London Pubs Group

Campaign for Real Ale

Campaign for Real Ale

Country House

2-4 Groton Road
Earlsfield
SW18 4EP

Formerly known as Jack Beard's in the Fog

Like the Park Tavern, this pub is not a listed building but it is on CAMRA’s London Regional Inventory and the description is as follows: “Tucked-away street-corner local with a brown glazed brick exterior built near Earlsfield station in Victorian times. The pub was given a total refit about 1930 and still retains its three separate rooms, each of which bear striking brass plates with the name in question – public bar (on the corner), private bar, and – perhaps unique – meal room. The fittings are plain but elegant and there are exposed beams, typical of c.1930, to the ceilings. The public bar on the corner has a bare wood floor, 1930s panelled curved counter with a black and white trough around the base and 1930s top. The bar-back fitting also dates from the 1930s with leaded mirrors and only one fridge has replaced some lower shelves; another fridge is sensibly under the counter. There is a dado of fielded panelling around the room, a 1930s brick painted green wood surround fireplace with a modern hearth, and some etched and frosted windows. Note the cupboards in the bar counter and there are the three surviving gaslight fittings. A widish gap (sliding doors removed) leads to the pool room (originally the meal room) on the right which has a bare wood floor with more fielded panelling on the dado. Service is via a small counter to the side of the servery also with a black and white trough around the base and a Tudor arch shaped window above the hatch opening which may have had a rising window in the past? It retains a 1930s wood surround fireplace but it is blocked-up. The lounge on the left (originally the private bar) has a carpet, 1930s panelled bar counter with original top and the 1930s four-bay Tudor arch shaped bar-back fitting with leaded mirrors. There are two 1930s wood surround fireplaces but they have radiators in front of them. 1930s fielded panelling on the dado around two sides of the room but a plainer modern dado on the front and left hand walls. There is a dumb waiter in the private bar.”

The WhatPub link is here: WhatPub/Country House

The Pub Heritage Group ink is here: PHG/Country house

The Country House featured on the Daytime Crawl of SW17, SW18 and SW11 in October 2004, the Gorringe, Graveney and Garratt: Daytime Crawl of Tooting, Earlsfield and Wandsworth in February 2010, and features on the Southern Splendour: Evening Crawl of Battersea, Wandsworth, Southfields and Earlsfield in December 2019.