The Dog & Bell, Deptford, SE8

Traditional pub, wood flor/furniture and tidy. Sells good beer

I've been meaning to return to the Dog & Bell for a number of years. Situated in a quiet residential street close to the River Thames, it's easily Deptford's best pub. With a day off work and searching for somewhere to go, I spotted that the pub was the start and finish point for an annual May Day parade with something called Jack In The Green (a person in a giant tree) and the Fowlers Troop, a group of musicians. The parade was going around a number of pubs, bars and breweries, many of which I hadn't previously been to. I arrived at the Dog & Bell shortly before the parade was due to commence. There were a large number of "alternative" people mostly dressed up with various types of foliage. My drinking colleague and I felt the odd ones out. But it wasn't long before we had the pub almost to ourselves. The entrance to the pub is from along a side road. The bar is L-shaped with a long, narrow room containing the bar billiards table off to the left, with a small area of seating along the shorter side of the bar leading to a fully enclosed outdoor drinking area to the rear of the pub. Off to the right of the entrance is further seating. Fuller's London Pride the regular cask ale. Guests were By The Horns Blue Bird, Oakham JHB, Three Acre Session Pale, Libertalia Private Eye & Mackintosh Pale Ale. Ciders can be found on handpulls at the far end of the bar. These were Ascension Wrath, Hogan's Libertine, Dunkerton's Cider & Snail's Bank Rhubarb Cider. Craft beers are also represented with Villages Rodeo Pale, The Kernel IPA Simcoe Citra, Gipsy Hill/North Brewing Glider, Anspach & Hobday The IPA & London Black, Brew By Numbers #64 Canadian Breakfast Barrel Aged Imperial Stout & Pipeline Over The Moon Stout. On our return at the end of the parade, a couple of other ciders had appeared - Broadoak Moonshine & Snail's Bank Damson In A Dress. My last visit here was between Christmas and New Year in 2011, when the pub was extremely quiet. This was in complete contrast to that day and in fairness the pub handled the large influx of customers very well. If I had a criticism at all, it would be the lack of a dark beer on cask. None of the cask selection was really my cup of tea. However, I did finish my day on the 11% Breakfast Stout, which sent me on my way in a bit of a daze!

Around 1900 there were approximately 150 pubs in SE8, today there are about nine. Situated in a pub graveyard and close to the Thames and Deptford Creek, this one dates from at least the start of the 19th century, but I suspect was rebuilt in the same century; it’s very much a backstreet pub, with some of the curtilage punctuated by colourful kegs. It also recently featured in a Time Out list of must-visit London pubs. The Guinness sign to the fascia and stained glass Celtic knotwork to the picture windows indicate that this was once an Irish pub, as do some of the whiskey distillers’ mirrors, but despite the vestigial Gaelic gallimaufry, it’s an Irish pub no more. The interior is a real old-school traditional experience with a riot of knickknacks and nautical ephemera – a boat is nailed to the ceiling – and Toby jugs; hop bines adorn the pot shelf. There’s a bar billiards table and rather good live acoustic music wafted out of a side room. Customers were about 1% traditional curmudgeonly old locals, then 99% students from the nearby University of Greenwich campus and accommodation block, the large majority crowded out front, all doing studenty things. The ale front wasn’t as exciting as I was led to believe, with three real ciders then Iron Pier Killick’s Mill, Surrey Hills Greensand IPA, Cellar Head IPA and Blue Bee’s Langsett Light at just £2.10 a half, served by very friendly bar staff; it was however a bit of a ‘juicy’ beer, which isn’t to my liking; there were also 42 bottled beers offered on a board, many Belgian. This is a real pubgoers’ pub and although it may seem a little heretical, a better and wider choice of beers would have got the score up a point.