Royal George, Greenwich, SE10

Ah yes, warm memories of watching Greenwich Meantime win the Chester Cup a couple of years back to more than pay for the day's drinking. The large plasma has moved to the rear wall but, other than change of stewardship, all is much the same. We watched the Lions doing the good stuff in first half (before the depressing finale at Prince Albert) and, although quiet, the landlady took the trouble to bring round buttered new potatoes, nice. Four handpumps, three on serving Spitfire, Masterbrew, Whitstable Bay, only tried the first mentioned & it was in splendid nick, £3.00. Blue swirly carpet is a bit 70s but nice lead light windows to street & lots of ship-o-rama decorating the walls, board games on box to rear and shove ha'penny board (wall mounted but couldn't see supporting ‘prop'). Small one room local with a handful of barstools and just 3 or 4 tables along opposite wall, friendly welcome.

Being tucked away far from the touristy areas, the Royal George had managed to escape me over the years despite spending many an evening scouring the pubs of Greenich. Having spotted the closure postings I did at least get a chance to pay it a visit a couple of days before the final bell rang. On the face of it the pub was a straightforward single room local’s boozer with model boats, ship wheels and nautical pictures, a theme not exactly uncommon in an area rich in maritime history. 3 good quality Shepherd Neame ales were available (Late Red, Spitfire and Master Brew) all at £3 which is about par for the area. There was a constant stream of private possessions being carried through the pub and the small collection of people smoking by the brick fire would have raised more than a cautionary eyebrow had the place not been closing. If nothing else, this is the only pub where I have ever experienced chess rage among the group gathered around one of the tables. There are dozens of far worse pubs than the Royal George in the area that were more deserving of closure and it will be more of a loss to the locals than the outsiders. Had I know it was there I would certainly have used the Royal George more often I did but at least I did get there before the end.