Pop down the Local

There has been little positive news to report from my visits to Fulham in recent years, which is odd given the continuing upwardly mobile direction of its denizens.

A branch of the Foxton's estate agency stands out on the Broadway, looking like one of the coolest places to hang out (an indication, if any were needed, that properties are being exchanged at stratospheric sums), the Safeway supermarket has been replaced by a branch of Waitrose (doubly good for property prices), and now a Bar Local has replaced a small parade of useful neighbourhood shops at the junction of Dawes Road and workaday North End Road.

I guess the Bar Local concept has been created - as all drinking venues should be - to reflect the needs and desires of the community it serves, and the owners of this venue seem to have set out their stall with more of a mind to its local, itinerant antipodean population than the mums of what is rapidly becoming known as the new Nappy Valley.

The long interior has been done out in the cold, industrial style of hard surfaces and concrete floors. Formica-topped tables and polypropylene bucket chairs might be ironic, but they don't provide for a comfortable experience. High (wobbly) tables and tall stools by the window offer terrific views of the municipal dreariness that is Fulham Broadway.

Drinks are expensive. Draught Stella Artois and Staropramen cost £3 per pint, Hoegaarden is £3.80 and Leffe £4, and the mark-up on alcopops must be healthy at £3 for a Bacardi Breezer or Smirnoff Ice - yes, there is still a market for the world's most lamentable drinks. Mark-ups are equally healthy on the short and unimaginative wine list. We shouldn't be paying £14.50 for a bottle of Colombard vin de pays d'oc, and £22 for a bottle of Broken Rock chenin blanc is tantamount to robbery.

The Clapham Burger Company supplies the food. I don't know much about these guys but, judging by the tough Bar Local Bad Boy Burger (at £9, the most expensive), I'm guessing they have a past in something to do with old boots. The bacon and cheese looked as though they'd been welded to the meat patty, and the hand-cut chips - all five of them, arranged in a Jenga-style block - were cold and therefore inedible.

But there is some good news to report from Fulham on this occasion - Bar Local takes its music seriously and provides an eclectic programme of quality live music on Thursday and Sunday, with professional musicians providing a soulful blend of funky house music and soft jazz sessions, plus DJs on Friday and Saturday.

I will probably go back again on a music night - jazz singer Charlotte Black currently has the Thursday and Sunday - and, although there's no cover charge, you'll probably end up paying for the entertainment through the inflated drinks prices.

Bar Local
2-8 Dawes Road, SW6