New Cross House, New Cross, SE14

Official site of New Cross House - www.greeneking.co.uk

Official site of New Cross House - www.greeneking.co.uk

Large modern interior with high stools and tables.Large windows on front and side flood the pub with light and its pleasant sitting here waiting for the crowd at the bar to get served.Shame they have no cask beer on the 3 or 4 hand pumps and dull imo keg beers. Not so pleasant now drinking a gassy ice cold keg lager.

The ‘L’ shaped bar faces you as you enter, with numerous keg fonts immediately apparent dishing out all manner of less usually seen beers from the likes of Meantime, Brooklyn, London Fields, etc, as well as the usual suspects such as Estrella and Heineken. The four handpumps are along the right hand side of the counter - one had a clip reversed and the other were dispensing Truman's Ben Truman (6%!), Vale Brewery Brill Gold, and Florence Brewery Weasel Beer (£1.90 a half). I didn't see menus when I was in at around 3.30 PM on Wednesday, but they clearly do sell food at appropriate times as there was an open to view kitchen at the back with a couple of staff apparently doing something. The main bar area at the front is furnished mainly with tall tables accompanied by tall upholstered benches, and tall stools of course. The room stretches back and to the right of the bar counter, and the area right at the back near the kitchen is furnished with normal tables and chairs and I guess is where those dining might choose to sit. There are a couple of skylights there so may have been a billiards room at some point. The walls have vestiges of the original Victorian tiling on them, and where it's missing (which is the vast majority of the walls) it's been replaced with wallpaper to match the original tiling. I'm not sure it really works as the wallpaper is a pale shadow of the original tiling, but it does give us a glimpse of how magnificent it must once have looked. I reckon it's mostly a young person's pub. The Weasel Beer was good, but these old high-ceilinged bare-boarded Victorian pub do get noisy even when only moderately busy.

The New Cross House is a relatively new venture from the Capital Pub Co in what was formerly the student friendly Goldsmiths Tavern. The pub is on the site of a former coaching house known as the Golden Cross and it was this pub that supposedly gave its name to the area now known as New Cross. The pub nowadays is formed of one long L shaped room with a light front section furnished with a mixture of high banquettes and standard tables and chairs. The floor is a mix of wood and tiles but it is the lovely tiled walls that steal the show in this part of the room. Pub standards such as a dartboard and upright piano are present and correct and there is also table football available as well. Moving towards the rear of the room, the servery extends as far as the open kitchen on the left side, with some standard banquette seating running to the back of the pub. The kitchen has a large pizza oven, although these are not available at lunchtimes, so we tried the Sunday roast instead which was very nice. Pizza boxes suggest that take-aways may be available which should keep the student population happy. There are various board games available to play and anyone venturing out into the lovely sun trap beer garden with its strange mezzanine gallery can enjoy a game of ping pong on the table which is tucked away in one corner. Four ales were available on our visit – Adnams Explorer, Hogs Back Spring Ale, Sharps Cask Pilsner and something called Dam Good Beaver Beer, which I think is brewed especially for the Capital Pub Co by the Florence Brewery. Unfortunately my pint of the Beaver Beer was a great disappointment but the Spring Ale tasted fine and our group enjoyed a good few of these. The keg range avoided most of the usual suspects, focusing instead on quality foreign beers although Meantime London Lager was also available. I thought this was a nice place to spend an afternoon and as with many of the other Capital Pub Co pubs I’ve been to, it’s a good bet for decent food and an interesting choice of ales. The garden looks like a great spot to relax in over the summer and I’m sure that the next time I’m in New Cross I’ll pay the place another visit.