Battersea Mess and Music Hall, London SW11
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Southwest London: Battersea and Clapham
Contemporary pub (Antic)
51 Lavender Gardens SW11 1DJ
T 020 7223 6927 w www.batterseamessandmusichall.com f Battersea-Mess-and-Music-Hall tw MessandMusic
Open 1600 (1200 Sat-Sun)-2300 (2400 Thu-Sat, 2230 Sun). Children welcome until 2100.
Cask beer 6 (Adnams, 5 sometimes unusual guests), Other beer 4 keg, 20 bottles, Also 2 real ciders/perries, 30 wines including champagnes, specialist spirits.
Food Gastroish enhanced pub grub and cooked bar snacks/sharing plates, Outdoor Beer garden, Wifi. Disabled toilet.
Mon quiz, Sun live music, regular live music and cabaret in upstairs venue, functions, board games, table football, bar billiards.
They mean ‘mess’, of course, in the sense of somewhere to eat, but there’s no ambiguity about the ‘music hall’ bit. Above the bar area of an already sprawling pub behind an unassuming frontage on a side street just off Lavender Hill is the former music hall, complete with stage, mirror balls, flock wallpaper and its own entrance and box office, capable of accommodating 300 people.
And it’s not the only surprise in the warren of eccentrically decorated rooms – behind an unmarked door is the den-like Games Room, with sofas, bar billiards and its own stage. Elsewhere there are attractive window booths, reclaimed kitchen tables, old rocking horses and powder blue walls decorated with junk.
It could only be an Antic pub. This former Walkabout, once home to the first Jongleurs comedy club, was relaunched under its new name by the ambitious south London-based pubco in October 2011.
As with most Antics unencumbered by ties, the beer range is noteworthy. The casks change regularly but there’s always an Adnams beer or two on, with guests often from small and unusual brewers like Stringers or Devilfish, and in a range of styles. Kegs include Meantime London Lager and changing beers from Moor, while classics like White Shield and Duvel are in the fridges alongside less often seen options like Krušovice Černe and Sierra Nevada Kellerweiss. Imaginative home cooked food includes a burger deal on Mondays.
National Rail Overground Clapham Junction Cycling Link to LCN+ 37
