Draft House Westbridge, Battersea, London

What a nice place to have some chat with your friends with some quality time!

This is the place where I feel really nice and relaxing! I love it!

finding it adn waiting to get in was a bit of a nightmare but apart from that great atmosphere and decor. Will be going back and would recommend

I hired the venue upstairs and I was rely impressed. I found the management really accommodating and I will definitely use it again.

The Westbridge is very, very good. In fact, so good, that if it wasn't in literally the middle of nowhere I would give it five stars. We were over there for a birthday party on Saturday evening and had a booked an enormous table for much eating and drinking. My steak was delicious, full marks to the chef for the béarnaise and attention to cooking it rare. I think everyone else had similarly good experiences, although nobody got oysters. Must do that next time.

The ale selection consisted of a very well kept Adnam's bitter, plus a couple of interesting pints from the Wandle brewery locally, enough to keep most people happy. To top it off, there seemed to be many attractive women getting stuck into their real ale too. So, given that distance is relative, I'll give it 5 stars after all. I had come from Hamburg...

Oysters, steak, Great selection of real ales. This is where I go most. Nice boozer, Nice people

Now this is a good pub. A bit of a pain to get to if you’re travelling on public transport, but trust me, it’s worth the trek. Monday is meatball day and that’s what we ordered this evening. Delicious, chunky, lady & the tramp esq. meatballs and a mound of spaghetti. Perfect. Washed down with Adnams or Hobgoblin ale, this is a dinner of champions. I squeezed in a dessert (apple cinnamon crumble and vanilla ice cream). Delicious. I could have eaten 2!

Friendly staff, cool decor, free wifi, outdoor seating. I could go on, but just take my word for it - this pub has everything.

we made the long trek to the warm and welcoming Westbridge, where the landlord Charlie took us knowledgably through a variety of beers and ales, all washed down with some lovely oysters. With the interesting titbit that you should only eat oysters when there’s an ‘R’ in the month…

If I happened to live or work within striking distance of Battersea, the Westbridge would definitely be a high contender for my favourite local.

Wow ! What a great pub. The owner and manager both made us feel so welcome I will certainly be back.
This place is so much better than the last time I visited 5 years ago.
Five stars from me. Highly recommended.

Well then, what a perfect venue for a Qype event. As soon as my toes touched the bar room floor, the warm and 'proper local’ ambience is as welcoming as Sharon Stone in her knickers. There is a pleasanly daunting 'I’m going to be here 'til Christmas’ choice of real ales and stout, a rampantly fresh menu and lots of room to sit, drink, gossip and dine. The oysters are so damn fine that for the first time in my life I could see the advantages in being a giraffe, thus able to further indulge their slow and sensuous slide to my gullet.

The walls are carefully adorned with eye catching posters, prints and art that chronicle music, film, London society and, umm, art over the last few decades; chalkboard messages from chef, landlord and staff further illustrate the obvious enthusiasm that exists behind the scenes here.

Once I had a quick sit-down with Charlie the landlord/owner/head honcho and we discovered our mutual love of reggae, dub and debauched, erstwhile Notting Hill nightclubs, a return visit was becoming ever more likely. When it dawned on me that Monday night at The Westbridge is meatballs night, coming back is inevitable.

What a lovely pub!

We went for an oysters and ale tasting evening which was really fantastic - I know feel like joining CAMRA..

Thoroughly recommended.

I don’t do oysters. Nothing against the Westbridge, but more against the horrid-looking little slimy things, and the fact that their rather over-the-top allergic reaction that they inspire in some of my family means that I’ll never taste one, because of my wholly rational distaste of hospitals.

So, when I was part of a group being given an 'oysters and beer’ night, I opted for the latter and eschewed the former.

So, if you’re wanting a review of the oysters, I’m not your man. Skip on to the next review, if I were you, and save yourself the excited crooning about their beers.

Because, my, they know their beers. The first place I’ve seen to sell some of the range from the Porterhouse (in Dublin and Covent Garden); and the first place I’ve seen to sell a special type of Duvel, “Duvel Green”. I didn’t get to taste that, but I did get to taste many of their beers - including Oyster Stout (which has real oysters in it, and no, I’m not dead yet). And their clever plan is to sell beer in third-pints - the smallest legal measure for beer - for a tasting they call something similar to “a pint in three halves”, except their name for it is rather better.

The pub itself is instantly homely and comfortable, though the clutch of loud bankers inside blocking the entrance was slightly less welcoming. But, clientele aside, the place has been carefully made to be warm and pleasant, while not completely old-worlde. They’ve succeeded, and well.

The food menu looked delicious, too. I’m going back there to discover what their Sunday Roast is like. And to try that Duvel Green.

With a fine selection of excellent draft beers, pints of prawns and native, or Irish rock, oysters The Westbridge Public House and Dining Rooms certainly has all that is necessary for a most pleasant evening. The staff are friendly the atmosphere relaxed although you do feel as if you are surrounded by knowledgeable people enjoying the best things in life..

