The Crooked Well, Camberwell, SE5

Originally the Kerfield Arms, this is a mid-19th century pub, situated in a gentrified Georgian back street and well described by the two previous reviewers. Visible on their website, indeed this does look like a gastrofied hotel bar, with a tiled or bare boarded floor, cream tiled modern bar back, black wainscoting then white walls with black window reveals. There’s virtually no décor apart from some odd prints of butterflies and dangly plant things. Furniture is mixed, conventional and customers were young professional types, very few in number at the time of my Saturday 9.20pm visit, when every other local pub was heaving. There’s now no cask, the two pumps doubling up as dispensers for blue kitchen towel; how bloody unattractive. I went for something American called Shipyard, which was pretty unpleasant, all the more so seeing as I had to part with $4.72 for the pleasure, though it was served by a smiley barmaid. There’s nothing here for the serious pubgoer, me agreeing with Moby and Alan that this is now more restaurant than pub, though with the possible exception of food, it’s better than the hugely overrated Camberwell Arms.

A backstreet corner pub now gentrified, leaving little of any pub character it may have once had, internally it has ore of a hotel lounge feel.Two hand pumps with just one in use, the solitary beer was Camerons Ahopalypes Now and on a blisteringly hot day the quality was struggling. Not a pub I would choose to revisit anytime soon.

The Crooked Well is a corner pub that is just away from the busy road running through the middle of Camberwell. Once inside there is a decent sized single oblong shaped room which runs the width of the pub,the bar faces on entry,the floor is bare boarded,the seating was a mix of different types,there was a very long settee to the front left,one tall table and chairs in the middle of the room with normal tables and chairs elsewhere,the right side was set up for diners. There was one real ale on the bar which was Doom Bar,this drink was decent enough. There was some very quiet background music playing. This is seems more of a gastro type pub than ordinary boozer,not really my sort of pub. Pub visited 13/9/2014

Official site of The Crooked Well - www.thecrookedwell.com

Official site of The Crooked Well - www.thecrookedwell.com