Avril and I felt like getting away for a weekend and so booked a cheap hotel room in Battersea near the London Heliport and just over the river from Chelsea. In order to get ourselves in the correct frame of mind for the task at hand, we started off at the Draft House Westbridge in Battersea, just on the approach to Battersea Bridge. This was an inspired choice - Cottage Blaze of Glory, Darkstar Summer Ale, as well as copious bottles, ciders and excellent food, all in a very nostalgic atmosphere.

A bit of a walk followed, over the river, to the Pig's Ear, Chelsea, which we had visited a couple of months before and was up to its usual high standards. On this occasion the selection of beer was Sambrook's Junction and Wandle, and Brains Bitter. Having watched a few episodes of Made in Chelsea we had another brisk walk to the Phene. Despite their poshness, the people who drink here obviously have no taste - the only bitter available was London Pride on Pissflow. There seemed to be some sort of gathering going on so we sat at the bar and despite the paucity of ale, stayed for a second, and it was noted that though both rounds were identical, the prices charged varied by 50p between them. During our conversation I learnt that Spencer almost got kicked out of the aforementioned reality show for being late due to a hangover. I commented that 'it wasn't fucking reality then'. Not bad though and I look forward to returning on another occasion to see if anyone else noteworthy is drinking there next time.

We had also visited the Cooper's Arms on our last occasion, but at least this time it was not pouring rain. Pleasant, large Young's pub, with solid ales selection (Young's Bitter, Special, Bombardier and Sambrook's Wandle). I actually had something like a lager because they had some drink discount on offer when one of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland team (Mo Farah I think) won a medal, so it seemed rude not to take advantage of his efforts.

Back onto the King's Road and the Chelsea Potter. This was a pleasant enough although not outstanding or offensive pub on a corner. Certainly not pretentious. We decided not to sit on one of the high chairs, and instead settled at one of the lower tables. Beer selection was pretty good too, Doom Bar, Deuchar's, Diamond Geezer. The bus back to Battersea doesn't go along the King's Road and so we had to work our way through some back streets to reach the stop. Sensing that a piss was required, we popped into the Surprise to use the toilet and grab a quick half too. The management must have realised our motives and were not especially welcoming. Unlike the Potter, this was much more pretentious with wines and gastro the main themes, but the pub was exceptionally smart and the stools at the bar were a very pleasant place to drink. The beer was pretty well kept - Wandle and Sharp's Own.

The following day was Charity Shield day and Richard Bradshaw was able to meet us. I had to drive back to Banbury, but with some careful planning and halves of shandy I was still able to partake in sampling some pubs. I stayed dry in the Draft House where Rich joined us as we were having another splendid meal. It was then onto the amusingly named Prince Albert, which had a load of knobs drinking there, some of whom were pierced I should imagine. It does not surprise me that this is part of the same chain as the Surprise. It's not actually a bad pub, but on a summer Sunday lunchtime near a park, you are bound to get a load of families and people who don't normally drink in pubs. After we battled to the island bar and back to a seat, it struck me that we could just as well have been drinking in a branch of the Edinburgh Woollen mill. Beer was actually quite good - Doom Bar, Young's London Gold, Naked Ladies, Ghost Ship, Adnam's Bitter and Greene King IPA - but not good enough to tempt us to stay.

The Union Arms provided quite a contrast, having much more salt of the earth punters drinking. As they had no real ale, I took the opportunity to have a shandy instead, which hit the spot, and we enjoyed sitting out the front watching the world go by. I am sure that one could get into a fight here with some of the inhabitants of a nearby tower block quite easily if one chose to do so. Having said that, it was a good, solid boozer. One of the best pubs of the day, being between the last two on the scale was the Prince of Wales. They had two excellent beers on which I forgot to write down, so I was back to a half. Especially good was the beer garden which was rather secluded and had a barbecue being stoked up while we were there. There was also a bit of a roof which was quite sensible. Of some annoyance was a some family of 3 or 4 which had managed to strand themselves across the middle of the pub making it rather hard to get to the bar, even though it was very long.

More shandies were required at the Duke of Cambridge which was yet another slightly-but-fortunately-not-too-gastro pub that has a sizeable garden out front that we sat and had our drinks in whilst looking at planes flying overhead. Quite light and airy inside, easy to get to the bar and with a reasonable array - Young's Bitter and London Gold and Wandle on this occasion. The Latchmere is quite a stereotypically South London boozer, although for some reason it has a theatre on the upper floor. This didn't really change our pub experience and we actually quite liked it in here, for they had a splendid array of beer (Doom Bar, Landlord, Adnam's and one other) which was nice and the pub itself was not too foody, with the focus squarely on drink. I think students would like it here.

Final two of the day were perhaps the best of the lot in a quiet backstreet. The first of these was the Castle which had a magnificent beer garden that included secluded booth type huts and we managed to get one of these. Despite being yet another gastro pub it had a very community feel to it and a definite sense of knowing good beer, with some interesting lagers available as well as Sambrook's Pumphouse, Wandle, Seafarers and possibly Young's. There was also a New Zealand vibe going on too. Despite all these positive aspects though, the pub now has apparently closed, and it looks like the council or other group of killjoys has caused this.

A somewhat similar but perhaps slightly more twee pub could be found across the road. It was the Woodman and had a garden that was also very good, although there seemed to be more dining at this place - perhaps just because it was later. They did have a decent island bar though with an interesting selection of beers - a couple from Badger and King and Barnes Sussex. In the end, we stayed for some while, although I had to make do with several rounds of soft drink after an initial beer, which was very good, before heading back to Banbury.