The Castle (Bar)

For local people,

As it’s only stumbling distance from my doorstep The Castle has been my most local pub in Battersea for nearly a year and yet I only ventured there last week. I am an eeejit.

The interior is that contrived trendy traditional look so popular with London gastropubs. But heck, I don’t care it works. Personally I like the wooden floors, tea-lights, leafy plants, fireplaces and the jumble of wooden furniture interspaced with beaten-up sofas. I can personally vouch that the later is especially nice to plonk your butt on after a few beers.

The pub is surprisingly pretty big but being divided into a few different rooms the Castle successfully does cozy as well. A side of the bar is available for hire and if you’re interested the bar person conspiratorially told us that if it was for your birthday party they would try and organize a late license – bonus.

There is a n excellent menu so I lorded it up, sampling the spiced duck with cranberries and Dauphinoise potatoes for just under a tenner. The berries gave it a satisfying tang and he tender meat fell off the bone and into my mouth with great ease. My mate had the huge cheeseburger served with chunky chips & salad (£6.95). What can I say? It’s local, not low-cal.

A bottle of so-so Pinot Grigio delle Venezia came in at £12.75 and like the staff it was perfectly chilled out. Another nice touch in the Castle is that there is a table with the days papers laid out, what a great pub for ‘the day after’ the Castle is gonna be. That’s right I’m planning to drop in on them soon.

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