The Hand in Hand, SW2

Official site of The Hand in Hand - www.craftunionpubs.com

Official site of The Hand in Hand - www.craftunionpubs.com

Smart local’s boozer doing a roaring trade on my mid-week visit, thanks to a surprisingly diverse crowd for what feels like a bit of an ‘old man’s pub’. The interior has a roughly U-shaped layout based around a centrally positioned servery which has seating on three of its sides. The room is carpeted for the most part, with tub chairs down the right-hand side and high tables and stools to the front and left. The bar has a timber fronted counter draped with Six Nations flags, and a modern brick and wood bar back which looks like a relatively recent addition, perhaps after the pub was opened out from a former multiple-room layout. Pleasant little fireplaces with tiled hearths and surrounds, can be found on either side of the room, one with the pub noticeboard above it, the other sporting a plain mirror. The décor throughout is a bit bland and what little of interest there was, had generally been covered in Six Nations promotional tat, but despite all this, the pub still felt rather cosy and inviting thanks to the muted lighting, including strings of fairly lights, which helped create a nice ambiance. A couple of TV screens were showing muted sports channels whilst a Euro disco soundtrack banged away in the background, so your appreciation of the pub’s cosiness may well depend on your tolerance level for such distractions. To the rear left, there is a slightly raised games room area with some limited seating, a pool table and a dartboard. On the bar, just Sharps Atlantic as the lone ale choice, although a ‘Coming Soon’ clip for Exmoor Gold was also spotted. The friendly barman struggled to pour a pint of the lively Atlantic, but once he’d succeeded, it turned out to be a fairly decent drop. I came here with fairly low expectations and was surprised by how much I enjoyed my time here. It’s an unpretentious local’s boozer that seems to be appealing to a good cross-section of the community and offers a bit of something for everyone, with a decent pint of ale and friendly service being enough to keep me happy through my time here. Worth a look if you happen to be in the area.

This looks like an inter-war pub to me, and a rather uninspiring design as well, although those who know about such things would probably say that I’m missing the important architectural merits of the building. Anyway, the inside seems a bit scruffy, although in fact it’s clean and tidy. There are two fairly large rooms, both carpeted and furnished with normal tables and chairs. My guess is that the front room would have been split into public and saloon bars (it has two doors to the street) with the rear room to the left of the building being a lounge. The wood panelling and bar counter look original. There’s also a small room beyond the “lounge” containing a dartboard, and a pool table in the front room. There was one ale on; a decent drop of Masterbrew (£1.55 a half), with another pump apparently unused. Food seemed to be restricted to a plate of clingfilm covered rolls behind the bar, but unfortunately I had already eaten in the ‘spoons down the road, otherwise I would undoubtedly have partaken of such traditional pub delicacies. It was very quiet in here on Monday afternoon with just me, two other punters on stools at the bar, the barmaid and and a radio playing. I can understand why so many pubs these days don’t see a business need to open until late afternoon or evening. I hope it does better trade in the evenings. I expect they do well on match days as a sign on the door stipulated a minimum spend of £3.30 for each half of live matches. This one is OK as a backstreet pub, but it’s certainly not a destination pub, although I would have no objection to dropping in again.