Morden Arms, Greenwich, SE10

I also was thrown by this place and by the lack of any signage which made me initially think it had closed down, until I saw someone sitting on one of the bench tables outside A single room internal space wrapping around the servery and only Doombar and Iron Pier Brewery Wealdway IPA available with what looked like another Iron Pier clip reversed on one of the other pumps. Granted I had entered not long after opening, but the fact that there was hardly anyone in didn’t help this one. It struck me as the type of pub that needs the hubbub of conversation, and I am guessing it would be really different when there is live music on. But without it, it’s not one that appealed to me greatly.

This is a mid-19th century pub with an attractive curved front, name to the parapet and old signless Courage bracket. As others have mentioned, there is a slight impression that some improvements have been made but then abandoned: it’s an interior of partly bare brick, then a red or black colour scheme with a white ceiling, traditional furniture, a few framed prints and secondary sliding glazing, presumably as soundproofing as a live band was playing on my visit last Thursday; the place seems to be a well-known folk venue and although very good, ‘folk’ is not how I’d describe the music of Hot Chocolate. I believe in miracles and at last, a Greenwich pub other than the Pelton that, Doom aside, has an ale range worth seeking out, with Iron Pier Pilgrim & El Dorado, Iron Pier Wealdway and Forest Road’s Juno at £2.40 a half, nice, served by a very friendly landlady; what wasn’t so friendly was that it’s cash only, with no warning notice, which trading standards requires by law. In a sea of pubs which largely aren’t worth the effort, this is a decent place offering something different.

A basic backstreet boozer as described below. It feels faintly as though someone has tried to update it but given up. I can't say that the bunch of assembled basic backstreet boozers inside were especially welcoming and suspect they might be a little resentful of the GBG listing bringing in outsiders. However the beers were indeed good, with Iron Pier Bitter & Wealden IPA and Brockley Pale joining the obligatory Doom Bar. Very good to see a genuine pub thriving though.

This is a classic back-street boozer that has clearly gone through various iterations but still retains a sense of community and a few traditional features. You enter into the main bar, which is bare boarded throughout and has standard tables and chairs through the centre of the room, pews to the front and left and a few plush red tub chairs dotted around to the right. The servery is along the back wall and has a nice traditional dark wood curved counter beneath a very nice-looking matching canopy, both suggesting that they’ve been in situ for quite some time. The bar back is mirrored, and the canopy has an unusual feature of backlit glass panels depicting various scenes of London through the ages. Two brick fireplaces over to the right of the room, suggest a former multiple room layout in contrast to the spacious open-plan room you find yourself in nowadays, with this theory supported by a couple of centrally positioned support pillars and a disused front porch. Having said all that, this still feels like a local’s boozer rather than the usual gastro-styled refit that tends to accompany the opening out of pub interiors. A PA system to the front right suggested that live music plays a big role at this pub, and a quick look at some pre-pandemic listings confirmed this fact – hopefully they’ll be able to get bands back on again soon, now that restrictions are lifting again. They certainly had a decent soundtrack playing in the absence of any live music, with a toe-tapping selection of Motown and soul tunes doing the rounds throughout my stay. A door to the rear right leads out to a beer garden that looked like it had a lot of covered space, including an area close to the door that almost looked more like a rear room than a garden. Upon arriving, I made it no more than three steps into the pub before the barmaid pointed out that they only take cash, forcing me to retreat to a nearby Sainsburys here I could take out some cash for a pint of Sharps Doom Bar, which was unfortunately the only ale they had on. The barmaid was apologetic about this, citing reduced demand due to Covid restrictions limiting their customer numbers to their outdoor seating capacity. I could see a few turned pump clips on the other handles including one from iron Pier and the pub has made recent editions of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, so I guess I just timed my visit badly on the beer front. The Doom Bar was kept well but really is a poor beer and I wasn’t all that enthused about finishing up. The barmaid was nice and friendly, but the barman (possibly landlord) was one of those self-styled colourful characters who rub me up the wrong way. This is a decent enough pub that I probably didn’t see at its best. Greenwich is a mix of tourist-packed chain pubs and expensive bars, so it was nice to stumble across somewhere a bit more down to earth and I wouldn’t rule out a return visit to see how things level out once all pandemic restrictions have been lifted.

The Morden Arms is a basic single room back street boozer that was full of banter from a handful of locals during my visit on Wednesday afternoon. The bar is found on the rear wall where a standard draught range was available. I counted four hand pumps, but two of these were unused leaving Truman’s Lazarus and Clarkshaw’s Strange Brew No. 1 as the ale options. I went for the Lazarus which went down quite well. I noted a few advertisements for karaoke and live music. The plasma screen was switched off and I didn’t see any mention of live sport. I would use this pub if I lived locally.

Friendly landlord but basic and slightly run down.

Tucked away in the back streets off the tourist Greenwich path, the Morden Arms is a renovated but still fairly basic back street corner pub. The interior is one large open room with bare floors, twin brick fires with stoves and simple furnishings. The décor is quite plain and not much really stands out although the localized artwork around the semi circular bar canopy is a nice touch. 2 Ales available, Courage Best & Directors but quality was, at best, average on our visit although prices were quite reasonable. Live jazz appears to be the main draw but overall it’s not really a place that warrants a specific trip.