Exterior

Bringing the country to Battersea

The folk of Battersea are in for a treat! The award winning team Annie Broom and James Rogers (Grundisburgh Dog, Suffolk) have recently acquired this stalwart of Battersea High Street that can be dated back to the mid 19th century.

A top flight menu with locally sourced ingredients

Chef James’ first priority has been to develop a high class menu appropriate for this flourishing well-to-do London village. The meals are produced using the finest locally sourced ingredients all from new Covent Garden market which is just down the road from the pub. It’s modern, rustic, country style cooking at its best:

Rustic wood fittings - pre-makeover

Homemade wild boar sausages roll £3.50
Slow baked wild rabbit with a grain mustard and cider sauce and creamy mash £9.95
Pan fried Suffolk duck breast salad, orange confit, bacon, quail egg, croutons £5.95
Stalkers pie, (minced wild estate venison) topped with creamy mash and homemade Boston beans £8.95
Belgian chocolate and rum tort with vanilla pod ice cream £4.95

There’s also a fantastic affordable fixed price menu – two courses for £10.

More light and space

In the next few weeks, this splendid pub is to be transformed by a refurbishment package. In an article in the Morning Advertiser, James explains “We want to bring a nice, rustic, London feel to it as well as bringing the country to Battersea with open fires, Chesterfields and country cooking, as we always did in Suffolk.”

The main emphasis of the refurbishment is to address the challenge of the long fairly narrow room, which is currently cut in half by the bar area. Modifications to the bar will unify the front and rear of the pub while the subtle use of light, texture and colour will broaden out the space. The beer garden, which is something of a sun trap, will also have a complete makeover and should be quite an oasis with a host of mediterranen type plants such as lemon and and olive trees.

In this article are the photos I took in February, it will be interesting to return to The Woodman after all the improvements have been made.

Lounge - pre-makeover

Beer Garden - pre-makeover

Dining Area - pre-makeover

Dining Area - pre-makeover