Putney and Wandsworth

Published 28 September 2026 · By the Guide to London editorial team · Editor: Terje Moy

Putney is fifteen minutes from Waterloo and the Boat Race starts at the bottom of its high street. That combination — a genuinely famous sporting start line, a river path you can walk for miles, and eight boathouses in a row — is the reason to come, and it works on any of the 364 days when the race is not on. Wandsworth, next door, has a grade II* brewery complex where beer is brewed again after a fifteen-year gap.

Both are in the London Borough of Wandsworth, on the south bank between Fulham and Battersea. Putney is the smarter of the two: a steep high street running down to the bridge, then heath and common behind. Wandsworth is bigger, flatter, busier with traffic, and has the better pubs and the one-way system everyone complains about.

We measured the trains. Putney to Waterloo is fifteen to twenty minutes on South Western Railway, Wandsworth Town fourteen to seventeen, and both cost £3.20 off-peak on contactless. East Putney, on the District line, is twenty-two minutes to Westminster. The rail station is quicker than the Tube by a clear margin.

Putney Embankment, the boathouses and the start line

Walk down Putney High Street, under the railway bridge, past the church and onto the Embankment, and you are on the stretch of riverbank that university and club rowing in Britain is organised around. The Boat Race starts here, at a stone on the wall by the Embankment, and runs four and a quarter miles upstream to Mortlake.

On any ordinary morning you will see eights going out from a row of boathouses along the Embankment — university, school and club crews, coaches on bicycles on the path shouting through megaphones. It is free, it is continuous, and it is the only place in London where you can watch serious rowing from six feet away without anyone minding.

The Boat Race itself is a different proposition: enormous crowds, closed roads, an hour of waiting for two minutes of boats. Our guide to the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race covers where to stand and how the day works, and London in April puts it in the month's calendar. What this page adds is that the Embankment is better on the other 364 days.

Putney Bridge is listed grade II — the Wandsworth half of it, at least, which is how the list works when a bridge spans a boundary. Downstream on the Fulham bank is Fulham Palace, free and five minutes across the bridge, which is the best single thing within walking distance of Putney station.

St Mary's, where the Putney Debates happened

At the foot of the high street, right against the bridge, is the parish church of St Mary the Virgin, listed grade II*. In October and November 1647 the General Council of the New Model Army met in this church and argued about who should be allowed to vote — the Putney Debates, one of the founding arguments of English constitutional politics, conducted by soldiers in a parish church while their horses stood outside.

The church is open to visitors, has an exhibition about the debates in the undercroft, and charges nothing. The building itself was badly damaged by fire in 1973 and rebuilt inside, so what you are looking at is a medieval tower and chapel with a modern interior. Allow twenty minutes and read the panels; this is a case where the story is the attraction and the fabric is not.

The Ram Brewery, and beer brewed here again

Three minutes from Wandsworth Town station is a complex of Victorian brewery buildings that Historic England lists at grade II*, as the "Ram (Youngs) Brewery Complex", listed as long ago as July 1955. The stables are separately listed grade II, and so is The Ram Inn next door.

Young's brewed here until 2006 and then left, and for a while the site was a development called the Ram Quarter with listed buildings and no beer in them. That has changed: Sambrook's Brewery moved into the Ram Quarter and now brews on the site, with a taproom and a small visitor operation in the old buildings. Sambrook's Brewery Tap held a hygiene rating of 5 at an inspection in July 2026.

The brewery's own website calls this "London's oldest continuous brewing site", which is its claim rather than ours — there was a gap of some fifteen years in the middle, and we would not print the word "continuous" without saying so. What is checkable is that beer has been made on this spot since the eighteenth century, that the buildings are listed at grade II* for their industrial architecture, that there is a heritage centre with booked tours, and that you can drink beer brewed inside them today. Our guide to craft beer and brewery taprooms explains how London's taprooms work and what to expect on a Saturday.

The pubs, and the two that are listed

This is a strong pub area and two of the best are themselves listed buildings. The Duke's Head on Putney Embankment is listed grade II, and the list entry of 2005 is unusually rich: an 1864 building with an 1894 refit, etched windows reading "BRANDIES" and "WINES AND SPIRITS", a mosaic doorway floor spelling the pub's name, blue and brown glazed tiles in the saloon arcade, three carved and etched-glass screens dividing the ground floor, and a basement with tidal flood gates and a disused skittles alley that Putney Rowing Club used to store its boats in between 1929 and 1986. It held a hygiene rating of 5 at an inspection in September 2026. The windows and screens are visible from a bar stool.

In Wandsworth, the Spread Eagle on Wandsworth High Street is listed grade II and held a 5 at an inspection in August 2026; the Alma Tavern opposite Wandsworth Town station held a 5 in August 2026. In Putney, the Half Moon on Lower Richmond Road is one of London's long-running live music pubs — the Rolling Stones and many others played it — and held a 5 at an inspection in April 2025. Our guide to live music venues in London covers what is on there.

