The Pilgrim, Kennington, SE11

This place dates back to at least the early 19th century, but was probably rebuilt in the ‘20s or ’30s. Out front there’s patio seating with metal chairs painted a garish chromium yellow; you then enter a deep pub with the bar at right. Very stripped out, there’s a pale boarded floor with some quarry tiles, a grey or white colour scheme with some bare brick lit by glass shades that resemble demijohns. Furniture is mixed, with low comfy stuff then tall chunky items with décor amounting to either Beavertown branding or framed meal deals aimed at a young studenty crowd, no doubt attracted by the loud music, not helped by poor acoustics. Three pumps with clips reversed meant no cask on offer so it was a half of Gamma Ray at a painful £3.80, served by a flustered barmaid. This isn’t a destination place by any comparison; I’ll leave it to the noisy students.

Box-like 1950s pub adjacent to the Kennington gas-holders - actually more attractive (in an understated way) than this might sound. Opened out inside to leave a long rectangular bar with generally light decor and patio seating areas at both ends. Very busy when I visited late on a hot summer afternoon, but efficiently staffed both behind the bar and for table clearance. Polycarbonate 'glasses' were in use because of T20 cricket match at the nearby Oval, and the real ale had run out (with reversed Tribute and Betty Stogs clips visible on two of the handles). However, I had a voucher for a free pint of something else (probably a bit more suited to the sweltering conditions anyway) so I could hardly complain...

A substantial looking street corner, red brick pub just a few yards away from the Beefeater distillery, it is a good size internally and has clearly had something of a renovation at some point, and now has quite a contemporary feel to it. It’s largely one single, open plan room internally, and this had pale wood strip on the floor with some mottled tiling around the bar counter, white plasterwork and the obligatory exposed filament light bulbs that are essential in any pub refurbishment. There was a small brick fireplace although this was not in use on our visit, and a large projector screen at the rear that was showing Sky Sports. This seemed somewhat out of place I thought, and certainly nobody appeared to be taking any notice of it. Fortunately the volume was off, so it could have been worse, but the size of the screen did dominate somewhat. Beyond this was a patio area, although we did not investigate this. Beers on tap were Deuchars IPA, Caledonian Golden XPA and their own Pilgrim Ale. The solitary cider meanwhile was Symonds Founders Reserve.

Nice enough place, very light inside with white walls. Three large televisions showing Olympics. Front and back gardens. The ale was good. One of the barmaids boyfriend was in the pub wearing skates, he was skating in & out of the pub. Not sure if they are trying to do what some American bars do, and have skating servers, I doubt it would work.