Griffin, Claygate

A friendly, attractive two-roomer. It was rebuilt just after owners Brandon’s Putney Brewery were taken over by the huge London and Burton brewers Mann, Crossman & Paulin Ltd. in 1920. Their name is in original gold lettering in the windows along with room names. On the left is the saloon and on the right the public bar. But beware of lettering in its left-hand doors! It says ‘public bar’ but originally the space behind was an off-sales compartment and name was added by the present licensee to reflect the change of: a nice touch. The most striking internal feature is the timber and glass screen between the saloon and former off-sales: it has a door just 5ft 6ins high. The screen to the off-sales compartment was removed in, or shortly after, 1977. The saloon retains its interwar bar-back, sloping counter and a pair of brick fireplaces: the servery fittings on the other side are similar but the bar-back is modern, as is the brick fireplace and imitation stone flooring. For a curiosity look out for the old penny-in-the-slot machine in the saloon gents’ (free to today’s users!)

The brick fireplaces may be from the Claygate Fireplace Co. founded in 1922; its ‘Old English’ brick fireplaces were sold all over the UK for the next 40 years,