The Thames Path, and the walk to do

The single best use of a day here is the river. From Putney Bridge the Thames Path runs west on the south bank past the boathouses, Beverley Brook and the Wetland Centre approach to Barnes, Chiswick Bridge and Kew — about five miles of almost entirely traffic-free walking, with stations at intervals so you can stop when you like.

East from Putney the path runs through Wandsworth Park, a registered park at grade II covering nine hectares with an avenue of plane trees along the river, then across the mouth of the Wandle at Wandsworth and on to Battersea Park in about fifty minutes. Our list of running routes in London uses the same stretch.

Putney Pier is on the Embankment and is the western terminus of the river bus: the RB6 service runs from here to Canary Wharf or North Greenwich depending on the time of day. It is not cheap and it is not in the daily cap — our guide to Uber Boat by Thames Clippers has the zonal fares and the caveats.

Behind the high street: heath, common and hill

Up the hill behind Putney is Putney Heath, which runs without a break into Wimbledon Common — together well over a thousand acres of rough grass, woodland and gravel paths, free and unfenced, with the Telegraph and the windmill on the Wimbledon side. Our guide to Wimbledon Common and Putney Heath has the paths, the horse rules and what is where.

Putney Hill itself has a listed pair of houses at grade II*: number 9 and The Pines at number 11, where Swinburne lived for thirty years. Wandsworth Common, a mile east, is a different kind of space — flatter, cut in two by the railway, with a cricket pitch, a lake and the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building on its edge. Both are within twenty-five minutes' walk of a station.

Where to go next

Everything useful here is along the river. Barnes is forty minutes' walk west and has the pond and the Wetland Centre; Battersea is fifty minutes east and has the power station and the park; Wimbledon Village is over the common.

Our comparison of the District and Circle lines explains why the District is slow here, and our guide to Waterloo station covers the terminus you will actually use.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to get from Putney to central London?

Fifteen to twenty minutes from Putney to Waterloo on South Western Railway, and sixteen to nineteen in the morning peak, when we measured it in September 2026. That costs £3.20 off-peak and £3.90 peak on contactless. East Putney on the District line takes twenty-two minutes to Westminster for £3.10 off-peak, so the Tube is cheaper and the train is faster.

Where exactly does the Boat Race start?

At Putney, from a stone marker on the Embankment wall just upstream of Putney Bridge, and the course runs four and a quarter miles upstream to Mortlake. The Embankment is a public riverside path and you can stand on the start line any day of the year. On race day the crowds and road closures make Putney the hardest place on the course to watch from.

Can you visit the church where the Putney Debates were held?

Yes. St Mary the Virgin stands at the foot of Putney High Street beside the bridge, is listed grade II*, and is open to visitors free of charge with an exhibition about the 1647 debates in the undercroft. The interior was rebuilt after a fire in 1973, so the medieval fabric is limited to the tower and chapel.

Is beer still brewed at the Ram Brewery in Wandsworth?

Yes. Young's left the grade II* listed site in 2006, and Sambrook's Brewery now brews there, in the Ram Quarter development that occupies the old buildings, with a taproom on site that held a food hygiene rating of 5 at its July 2026 inspection. It is three minutes' walk from Wandsworth Town station.

Which station should I use for Putney?

For the river, Putney Bridge on the District line: it is eight minutes' walk to the Embankment and puts Fulham Palace on your route. For speed into central London, Putney rail station, which is fifteen minutes from Waterloo but a fourteen-minute walk uphill from the water. East Putney, also District line, serves the residential streets above the high street.

Sources

• Historic England - National Heritage List for England open data and list entries (Ram (Youngs) Brewery Complex 1065461; The Ram Inn 1391087; brewery stables 1391086; The Duke's Head 1391758; Church of St Mary the Virgin 1065519; Putney Bridge 1357672; The White Lion 1184658; 9 Putney Hill and The Pines 1065520; Spread Eagle 1065502; Wandsworth Park registered park 1000285) (checked September 2026)
• Transport for London Journey Planner - measured Putney, East Putney and Wandsworth Town journey times (checked September 2026)
• Transport for London - Single Fare Finder, for the Putney and Wandsworth fares and zones (checked September 2026)
• National Trails - the Thames Path route through Putney and Wandsworth (checked September 2026)
• Food Standards Agency - food hygiene rating search (Dukes Head, SW15 1JN, rated 5 in September 2026; Sambrook's Brewery Tap, SW18 1UR, rated 5 in July 2026; Spread Eagle, SW18 2PT, rated 5 in August 2026; The Alma Tavern, SW18 1TF, rated 5 in August 2026; The Half Moon Inn, SW15 1EU, rated 5 in April 2025) (checked September 2026)