Dean Swift, Bermondsey, SE1

Official site of the Dean Swift, contains menu and beer list - thedeanswift.com

Official site of the Dean Swift, contains menu and beer list - thedeanswift.com

Randomness Guide to London - Dean Swift entry

Randomness Guide to London - Dean Swift entry

The Dean Swift is a small, modernised corner pub south of the Butlers Wharf area of Shad Thames, in the shadow of Tower Bridge. It appears to have either changed hands or been substantially altered since Steve's review in 2009. It is modestly fitted out (save for a couple of glass chandeliers, which were a touch ostentacious for my taste)with whitewashed walls, dark wood tables & chairs and a corner bar. On a saturday lunchtime visit its limited space was pretty well filled, mainly by diners tucking into burgers which I have to say looked lovely. A John Noakes look-a-like who I twigged to be the Governor was holding court sat at the bar and the staff were busying themselves. The beer choice is excellent; On my visit Hophead (a regular), Redemption Pale Ale, Breconshire Rambler's Ruin and Oakham White Dwarf were available. They appear to rotate their ales quite alot which is nice to see, and London brewers are well catered for - They have a tie-up with the nearby Kernel Brewery and their beers feature in a "beer & cheese" offer which looks pricey but tempting. Lagers are provided in the form of Stiegl, Staropramen, Brew Dog and many other weird and wonderful beers in bottles - there are menus to peruse on the tables. They were advertising 'six nations offers' on a chalkboard near the bar which looked good value. There are so many good pubs within the London Bridge / Southwark / Borough area, and I would add this to a seemingly ever-growing list. The ale was well kept, the service swift and the atmosphere friendly. What more can you ask for?

This is a small one room pub with a tiny bar in the corner. The Landlord and Pride were both off, but the Deuchars was good, although I had to ask for it to be topped up, which it was without any fuss from the cheerful governor. Fosters, Becks, Stella, Leffe, Staropramen and Guinness were also available. There are a couple of plasma screens for the showing of Sky and Setanta and I could imagine this being a good venue to watch live sports. There were some decent old songs being played as background music and I also got the feeling that they have live music some nights, but I may be wrong. It was not as busy as other pubs in the area, but it is a little out of the way so I wouldn't expect a lot of passing trade. There is a quiz every Sunday night that seems popular looking at the amount of teams in the league. On the face of it this place is nothing special, but I found it very welcoming and would return.