Bellevue Road looking north from the Trinity Road junction, c.1910. The Surrey Tavern [no. 35 Bellevue, but it has also been numbered 172 Trinity Rd [1871?) and is now officially 226 Trinity Rd) is visible mid-right, with brewery signage above — almost certainly Meux & Co, the same brewery whose name adorned the Hope at the other end of the road. A policeman stands at the kerb on the Common side. Hand-tinted postcard.
The Surrey Tavern — an overview
The Surrey Tavern stands at the southern end of Bellevue Road, at the junction with Trinity Road — the far end of the road from the Hope Tavern, which anchors the northern end at Wandsworth Common station. Together they bookended one of the finest short stretches of Victorian commercial streetscape in south-west London.
Like the Hope, the Surrey Tavern was a Meux & Co house, as the brewery signage in the c.1910 photograph makes clear: "Celebrated STOUT, PORTER and Sparkling ALES." The two pubs shared not only a brewery but a character — both are substantial, well-built Victorian corner pubs, commanding their respective ends of the road with considerable presence.
The Surrey Tavern is no longer a pub. It is now Brinkley's restaurant, a change that several former regulars have noted with a mixture of resignation and nostalgia.
[PB: When did the Surrey Tavern cease trading as a pub and become Brinkley's? The date of this change would be worth establishing. The building is clearly still standing and the Victorian structure appears largely intact — a photograph of its current appearance is needed for this page.]
The c.1910 photograph — in detail
Detail of the hand-tinted postcard, c.1910. The "SURREY TAVERN" sign and the number 35 are clearly readable. The brewery signage fills the upper right corner.
The image rewards close study. The road is entirely empty of motor vehicles — only a horse-drawn carriage is visible in the middle distance — placing it firmly in the Edwardian period before the motor car transformed the street scene. The iron railings separating Bellevue Road from the Common are the same ones visible in photographs of the Hope at the other end.
The policeman on the left has clearly noticed the camera. He stands at the kerb on the Common side, beneath the gas lamp, in his full uniform including cape — the classic image of the Edwardian beat officer. Several of the Facebook recollections below were prompted specifically by his presence in the photograph.
The hand tinting, probably applied in the 1900s–1910s, gives the image its distinctive warm, slightly melancholy character. The pale Common to the left, the bare trees, and the empty road combine to suggest an early spring morning.
[PB: The brewery signage in the top right reads "Co's Celebrated STOUT, PORTER and Sparkling ALES" — the first word or words are cut off. Given that the Hope at the other end was a Meux & Co house, this is almost certainly also Meux, though confirmation would be welcome. The number "72" or similar is also partially visible — possibly a street number or brewery reference.]
The Trinity Jazz Club — a notable connection
One of the most striking recollections connected with the Surrey Tavern concerns not the pub itself but the musical life that surrounded it. Dave Blair recalls popping in when bands at the Trinity Jazz Club — held in a nearby church hall — took a break. The first act he saw there was the Cyril Davies Rhythm & Blues All Stars.
This is a remarkable detail. Cyril Davies was one of the founding figures of British rhythm and blues, a harmonica player and vocalist who, with Alexis Korner, helped launch the London R&B scene that would eventually produce the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, and much of the British Invasion. Davies died in January 1964, which means Dave Blair's memory dates to 1963 at the latest — placing the Surrey Tavern at the heart of one of the most fertile moments in British popular music history.
[PB: The location of the Trinity Jazz Club church hall needs identifying. Trinity Road has several churches — can anyone confirm which hall was used, and for how long the club ran? Any further memories of the Trinity Jazz Club would be very welcome.]
Thomas Hardy — did he drink here?
Guy McGregor asked on Facebook: "Thomas Hardy lived a few yards down in Trinity Road. I wonder if he drank in the Surrey Tavern?" It is an appealing question. Hardy lived at 172 Trinity Road — now The Aragon — from 1878 to 1881, a period during which he was writing The Trumpet-Major and A Laodicean. The Surrey Tavern would have been his nearest pub by some distance.
There is no direct evidence that Hardy drank there. But it would be remarkable if he did not. Hardy was not abstemious, and the Surrey Tavern in 1878–81 would have been a working local pub on a quiet road bordering open common land — precisely the kind of place he would have sought out. Patrick Neal notes that there is a blue plaque on the house in Trinity Road where Hardy lived.
[PB: See the June 2021 Chronicle for Hardy's diary entry about passing through the area on the train, and further background on his Trinity Road years. The blue plaque on The Aragon is well worth a photograph for this page.]
