AN OTTER IN RICHMOND (LONDON)

June 2026. London.

Another long drive last Wednesday; Sheffield to Waterbeach to see Dad (firmly asleep), then down to Tunbridge Wells ahead of Father-in-Law’s 88th birthday (firmly awake and raring to go). There’s some longevity genes in our families.

I dropped Mrs RM off at T’Wells Travelodge to blog, and ran for the South-eastern departure into Waterloo. Three London GBG newbies, let’s get the central ones done, at least*.

Waterloo East to Waterloo Platform 19, then South-Western to Richmond (London).

Note how Google paints Richmond as green and lovely, and terrible Twickers as grey and dangerous, which is entirely as it should be.

I missed the Official CAMRA Curated Survey of Richmond Licensed Premises** in the Spring due to family drama; it sounded like a great day out.

The only problem with organised days out is that you’re treated as a pariah if you leave the group to do the cultural bits. Not that I did much at 10 to 5 on a Wednesday.

The dash across Richmond Green is as good as ChatGPT says,

and the White Swan is simply magical, tucked away a few yards from the Thames.

Such an unpretentious pub,

with a really friendly welcome from the chatty young barman, and an escape from the monotony of Landlord and Pride.

Google says “gastropub”,

and I guess it is, but there were tables without reserved signs on them, and the locals weren’t loud like over the Thames,

and that pint (£6.10, since you insist I tell you) was cool and chewy.

“Very Good (4)” as they say in CAMRA.

*My final “London” Guide entry is a cricket club in outer Enfield with “ad-hoc” opening hours, which is nice.

**Pub crawl

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

7 thoughts on “AN OTTER IN RICHMOND (LONDON)”

  1. Not keen on the new “fresh” Otter in bottles. Is the cask Otter treated the same or is it still brewed properly ?

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  2. Richmond was so good for the spring trip that I had two nights in the Dukes Head for it.
    I didn’t much notice the White Swan’s interior as we used the garden behind where I was chatting to Oxford Nick over a pint of Harveys.
    The next morning I arrived into Waterloo on platform 24 which is the highest numbered one on our 2500 railway stations.

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  3. Best of luck at Botany Bay CC. I live not far away and I’ve walked over there on Saturday afternoons in mid-July to find it deserted and firmly shuttered. Magical when it’s open, though; it’s like Brigadoon.

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  4. It was one of our first “ Ow much ! “ moments in the Swan about 20 years ago when we introduced our Yorkshire chums to the delights of Richmond. We were also excited to see some London Broncos players in there . Sadly we’ve not been for ages- we drove once & it took about 2 hours. Perhaps we should have a go at the train, but door to door it’s still a bit of a hike. Pauline

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      1. Totally agree- we had a wine & a beer come in at under £12 recently- we were very pleased 😀

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