{"id":6252,"date":"2026-05-27T09:14:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=6252"},"modified":"2026-05-27T09:14:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:14:33","slug":"hostelries-along-the-hogsmill-revisited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/hostelries-along-the-hogsmill-revisited\/","title":{"rendered":"Hostelries along the Hogsmill revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Saturday 21 February the London Pubs Group visited six pubs in the Kingston and New Malden areas. \u00a0First was the Duke of Buckingham<\/a><\/strong> in Villiers Road. \u00a0This pub rates one star pub on CAMRA\u2019s National Inventory of pub interiors of special national historic interest. \u00a0A suburban, red-brick pub built in the 1930s by Hodgsons\u2019 Kingston Brewery (later taken over by Courage), as evidenced by the shield over the corner entrance bearing three salmons from the borough arms and a rebus with K and a tun.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The doorway to the Duke of Buckingham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As you enter you can\u2019t miss the attractive and most unusual curved doors: left to the public bar and right to a large room that is now an amalgamation of two original ones.  Perhaps the most notable feature is the octagonal leaded skylight over the servery.  There is also some original work in the fireplace, panelling, counters, parts of the stillion in the centre of the servery and curved cornices to the ceilings. Wainwright Amber is usually served here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second stop was at the Spring Grove<\/a><\/strong> in Bloomfield Road, an attractive building from 1867, retaining stained-glass windows (possibly inter-war).\u00a0 It was acquired by Young\u2019s in 1922. \u00a0Although opened-up, the pub still retains distinct areas, including a room labelled \u2018Tap Room\u2019 with a stained-glass skylight. \u00a0The original 1892 plan of the pub can be seen at the entrance to this area. \u00a0Inside the Tap Room there is a photograph of the exterior showing 1980s Young\u2019s livery. \u00a0The rear of the pub appears to be a modern extension that gives access to an attractive modern garden. \u00a0A trip to the toilets affords glimpses of old photographs including one of sheep in Kingston town centre, a portrait of the young Terence Conran and a painting of Wolverhampton trolleybuses!\u00a0 Young\u2019s London Original and Special, plus two changing guest ales such as Timothy Taylor Landlord or beers from Dorking Brewery and Twickenham Fine Ales are usually served here.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Spring Grove<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After passing the former Swan pub, closed in 2008 but still displaying its red and gold Courage sign, the tour reached the Cocoanut<\/a> <\/strong>in Mill Street, another one-star pub on CAMRA\u2019s National Inventory. \u00a0There has been a pub on this site since at least the nineteenth century but the current building dates from the early 1950s. \u00a0Plans to demolish the original building and construct a new pub were approved in July 1939 but interrupted by World War II.\u00a0 Charrington\u2019s Brewery had started rebuilding in the spring of 1940 but had to stop in August because of a shortage of steel. \u00a0Work was eventually completed by 1954: a two-storey building constructed of brick with a tile roof and two bow-fronted windows on the ground floor.\u00a0 These have their original green and clear leaded window panes, with the left-hand door having colourful leaded symbols, including a coconut. \u00a0There are separate entrance lobbies on either side of the building plus a third entrance in the centre of the fa\u00e7ade that leads to the original off-sales area.\u00a0 In the centre of the pub is a single U-shaped bar, with 1950s panelling in pale wood, although the bar was shortened and new glass panelling installed at the rear after 1987. \u00a0The back-of-bar shelving may also date from the 1950s and has the wording \u2018Wines\u2019, a blank space that possibly originally said \u2018Charrington\u2019s\u2019 and \u2018Spirits\u2019 along the top on both sides. \u00a0The pub now consists of a single drinking and dining area, although when constructed there were three distinct rooms: a saloon bar, a public bar, and a games room, plus an off-sales area. \u00a0The public and saloon bars were knocked into a single space in the late 1980s. \u00a0Unfortunately, real ale is no longer served here.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Next came the Druids Head<\/a><\/strong>, an ex-Whitbread pub in Market Place.\u00a0 This Grade II*-listed building is the last remaining pub in the market place area. \u00a0It has some good surviving early eighteenth-century features, including a turned baluster open-well staircase, heavily moulded plaster ceilings and first-floor front room timber panelling.\u00a0 Greene King IPA, Abbot and Druid\u2019s Head (house beer, probably Greene King), Timothy Taylor Landlord and two changing guest ales are usually served here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The fifth pub was the Park Tavern<\/a><\/strong> in New Road. \u00a0Another former Charrington house, originally converted from two cottages, it is on CAMRA\u2019s Local Inventory of interiors of local historic interest. \u00a0A plan dated 1927 shows a public bar on the front left, a saloon bar on the front right and a bottle and jug department between them.\u00a0 In addition, there was a tap room on the rear left (served by a hatch, which remains) and a bar parlour behind the servery, rear centre. \u00a0The plan details a reduction in the extent of the bar counter on the right and confirms it has been in its present position since 1927. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The counter is of an inter-war style. \u00a0The mirrored bar-back looks old but the lower section on the left is modern. \u00a0The front bay windows have inter-war glass. \u00a0This pub is in CAMRA\u2019s Good Beer Guide<\/em> 2026 and was Kingston & Leatherhead CAMRA Branch\u2019s 2025 pub of the year. Fuller\u2019s London Pride and Youngs London Original plus four changing guest ales are usually available. \u00a0The ceiling is decorated with pump clips, over 5000 in all, from beers that have been served here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final venue was the Royal Oak<\/a><\/strong>, Coombe Road, New Malden. \u00a0This pub is Grade II-listed and is recognised by CAMRA as having a historic interior of local interest. \u00a0It dates from the late-1880s or mid-1890s, with minor additions and alterations c1900 and later C20. \u00a0Located on a corner site at the junction with Sycamore Grove, it was built to an asymmetrical plan of two, two and a half and three storeys, with a red brick ground floor and dressings, stock brick returns, rendered upper storeys, applied timber dressings and tile roofs. \u00a0The public bar was to the left via a corner entrance, while the former hotel accommodation was accessed to the right. \u00a0The public bar is subdivided by a panelled partition with a small door and there is a large horseshoe-shaped bar. \u00a0Elsewhere a certain amount of coloured glass remains. \u00a0A gilded and brilliant-cut mirror lettered \u2018Benskins\u2019 indicates its former owners, later part of the Allied Breweries estate.\u00a0 Adnams\u2019 Southwold Bitter, Hogs Back TEA, Park Brewery Saw Pit and Wimbledon Copper Leaf are usually served here.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Hogsmill of the title is a local chalk stream that rises in Ewell and flows into the Thames at Kingston.\u00a0 Near Kingston town centre it is crossed by the 12th century Clattern Bridge, believed to be one of the oldest road bridges in England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a repeat of a tour that we originally staged in February 2020. \u00a0That event was dedicated to the memory of Terry Casey, who for many years compiled maps for the Group\u2019s crawls. \u00a0This year\u2019s event celebrated the memory of the Clive Taylor, London Pubs Group stalwart and a former resident of New Malden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jane Jephcote and Kim Rennie<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Saturday 21 February the London Pubs Group visited six pubs in the Kingston and New Malden areas. \u00a0First was the Duke of Buckingham in Villiers Road. \u00a0This pub rates… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pub-crawl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6252"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6261,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6252\/revisions\/6261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}