Review date: 26 May 2007

Today we took lunch with some old friends in the Fox and Grapes on Wimbledon Common.

Of course, the Fox and Grapes remains as popular as ever with the locals and especially so today as the England vs South Africa rugby was on. The Kiwi manager who use to run this place has, apparently, left but this hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of the locals for their rugby.

It's been a while since I've been into the Fox and Grapes so the beers have changed since then. Out has gone The Admans Bombadier and in has come Sharps Doom Bar and Deuchars IPA from the Caledonian Brewery.

Generally, the service was quite good at the bar, each bar member had a friendly smile. The on thing I'm not sure about, though, was the food. The Fox and Grapes certainly used to be reputed to have the best food of all the Wimbledon pubs. Given our last experience at the Rose and Crown this may still be the case but I just didn't get the impression that the Lamb Pie was quite what it could have been with their reputation. And the Cumberland sausages weren't Cumberland Sausages. Cumberland Sausages are big meaty things, not titchy "southern-poof" sized.

Actually I didn't think the food was bad, just not as good as it once was or could have been.

The Fox and Grapes is still going strong in service and excellent, well-kept beers but the food might be on the down. I hope not. Wimbledon needs a good pub for food and the Fox and Grapes is the best place for it.

This is a dog-friendly pub so don't be surprised if there are some well-groomed labradors playing inside.

Bookmark this page

[ Delicious ] [ Digg ] [ reddit ] [ Facebook ] [ StumbleUpon ]