Arks, Deptford, SE8

Visited 28/08/24. Visited previously when it was M'arks on 10/10/22. Place feels v similar but not obvious now in same ownership. Old name shares a name with the bar in the cinema on Eltham High St, but not clear if that was owned by the previous (?) owners of this place. This a single room, diner style venue with the bar and kitchen along the back wall. There are half a dozen high stools at the serving counter. Regular tables are lined up in a few rows through the rest of the floor space and there is some outside seating on the pavement in front of the venue. No cask. Eight taps on the wall behind the bar providing Guinness, Stella, Cruz, Moretti, Aspall cider, Neck Oil, Hazy Day IPA and my choice of the Villages Rodeo pale ale. See this as a food led venue that welcomes drinkers, and I was certainly very welcomed early evening when the venue was quiet on the diner front.

Situated on a street corner at the southern end of Deptford High Street, this former corner pub is now more of a cafe/restaurant. Although there are still a number of keg beers dispensed from behind a counter. Beers on offer were Moretti, Orchard Pig Reveller, Brockley Session IPA, Camden Pale, San Miguel, Stella, Beavertown Neck Oil & Guinness. At the other end of the counter is a small kitchen area where various enticing dishes are cooked. Breakfast is also served here. However, as a bar/pub, it has very little to offer.

Official site of Arks - arks.london

Official site of Arks - arks.london

Facebook page of Arks - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of Arks - www.facebook.com

Originally the Centurion and dating from the mid-18th century but rebuilt in the 19th, the current puzzling name dating from a rebrand of November 2019. This is now a style bar with glass doors, modern boarded floor, black walls and ceiling, the latter featuring ugly exposed suspended ceiling paraphernalia, oddly with a depiction of Henry VIII at centre. Furniture is modern, with bucket vinyl upholstered tubular steel chairs and décor in the form of a few potted palms, a modern bar back with bar front seemingly clad in repurposed railway sleepers, an open kitchen serving tacos and hot dogs, all lit by dangling filament bulbs to a Rotterdam Techno soundtrack; with two scantily clad men writhing about in a passionate embrace, I initially thought the TV was tuned to a gay porn channel, but it turned out to be kick-boxing courtesy of TNT; customers were young and just two in number on a Saturday night. As stated, there’s a beer wall with a general mix including Stella and the like, a pint of Neck Oil costing £6.50, served by a friendly and enthusiastic barman. With a predictable modern identikit interior, almost no customers, wrestling and no cask comes no return; the Birds Nest is just down the road and the Royal George and Dog & Bell are close at hand.

A bit of everything here: café, bakery, cocktail and craft beer bar, workspace... All very modern, but still obviously once a traditional corner pub. No real ale, unfortunately, so I went for the Brockley Session IPA (£5.80, ouch!) as the most local option from the eight keg taps on the bar-back.