The Bricklayers Arms, 53 Hawks Road, Kingston

After the earlier partial refurbishment, finally The Bricklayers has been totally gutted and is reborn as a proper pub. The refit is fairly restrained, managing to retain the character of the building and it still feels like a real pub. I think this is a good move since this will always be a local pub, being located just too far away from the centre of Kingston to be visited on a big night out. Food is back on the menu and again goes down the traditional pub grub route, with the Sunday Roast rating highly with my other half, myself and my daughter. The selection of real ale is still not spectacular but is certainly much better than in the past. The only problem now is that I feel guilty not visiting more regularly to help support my local pub. Ever since I've lived in the area, The Bricklayers has felt like a pub suffering from a long painful death. So when it closed I thought it was highly unlikely it would ever reopen, especially with the profusion of other pubs in the area, but it would appear my pessimism was unfounded. In many ways very little has changed on the surface, but it's amazing how a slap of paint and replacing some dead lightbulbs can improve the whole place. Apparently there have been several other changes under the covers, such as fixing the death trap electrical wiring. Some things remain the same, the only ale on (Greene King IPA) had run out on my visit. But there are now customers so things are definitely looking up. Not only that, there is talk of a proper refurbishment, which may help improve things even further. No food currently, since the kitchen needs replacing. The AFC Wimbledon fans are now a distant memory, the tumbleweed blows through the pub and there's very little beer behind the bar. I'm not sure how it manages to keep going. It seemed for a while that, like many of the other pubs round these parts, The Bricklayers was doomed to demolition and replacement by a block of luxury flats. With no customers and no atmosphere, there wasn't a great deal of point in visiting. But the arrival of AFC Wimbledon has helped revive its fortunes, as it seems it has been adopted by their fans. I presume AFC fans have a pile of cash, because 'Honest' Kev has upped the bar prices to a ridiculous level. So of course any other night but Saturday the pub is dead, which at least means there isn't a wait at the bar and the pool table is generally available

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