When we asked Charlie, the owner, why you should only eat oysters in months with an “R” in them, the explanation was that the breeding season is over summer and for various reasons the eating quality declines somewhat. I’m far from being an expert on oysters, but I felt I was in expert hands and had a first class oyster experience.

Unfortunately I failed to sample the 6.8% Duvel on tap which was getting rave reviews, so next time I am in the Battersea area I’ll be popping in to find out why.

One small point to note if you are visiting for the first time is that the Qype map indicates the location is on Albert Bridge Road, when it is in fact slightly to the West, but not too far away, on Battersea Bridge Road!

How could you not love a pub with He Man wallpaper! I did a double-take on my way up from the Ladies’. Crazy!

I was there for a special event and we ate lots and lots of pints of prawns--very fresh prawns. I only wish they were larger!

Then we ate more oysters in one sitting than I’ve ever had before in one sitting. It was crazy! (Again, that wallpaper!)

This was all washed down with a number of different types of beers, which I am unfortunately a bit hazy on. Too many beers, you see.

I really liked the huge table in the back that we sat at. Great for a large group.

They also, apparently, have some of the best party rooms in SW London. Good to know.

In a time when everything is orientated around a fast-paced & busy way of life it’s nice to know that there are places like The Westbridge which advent a more thoughtful and reflective attitude to living. The owner has put so much thought into how he wants the place to look & feel, from the dulcit tones tinkling out of the sound system to the George Best photo which adorns the gents toilet door (i’d hazzard a guess that it’s not just his footballing abilities that led to this decision).

One of the main charms of the place is its varied selection of ales and over the evening I tried 5 of the the owners reccomendations, I’m not a particularly huge fan of dark ales but I did enjoy sampling them especially the Porterhouse Red (it had a very chocolatey taste). I must also add that they serve one of the best glasses of Adnams I’ve ever drank.

Oysters are also a speciality here and i’d been made to feel welcome that I couldn’t bring myself to turn away a free sample so I took the plunge and tossed away my Oyster Virginity. Seeing as it was my first-time I can’t really give an opinion of any weight but I have it on good authority that they of the highest quality.

The Bottom Line: This is a mecca for Ale fans, Oyster fans, Ale & Oyster Fans and to be quite honest just about everyone else (aside from people who don’t like friendly well decorated pubs).

Why have I never been to this pub before? No… seriously, why? I mean it’s only ten minutes stroll from Clapham Junction and it’s a bloody near perfect boozer.

Food: traditional, good, honest, pub grub. Pints of prawns, oysters by the dozen (ask and see if they have any native oysters on - it’s wortt it), meatball monday, how can you not want to got to a pub that has a meatball monday…a whole day of meatballs!

Drink: Some of the best ales I’ve tasted in London. Oyster stout (which has real oysters in it, so a no go for the veggies), a cracking porterhouse red, my personal favourite: Adnams, and a 6.8% Duvel on tap that is waaaay too drinkable.

And they sell third pints so you can sample all this and not have to remember to pick your liver up off the floor before you leave.

Other plus points: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe wallpaper on the way to the loos, lovely bar staff, and the 'just right’ decor which doesn’t make it feel like one of those types of gastropubs (you know the ones I mean…the poncey ones).

Charlie has done a great job with this place and I for one will be rewarding him with my hard-earned in the months to come.

I have visited this area for over twenty years and this site has been a problem for all of that time until the present owners arrived; the reason is simple – it has changed to one of the most relaxing and informal ‘destination’ gastro-pubs south of the river. Excellent food and superb atmosphere for long lunches/ early evening snacks and drinks/ pints into the night. With or without a large dinner. This is a place that survived Battersea bridge being closed for a year within weeks of the grand opening, so it definitely has something special about it.

There’s nothing pretentious about The Westbridge. It just happens to have the best draft beer in London. Their pint of Adnam’s is as good as it gets - ooohh smell the hops. I was talking to Adam - the manager - and he recommended a pint of Wandle. This is a new brewery which has replaced Young’s as SW London’s only brewer. Delicious. Having seen many “concepts” fails on this corner - it is remarkable that the chaps have done it - well done!

My personal recommendation is a dozen rock oysters with a pint of Porterhouse Oyster Stout. Follow this with the Steak Frites (I think it’s under a tenner!) and a bottle of the Barbera d’Asti from Piedmont.

Irish rock oysters, three different stouts on draft (including South London's best pint of Guinness), a quirky and eclectic music policy and damned friendly barstaff (who speak English!) all add up to Battersea's best loved pub. Although we've only been in situ for two years, many say it feels we have been there forever.

We love you Battersea - thanks for all your support and keep the feedback coming!

PS - we have the borough's best private rooms for a party or corporate function. If you don't believe it - come and see for yourself or e-mail book@thewestbridge.co.uk...