London Pubs Group

Campaign for Real Ale

Campaign for Real Ale

Alma

The Alma
499 Old York Road
Wandsworth
SW18 1TF

Although this pub is not a listed building, it is a Two Star pub on the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) National Inventory with an interior of very special national historic interest, and the description is as follows:

"Two-roomed Young’s street-corner pub with magnificent, colourful painted mirrors depicting birds in water landscapes, and a stunning frieze in the former billiard room.

The striking, green-tiled exterior of the Alma (named after the famous Crimean War battle) animates the modest Wandsworth street in which it stands. Unfortunately the interior has suffered at the hands of successive refurbishments over recent years. However, a few gems survive here, including several sumptuous back-painted mirrors depicting birds in their watery and foliate landscapes. These dominate the right-hand wall of the opened-out main bar area and continue up the staircase. (Sadly, one of the mirrors in the main bar area has recently been cracked and temporary film has been applied over it.) The alcove towards the back of the main bar area is a particularly inviting and intimate space with its fine fireplace and yet another back-painted mirror.

Also on the walls of the main bar area are coloured mosaic roundels bearing the name of the pub, an unsual and rare feature. The woodwork throughout the pub is of a high quality, reflecting its c.1900 date and the rear, former billiard, room (now a restaurant area) has a deep, highly decorative frieze with foliage and naked youths. History nearby: Wandsworth was home to a thriving community of Huguenots who fled persecution in late 17th-century France and established textile factories here. There is a Huguenot burial ground on East Hill, near the top of Alma Road, which opened in 1687 and closed in 1854."

The WhatPub link is here: WhatPub/Alma

The Pub Heritage Group link id here: PHG/Alma

The Alma featured on the Daytime Crawl of SW17, SW18 and SW11 in October 2004, the Evening Crawl of Battersea and Wandsworth in December 2007, and the From the Crimea to Death's Door via Cats, Birds and Breweries: Evening Crawl of Wandsworth and Battersea in April 2013.