Waggon & Horses Surbiton — Restaurant in London

One of those unsuspecting boozers that really impressed me on first visit, and has remained a favourite when pub crawling, a quiet beer or can't decide where to go.

Spacious, multiple rooms, mismatched furniture, dart board, huge garden and tables out front to embrace the sun-trap in the summer evenings while inhaling the Surrey SUV fumes, make this a pub that will surely tick many people's boxes.

Food is pub grub but a focus on pizzas and "best burgers in town", although I've not tried them. Bold claim that needs to be tested, however Surbiton has a distinct lack of burger joints! Next time.

Beer still seems to be Young's despite being a Ram Co although could be Punch Taverns now. I'm not sure. Opted for 1664. Decent. Clean. Cold. Your usual macro lager options and 4 ales that rarely change, but the spirit/mixers/cocktails get a lot of effort put into them.

Service was friendly as always, guy behind the bar brought a water bowl and treat over for the puppy without being asked, checked in and made conversation. Another locals local pub where you don't need to be local to feel local.

History-wise, this dates back to 1689 first documented when the Landlord was prosecuted for serving on a Sunday. The sign on the front dates back to 1812, leased by Youngs since 1831, and around this time a "trace horse" was kept at the pub to assist wagons up the hill.

In 1920s and 1930s the front yard was rented out by Charles Cooper to prep racing cars for Brooklands driver Kaye Don. After the war, Charles went on to found Cooper Cars, which had 16 grand Prix Victories between '58 and '67, and the name lives on now as Mini Cooper.

More recently, Joe Reilly was a landlord here for 35 years until 2002, a mammoth stint, and was awarded an MBE for his relentless charity work.

(Credit again to local historian Richard Holmes).

Nowadays, it's family run since 2016, a warm welcome guaranteed, pub quiz on Mondays, 241 pizzas on Tuesdays and happy hour cocktails (5pm-8pm) - your only hard decision will be figuring out which comfy seat you want to slowly submerge yourself into.

(Pub has since been repainted, inside...

Awful experience today! Booked in for a nice Mother’s Day lunch with my husband & young kids ( 6 & 7 ) We had booked into the raised area at the back, but were told we were to be in the bar. They managed to squeeze us in where we originally should’ve been. It was fairly quiet at this point & we ordered both our drinks, plus starters & mains. The drinks arrived fine as did the starters after about 15 minutes. The starters were pretty bad. We had the calamari & stuffed jalapenos, which were massively overpriced. They were also utterly tasteless. Then we waited, and waited, and waited, whilst tables arrived around us, ordered & received there mains. We brought entertainment for our kids in the form of card games, but this only lasts so long. After an hours wait since the starters our poor kids were starving & restless. We asked & were told the kitchen was making our food right now. It finally arrived another 10 minutes later. It was simply 3 pizzas! How long should it take?? The pizzas were pretty average at best. We expressed our annoyance to the waitress, who muttered a sorry. When we complained a second time we were told they’d knock 10% off the bill. We had wanted to treat the kids to a nice pudding, but now had no time. I told them 10% off the bill simply wasn’t acceptable. This was ignored. The manager made no attempt to talk to us. We paid up at the bar asking them to remove the service charge. No apologies. It’s safe to say we will not be returning, which is a shame as we used to...

We visited this pub a few months ago and ate a good Sunday roast so we decided to go back again as it is really close to where we live. As soon as we arrived the waiter/manager didn't even bother to say hello and just told us no to sit at the back. We ordered our food, a pad Thai for me and a Sunday roast for my boyfriend. My pad Thai arrived after 20-25 minutes but no mention of the Sunday roast my boyfriend ordered. I started to eat my food as it was getting cold (the pad Thai wasn't great but still edible), after 20 minutes still no sign of a plate coming for my boyfriend who was just watching me eat, so I asked the waiter about the food as I wanted to enjoy my lunch with my partner and he said it would be ready in a couple of minutes. The roast did arrive within 2 minutes but looked really unappetizing (black gravy, ridiculously small Yorkshire pudding, thin slices of meat etc..) Not only did it look horrible it tasted disgusting as well, the vegetables were cold, the whole thing looked microwaved. My boyfriend returned the plate and asked for a refund, the manager gave the money back but did not apologize or say a word. I didn't finish my pad Thai and we left to enjoy a real good Sunday roast...