Flanagan's of Battersea, SW8

I don’t expect to be impressed by a pub called “Flanagan’s”, but I rather liked this one. It’s a small one room “Irish” pub, with Gaelic writing and script on the exterior, plus inside there’s Guinness adverts and a green rimmed Guinness top hat on a shelf, possibly left over from last year’s St Patrick’s Day. But otherwise the pub’s very traditional. The original beige tiling remains on the exterior, not having been overpainted like I’ve seen in many other pubs, and inside the walls retain the three-quarter height wood panelling probably from an inter-war fitting. There’s a nice carpet on the floor, and apart from one sofa the furnishings are all traditional banquettes and normal tables and chairs. They were playing some 60s pop songs, and the TV was showing a montage of goal by Teddy Sheringham and Robby Fowler. Coming in here felt a bit like falling through a time warp – which is not necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately they didn’t score very highly on the ale front, with only Old Speckled Hen on (£1.75 a half), with Sambrook Wandle and Young’s Bitter clips reversed. There was a “specials” board, featuring grub that looked reasonably priced to me – such as sirloin steak plus trimmings for £7.95, and steak and kidney pie, chips and peas for £6.95. These definitely come under the general pub grub heading. There’s a little sign on the tables proclaiming it a “real ale, real food, real pub”, and I would tend to agree. For me this place scores highly for ambience and friendliness, but not so highly for ale choice. But if I was passing I might well drop in again.