The Normamby - Pub in Putney, London
231, Putney Bridge Road, London, SW15 2PU
We were welcomed by the offer to take, well, any table we wanted. At 3pm on a Sunday we were one of about four tables in the place. We pulled up chairs in the main area and browsed the very inclusive Normanby menu. The snacks start the menu off, then onto salads, the grill, classic pub grub, pasta and if you are looking during the week there are sandwiches on offer plus the obligatory roast for a Sunday. Mains range from £6 up to £11 at the absolute most, and desserts sit at just under a fiver in a city where some pubs try to get almost £8 out of you for a crumble. Similarly, the drinks menu will not blow you away but they offer a good range of lagers, a few ales and wine does not go above £16.50 at the most expensive bottle. And if you happen by The Normanby on a Friday between 7 and 8pm youll get your bottle of wine for the price of two glasses.
The Normanby pub in Putney has seriously comfy sofa and dam fine sunday roast.
So that is the nitty gritty explained. What of the pub itself? I lived in Putney for a year, often drove past this pub on a shortcut between Putney Bridge and East Putney, however I never made it in. The exterior does not really draw you in, and the floor to ceiling windows give nothing away, but once through the doors an almost New York loft style space opens up. Large bare brick pillars mingle with designer wall paper and the occasional potted plant in the corner. There is a large space full of squigy seating on the left, an eating area with sturdier tables and a couple of couches by the fire (a working one I hope as winter draws in) on the right, onto a sports area with several televisions and the back area offers Londons only full sized American pool table. It also has the space to move all the way round and take good long shots without knocking off a plant pot, or someones pint. It may sound like this is a space trying to offer something to everyone; in fact we ate in the main area, played a bit of pool (£3 for 30 mins, £5 for an hour an hour is your max if there are others awaiting their turn) then finished our wine on the couch with some rugby league. If I could fit it in my handbag, I would definitely steal one of their large leather armchairs.
Being a Sunday we opted for the roasts, one lamb and one beef. Both came served on dishes the size of giants hands, and had an amazing array of vegetables with roast potatoes, broccoli, carrot, cabbage and parsnip; unfortunately the yorkshire pud was crisp¦ overcooked, well burnt frankly, but the mint sauce was very good! The wine was what you would expect from a £16.50 Australian, overtly fruity and quite alcoholic but still well priced. After all that we could not make it to desserts.
A tasty sunday roast is available at The Normanby in Putney.
The staff were friendly throughout, on hand with food and wine suggestions as well as handing over the pool balls (kept behind the bar before you start feeding the table your coins), turning on the over-table lighting and even salvaged our bottle of wine when we moved to a comfy couch. The Sunday crowd seemed laid back, mostly locals and there would be a little problem finding an area you could comfortably occupy either as a family or as a group of mates. As we left late afternoon more people were definitely turning up having finished their Sunday activities, and in need of feeding, or rather feasting.
The Normanby can boast a fine table for playing pool in London.
The Normanby so named after the owners birth town, dont you know has set itself up a difficult task here. There are some really great pubs, as well as popular eateries, along the main Putney thoroughfare and out to Richmond. However, if you want a very reasonable man-sized roast and a game of pool in the south west you could not do much better than to head here. You will always find a seat, and a smile, and I rather think Ill be back.
Budget: Happily affordable
Pre-design: Chill with your mates, The Friendly Local, Watching sport
Service: 4 out of 5
The Normanby Review rating:
For further information on The Normanby in Putney, including user reviews, opening times, food menus, drink prices and music, click here.
