The Walrus, SE1

Plain, rather uninviting, façade. Mostly lounge-style furniture, supplemented by a few wooden patio tables out front. Loud music. Hostel upstairs. Now has two handpumps, offering Pride and an OK pint of Hogs Back TEA (£3.50). Previously avoided, but actually nothing like as bad as I was expecting.

The Walrus stands on the site of what was originally the Red Lion which in turn had a spell in the mid 19th Century as the New Dover Castle before reverting back to its original name. The current building dates from the 1930’s and, renamed the Walrus Social, is now more of a bar for the attached hostel. It doesn’t look too inviting from the outside with its drab grey paintwork and the large railway bridge looming overhead and I didn’t find it terribly impressive inside either. The interior is a single rectangular room with bare floors, a high ceiling and a bit of a shoebox feel. It has a very loungey approach with low tables, pouffes, armchairs and sofas. If headaches had a colour they would probably be that of the ceiling. The general atmosphere seems to revolve around the TV, Big Screen and the rumbling of trains overhead. Don’t expect anything exciting on the drink front. There are no ales and just the standard keg beers at a price (John Smiths Smooth at £3.45!). Service was also agonizingly slow. Being part of a cheap hostel and so close to a major railway terminus you can expect all kinds of oddballs to come passing through and the customer base for my visit was decidedly downmarket, completed by a strange character who silently made himself at home on my table before producing a quite menacing looking knife and proceding to cut open a sandwich packet before helping himself to a few tins of lager from a carrier bag. I didn’t stay long.