The Globe, SE1

A fine history of pubbing has existed on this site, going back to the late 14th century when this was the site of Cobham’s Inn, later the Green Dragon, with this incarnation of the Globe arriving in 1872, built in the Gothic Revival style; the name of ‘Turpin’ can be seen above the entrance, publican here from around 1861: William Boxall Turpin. The Globe is also listed on CAMRA’s inventory of pubs which featured in Bridget Jones’s Diary. This is a funny pub, because it doesn’t look like one from the street, meaning I missed it twice when doing the rounds here a couple of months back and despite being part of Borough Market, it isn’t under its roof. Unsurprisingly, nothing has changed since the previous review was submitted yesterday, other than the ale range, down from four to three. It has a curved front, with large arched windows. The floor is bare boarded and walls are black tongue and groove, along with a matching ceiling. The bar front is pale grey, attractive with scrolls and may be original, illuminated by large industrial sized metal shades, complementing an ugly tubular steel suspended gantry. Further lighting amounts to two large lantern sconces, then a few with fluted glass shades; on high there were overly bright spotlights. Furniture is fairly conventional, with a studded banquette, tatty and ripped in parts and normal tables and stools to the rear snug, upholstered with vinyl, the colour of rotting flesh, then to the front, tall tables with matching rotten flesh stools, with a circumferential drinking ledge and projecting wall tables to the front area. As mentioned, there’s a feature of sorts in the form of a dividing screen filled with unlabelled green wine bottles, which can also be found above the gantry and also framed by a window reveal. There’s little else in the way of décor aside from the aforementioned blue vase to the bar, which may be Chinese, of the Meiping Wanli Period; the pub’s soundtrack is provided by the rumble of overhead trains. Customers amounted to sweary blokes and young female members of the duffle coat and bobble hat brigade, moderate in number. The beer front amounted to two unused pumps, one reversed (presumably the Whitstable Bay) then the predictable trio that constitutes just about all that’s available in London: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the Landlord still costing £5.05 and in drinkable though unexceptional condition, served by a monosyllabic barmaid who couldn’t take her eyes off her phone screen. This pub is just about ok, certainly quieter than the Wheatsheaf over the road, but nowhere near as good as the Market Porter, with its superior ale range and ambience.

Official site of The Globe - www.theglobeboroughmarket.com

Official site of The Globe - www.theglobeboroughmarket.com

Tucked away under the roof of Borough Market, this is an attractive Victorian-era gothic-style pub with an unusual curved facade. You enter into a bare boarded room with the servery in the middle of the back wall and some very limited high table and stool seating around the perimeter. Very large, high arched windows run around the curved front wall, allowing a fair bit of light in, despite the market roof, each with some nice dark wood tongue and groove panels in between them. The bar has quite an attractive wood panelled counter with a modern metal frame gantry above and a simple mirrored bar back. A huge ceramic vase stands at one end of the bar and one of the front windows was completely filled with shelves full of green bottles, which probably creates quite a nice visual effect if the sun can reach this window. Similarly, a partitioning wall to the rear left is actually a floor to ceiling glass cabinet, full of more green bottles. This is used to screen the small rear lounge area, which is also bare boarded but has comfy button backed banquettes down the left and rear walls, with a lot of low stools in support. More high windows and a large mirror on the end wall mean that there’s little available wall space so decor is pretty minimal and the lighting is quite muted, combining with the dark ceiling to make the pub surprisingly dark, but also a little cosy, especially in the little lounge. As with most central London pubs on a weekday, there were more punters outside, spilled out across the closed market’s concourse, although that didn’t mean it was quiet inside, with punters three deep at the bar throughout my stay. There were four handpulls in operation on my midweek evening visit - Fullers London Pride, Sharps Doom Bar, Shepherd Neame Whitstable Bay and Taylors Landlord. Not the most inspiring range you’re going to find and the Landlord (£5.05) was past its best, to the point that I couldn’t face battling the crowds to get served again, so I headed off elsewhere despite having arranged to meet friends here. I’ve been past this pub countless times, but this was the first time I’d actually set foot inside and I have to say I was a little disappointed. The interior is certainly worth a look and the small lounge provides some comfy, if extremely limited, seating options, but the slow service and poorly kept ale are big negatives and I would struggle to justify a return here with several superior pubs a short distance from here.

Last went over 20 years ago. Much improved - it used to be quite shabby, as I remember it. No a smart interior, with lots of empty green bottles as decoration. Above the bar. On window sills. Central hoseshoe bar. TT Landlord on. In good condition. GBG 2021 entry.

This is a pub that I've walked past many times, and at last summoned up the enthusiasm to go in. I haven't been missing much. It was pretty gloomy in there, but that's not their fault as it's got a pretty dire location right under the railway bridge. It's a circular pub at one end of Borough Market. Bare-boarded inside with tall stools at ledges by the winsows, and a handful of normal tables/benches/small round stools in an area to the left separated from the main bar area by a large case containing bottles. The pair of real ales on were Truman's Swift and Sharp's Atlantic - both £4 a pint, which to be fair isn't bad for the area. Plastic "glasses" are available if you want to take your drink outside into the market. The only food I saw was bar snacks such as nuts, etc. This is a fairly unremarkable pub, but my Swift was in good shape. Certainly not worth going out of your way to visit, but it's a useful watering hole for anyone visiting Borough Market.

I've given this pub plenty of chances over the years but it wastes all its attributes of great location and attractive appearance inside & out, by serving a consistently limited range of poorly conditioned beer and displaying questionable customer service. Used to like to approach down the york-stoned (now stolen in re-furb!) ginnel opp London Bridge Street, but unless they start serving interesting well-kept beer it won't be delaying my arrival at the Market Porter again.

Now a lot smarter than before as mentioned below, a brightly lit L shaped bar that seemed almost more wine-bar than pub to me, echoed by an extensive wine list starting at £19.60 a bottle. The lone barman didn't seem to be overly rushing himself to serve waiting customers, indeed one group of four gave up and left, when he got to me I had a choice of four from five handpumps, Pride, ELB Foundation Bitter, One Mile End Hospital Porter and Moncada Notting Hill Pale which I had a half of and was privileged to pay £2.20, for a 3.2% beer,added to that it was quite hazy though tasted ok. Although I cant knock the beer selection here I didn't really take to the place and will likely bypass it next time I'm around Borough Market.

Had a major upgrade to this building.The outside stonework has had a clean and the pub looks very good.Interior smart modern,black painted walls. Lots of high stools and tables.Four cask beers on inc Gypsy hill-dissident and my Hackney -Kentucky common was good.