A famous neighbour — Marco Pierre White's first restaurant
Kate Harrison, whose family lived near the Hope at the other end of Bellevue Road, mentions in passing that the butcher's shop at no. 2 — almost certainly Miller & Sons, or possibly a later occupant known as "Rod the butcher's" — "later became Marco Pierre White's first restaurant." This is almost certainly a reference to Harveys, which White opened at 2 Bellevue Road in 1987, and which became one of the most celebrated restaurants in British culinary history, winning two Michelin stars within a few years.
The journey from Victorian butcher's shop to the birthplace of modern British cuisine, all within the same modest Victorian terrace, is a story that deserves its own page.
[PB: See the entry for 2 Bellevue Road for the full story of Harveys and Marco Pierre White. Kate Harrison also mentions that thieves once tried to steal the safe from the butcher's — a detail worth following up.]
Memories of the Surrey Tavern
The following recollections were gathered from two posts on the Facebook group I Grew Up in South West London (52,000 members) — one by Patrick Batty, showing the c.1910 tinted postcard, and one by Chris Zalman. Together they span roughly six decades of memory, from the late 1940s to the 1990s.
"It was the late 1940s when we spent happy hours on the Common. The Surrey Tavern was my dad's local." — Irene Gibbs, who grew up in Fieldview, just off Burntwood Lane
"It was my Dad's as well — even though we lived nearly next door to the Hope." — Kate Harrison
"Used to play on the Common and when I got older drank in the Surrey Tavern. How I miss those days." — Carol Hadden
"That was my local in the 60s. I also had a Saturday job in the butchers next to the Hope Tavern. Because of its original frontage it was used in the TV show Pennies from Heaven." — Cathy Mackie
"Used to pop into the Surrey Tavern when the bands performing in the Trinity Jazz Club — held in the nearby church hall — took a break. The first band I saw there was the Cyril Davies Rhythm & Blues All Stars." — Dave Blair
"Many happy hours in the Surrey Tavern. The Battersea Grammar old boys' sports ground was at the top of the road, and it was a good place for a pint after cricket and football matches." — Christine Bryan
"I remember very well and very fondly — the late 60s and early 70s, it was our drinking hole." — Ian McLaughlin
"I used to drink in the Surrey Tavern with a dear friend who has sadly departed, Martin Brown, when we had the wine shop on Trinity Road called the Naked Grape. Great times." — Mike Michalis Hall
"Spent my teenage years on the Common, 1970–75 — playing football on the cinder pitch opposite the pub, fishing, wading over to the islands, building camps, smoking on the bridge between the ponds, riding our bikes, playing on the rail tracks (must have been mad). Later the Surrey Tavern became our local. We played pool in the back room. Bernie was the landlord and he used to ask us to sort out any bother in the pub. I remember playing darts — or it might have been pool — against the Wheatsheaf, when it kicked off. It was like a western film fight." — Barry Haynes
"I seem to remember downing a few Stellas there over the years with my mates — not to mention curries at the Shoihee Shonah." — Max Winter
"That was one of the last pubs I saw on my way to London Airport, going to New Zealand — 1974." — Al Ford
"Good thing that copper wasn't around when I was with a group of other lads who got me drunk and I had to ride a bicycle home. He would have charged me with being drunk in charge of a bicycle." — Patrick Batty
[PB: Several threads here worth pursuing further:
Bernie the landlord — Barry Haynes remembers him by name as landlord in the early-to-mid 1970s. Can anyone supply his surname or the dates he ran the pub?
The Wheatsheaf — Barry Haynes mentions a match against "the Wheatsheaf" that ended in a brawl. This was presumably another pub nearby — possibly the Wheatsheaf on Garratt Lane. Can anyone identify it?
The Naked Grape wine shop — Mike Michalis Hall ran this on Trinity Road with the late Martin Brown. Can anyone supply dates or a precise address?
The Shoihee Shonah — an Indian restaurant nearby, recalled by Max Winter. Spelling uncertain — can anyone confirm the correct name and address?
Pennies from Heaven — Cathy Mackie states that the Surrey Tavern was used as a location in the BBC television series (1978, written by Dennis Potter) because of its "original frontage." The series was set in the 1930s and used authentic period shop and pub fronts; the Surrey Tavern's Victorian exterior would have suited perfectly. Can anyone confirm this, or supply a screenshot from the programme?
Any further recollections warmly welcome — please get in touch.]
Do you have memories of the Surrey Tavern?
We would love to hear further recollections — as a regular, a visitor, a neighbour, or someone who worked there. Any period welcome. Photographs especially welcome, particularly of the pub's interior or of Brinkley's restaurant in its early days.
Please send us a message and we will include your memories on this page.
