The Black Lion Surbiton — Restaurant in London

DON'T STAY THE NIGHT HERE My daughter and I stayed overnight at the Black Lion. We'd been at a concert in Kingston and my daughter had booked the room, as a surprise for me, so we didn't have travel home late at night. The member of staff who greeted us didn't greet us. She gave us the key and said the bar would be open for a little while longer. We paid and then I asked for a drink and she said it was now shut!! She led us out of the pub and through a dilapidated wooden gate, past a dirty kitchen prep area and up a few flights of stairs, which were covered with dirty, dusty carpet. She then pointed to our room, gave us the key and left. Upon entering the room we were 'welcomed'by the same dirty dusty carpet that was on the stairs but this one had a massive stain at the entrance!! The room was dingy and in desperate need of updating. We were tired and went to bed. My daughter realised her bed was on a slant and I investigated only to find one leg was missing at the head end. I also noticed lots of rubbish and dust under the bed. We both looked under the other three beds and found an unopened packet of Durex, cigarette papers, more rubbish and dust! We were both pretty sickened by what we'd seen but it was now 11.30pm and rather late for us to find a better quality establishment to stay in. I walked back to my bed and stood on a cable clip which was one of two that had been left by my bed. My daughter tried to open the windows as it was hot and stuffy in the room, but the secondary glazing was not fit for purpose and had been hung horizontally even though it was made to be hung vertically!! I could continue but, in short, we were mis sold. Our room looked nothing like the bedroom photo on booking.com and yet when we left in the morning, the rooms next to ours did! We couldn't even gain access back into the pub to hand the key back as no staff were around and the door was locked at 10am. I eventually got a young lad's attention who was hoovering and gave him the key and the cable clip. We were so glad to get home, shower and cleanse such a horrible experience for us both. Oh and yes, we complained but Lindsay says she couldn't see anything wrong with our room!!! The cleaner had maybe heard us moaning about the room when we left and covered her tracks or Lindsay was in the wrong room. N.B Please ENSURE that you aren't given room 7 if you do...

When I first moved here I was on the hunt for a pub to watch the football in, and surprisingly very few actually showed it. Limited choices led me to The Black Lion and I've never looked back. It remains one of my favourite pubs in the area.

The interior since I've known it has had a few incarnations, I preferred the sweeping booths lined with carpet like material by the stained glass windows, but now give way for multiple tables of 4. Still, the carpet remains, the "restaurant" area remains, and the bar remains intact. Multiple TVs dot the place, almost always showing some sport, most definitely always showing Chelsea when they're on. They also have a spacious garden I forgot to pop out to.

Beer wise, you'll have a few local ales on from Surrey Hills or Twickenham, then the standard affair of macro lagers and faux-craft Camden. I opted for a Guinness. Despite the pour being a little loose it was decent. Pints are reasonably priced too. Food wise I think they still do roasts, they have pizzas, I can't comment on the standard. I tend to get fried chicken from Chicken Land over the road - but they look good.

The father & son run pub always has a welcoming vibe, a "community pub". Loyal drinkers. Definitely caters to certain section of the market, an unfussy, just wants a pub to be a pub type of punter. Sports, chat, pints, an escape. Nothing too fancy, doesn't need it.

History-wise, this dates back to 1854 in its current form, although it has been operating as a single pub from two buildings since 1840. Young's held the freehold here, and it's now a Ram Co Pub holding a tenanted affiliation, although I'm not sure if this is one of the ones sold to Punch Taverns. In 1872 local washerwomen hired a town crier to organise themselves against the terms of work they were held to. It was agreed that any woman who was paid less than 3 shillings and a pint of beer a day should be ducked in the Thames. These terms fizzled out, no agreement was made. And in 1927, then Landlord Arthur Fagg was fined £5 for selling whisky that contained 8% water. They sell normal strength whisky now, and nobody gets dumped in the Thames.

Come...

Very reasonably priced room and just what we needed for an emergency overnight stay in Surbiton. Room is certainly on the smaller side of small but nothing I wasn’t expecting given the good price and late availability (they only had one room available when I booked this morning - so beggers cannot be choosers! From the website, it looks like there are much larger rooms also available here if you book in advance) Bathrooms very modern and well fitted. Bottles of water and amenities provided. Friendly reception upon arrival and personally shown to our room. Only complaint is the noise!! As we anticipated arriving after pub licensing hours (11:30pm) we assumed things would be a little quieter, however as I write this review it is now 12:50am on a Thursday night and the noise from the leftover punters still drinking in the pub downstairs is ridiculous! I can literally hear every single drunken work from the group remaining and it’s impossible to sleep. Clearly this pub either offers lock-ins or continues to serve outside of licensing hours (very annoying as a licensee myself at a nearby venue where we struggle every weekend to ensure punters are offsite by licensing hours so as not to be taken to court by our local residents!!). I’ve now got 2 employees literally outside my room having a stupidly loud conversation and giggling about if the hot water is on or not! Not somewhere to stay if you are a...