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© Alex Marco
© Alex Marco

Tooting bars and pubs

Read Time Out's list of the best bars and pubs to visit in Tooting

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Fancy a bev or two in Tooting? If it's a cosy bar you're after, then Little Bar lives up to its name, or there's always Tooting Tram & Social for late night drinks and dancing. Here are the rest of Time Out's picks.

  • Cocktail bars
  • Tooting
  • price 2 of 4
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Little Bar
Little Bar

This part of Tooting seems to take an ultra-literal approach to naming businesses – just over the road from this new spot is the Long Room bar (pretty lengthy), and I spotted The Medical Centre (yes, a doctor’s) nearby.

  • Pubs
  • Tooting
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Tooting Tram & Social
Tooting Tram & Social

Hard to spot but impressive once you find it, this converted tram shed incorporates a cavernous, chandelier-lit main bar and a smaller mezzanine, filled with decorative quirks and televisions for football viewing.

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  • Tooting
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Wheatsheaf
Wheatsheaf

This prominent corner pub opposite Tooting Bec tube used to be a rough joint inhabited by slightly scary alcoholics. Now, there are mismatched mirrors on the walls, red leather chesterfields, Daft Punk on the sound system, and a big sign above the bar stating, optimistically, ‘Yummy food coming soon’.

  • Gastropubs
  • Tooting
  • price 1 of 4
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Antelope
Antelope

A few years into its refurbished reincarnation as a gastropub, this spacious Tooting boozer may have lost a little of its initial sparkle, but it’s still undoubtedly one of the area’s best pubs.

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  • Gastropubs
  • Mitcham
  • price 2 of 4
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

The congested road between Tooting and Colliers Wood might not be the first place you’d look for a fine local gastropub, but this railway tavern perched above Tooting train station was taken over by the Charles Wells pub company in 2012 and given a major overhaul. In collaboration with the Yummy Pub Company, it now boasts a remarkably ambitious menu of small eats and more substantial main courses. We couldn’t fault either our pie and chips or a club sandwich - though, if anything, the dish presentation was verging on the overly fussy (a bit like the new decor). To drink, there’s a decent selection of ales, and if you’re in the mood for a bit of local cinema, the basement has been converted into a small screening room with blockbuster-style movies such as the ‘Bourne’ series.

  • Tooting
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
The Castle
The Castle

The Castle has been home to a public house since 1832, although its newly revamped decor is anything but 19th century. This Young's pub now features a British gastropub menu with Meantime brews in tanks, among many other tipples. The new garden - where a car park used to be – was added in summer 2014. It has various outdoor seating areas including cabana-style huts and outdoor heating on demand. The menu holds few surprises - burgers, pies, roast meats, fish and chips. Our chicken, ham and leek pie was standard pub fare, served with mash and a tiny and superfluous  saucepan of gravy. The main attraction here is undoubtedly the garden (on warm days).

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