deep-fried cashew nuts.
I'm quite fond of this pub. It's really good for reading papers in on a Sunday. Suitably dingy, without being frim at all. Proper Young's, in the sense that you can ask for Ram 'n' Spec without fear of confusion. I've never tried the carvery, being one of those veggie types, but it looks interesting. Overall, a top-notch hostelry.

Leather Bottle, Summerstown

Oh God! Walking along Garrats Lane, it got progressively grimmer. Summerstown is horrible, one of those suburban wastelands inbetween real places - in this case Tooting and Earlsfield - which has been filled with menacing estates. We passed the Prince of Wales on the way to the Bottle, and it looked terrifying, as if it was covered in chickenwire. It looked closed down, but there was a seafood stall and some empty glasses in the yard. Hmm. We'll return to the Prince of Wales later.
Anyway, don't go to the Bottle, unless you have the misfortune to live in Summerstown. The pub is allright, but I don't know why it's where it is. There's a beer garden and so on. Not worth putting up with getting there.

Halfway House, Earlsfield

Right by Earlsfield station. OK but a bit... flimsy.

Prince of Wales, Tooting

On the way back to Tooting, this had decided to open. By far the best pub of the lot. I wanted to stay there all night, but too much had been consumed by then to make it a reasonable prospect. Electronic darts board. Worth the walk.