I have been ordered to write about the Duke of Devonshire and being a good girl I am doing just that. The D of D is sort of between Clapham and Balham and therefore not necessarily somewhere you would expect to find a splendid pub (it being more of a bar sort of an area). However the D of D is one of the splendidest pubs I have been to for a very long time. So splendid that I want a Wizard of Oz style tornado to pick it up and deposit it next to my flat so it becomes not just splendid but perfect.
Why is it so great – where to begin? Firstly it has The Look right. It’s big but intimate. The decor is fantastic – authentic old pub styley but not too seedy – all chandeliers and mirrored walls (not in a porno way you understand) and comfy chairs. There is a quiz machine (although we failed to win anything from it thanks to our mentally defective mate, goddammit). The food is good, although prices are not the lowest. The staff are fine, nothing special but there was no waiting around or faffing about. The place is open late Friday and Saturday nights. The music (we couldn’t figure out whether it was a jukebox or not) was very eighties, and I’m talking Erasure and Rick Astley here. Being drunk I enjoyed this greatly. While I was as ever on the bottled lager / spirit combo there were no complaints about the beer so I guess that was good too.
Somehow it all conspired to be a very satisfying pub and the ideal place to spend a Sunday afternoon. If only it were in North London.