The Horseshoe Inn, SE1

Randomness Guide to London - Horseshoe Inn entry

They had Gale’s Butser; Breakspear’s Bitter; and the ubiquitous London Pride on. The Gales Butser was excellent (at £3 a pint), and was readily topped up without being asked. The food was OK – I had a ciabatta chicken sandwich for £4.95. The landlord was friendly and chatty – he had the latest version of What’s Brewing on the counter in order to place an advert for a forthcoming beer festival in March; plus there were copies of London Drinker available. I regard these as very good signs indeed. The pub itself is tucked away behind London Bridge near Guys Hospital. It is essentially a one-room pub, but with a room at the back on the left that was being used by diners during my visit. It’s bare-boarded, with a high ceiling that should let in a lot of light. But on a gloomy and wet Wednesday in January there wasn’t much light about, and it was made gloomier by the canopy let down outside one of the windows, presumably to accommodate smokers. The only other negative thing for me was the fact that the music being played and Sky News on the large plasma TV were in competition with each other. But I found this to be a friendly and welcoming pub with decent beer on handpump. There’s also a functioning dartboard. I would certainly go back.

This late Victorian (1897) pub is tucked away round the back of Guys Hopsital and seems to appeal to locals, workers and students alike. The interior is quite plain and not particularly memorable with much of the frontage windowed and little inside that attracts any attention. The main bar area has an unobtrusive darts area to one side but, as the sign says, it is for serious players only so don't expect to be popular if you start playing loopy or halve it! 2 well positioned TVs seem geared for sports (they were both tuned to different rugby matches on our visit). To the left of the bar is a side room which I recall being more of a sofa lounge when I last came here but they seem to have ditched the soft furnishings for something a bit more solid and robust although I didn't get the impression it was specifically a dining area. 3 Ales; Brakspear, London Pride & Sweet Chariot – decent condition and prices comparable for the area. The food looked very good and the portions quite substantial. Not one of the better known pubs in the area and I'm not sure I would particularly spend a whole evening here but well worth a quick pint as part of a crawl.