The Rose & Crown, SE1

This is a smart little street corner boozer tucked away in the backstreets between London Bridge and Southwark stations. The pub has a scuffed bare boarded interior with large windows down two sides and a good amount of dark wood panelling beneath plain painted uppers. The servery is to the left and has a good, sturdy looking dark wood counter with a metal frame gantry and a modern bar back lined with a collection of keg font inserts. The place has clearly been knocked about over the years, with two separate entrances leading into the same room and various structural support pillars now exposed, with some undressed brickwork visible in places. Seating is a mix of basic chairs, long pews and high stools, all serving tables of various sizes, mostly around the perimeter of the room. Décor is a little sparse, with some modern art prints here and there, plus a few more keg font insets displayed elsewhere, but nothing particularly memorable. Hip hop tunes played unobtrusively in the background, and I noticed food coming out at quite a rate on a mid-week evening visit, with plenty of people spilled out across the picnic tables along the front pavement. On the bar, two ales in the shape of Harvey’s Sussex best and Burning Sky Plateau, plus a cider from Seacider. The plateau was £5.00 for a pint and in decent, if not quite tip-top, condition. I’ve been back here since my initial visit and again thought the beer quality was okay without properly hitting the mark. There are a few pubs through these back streets, all of which offer a welcome bit of peace and calm from the bustle around London Bridge and Borough Market. I thought this place was one of the better examples of such a pub, with some decent ale options and a comfortable drinking environment, even if it doesn’t quite hit the heights of some of the area’s more celebrated pubs. Date of visit - 6th June 2023

Official site of The Rose & Crown - www.publove.co.uk

Dating from 1813, I suspect the place may have been rebuilt in the 1930s and located in a typical, remote SE1 backwater. This looks a bit glum from the outside and probably small inside, but it’s actually a rather spacious interior, with a fairly high ceiling; from the reviews, I think this may have had a bit of a makeover since last visited and further research reveals that this took place in 2020, which saw it delisted from being on CAMRA’s heritage interiors’ list. It’s actually part of the Pub Love hostel chain, but I only saw one customer arrive. There’s attractive wood panelling to around half height, then white paint but with a little bare brick. There’s a broadly central and attractive bar array with tubular steel gantry and ‘cinema’ beer board; a fireplace has sadly been covered, but with polychromatic tiles. The floor is rough boarded, with a black and white chequered bar apron; décor comes from framed prints. Furniture is simple and conventional, with tea lights on tables and inoffensive lighting at a sensible level. There’s food, centred around the burger and customers were mixed; lavs were very good. Ales: Seacider, Titanic Plum Porter (went off on arrival), then Wandle at a very reasonable £4.60 a pint and good, served by a very nice and apologetic barman. This is actually a very decent place with a boozer feel and off the beaten tourist track; well worth seeking out. A couple of better ales and the Plum Porter being on, would get the score up a bit.

Official site of The Rose & Crown - www.publove.co.uk

Basic pub,basic keg beers and very basic Doombar on cask.Decent pub though.

There is still just the one real ale - the ubiquitous Doom Bar - with two more handpumps apparently unused. I didn't see a menu but food is advertised. This is still a standard locals' pub, of the sort rarely found in Central London. It currently consists of two rooms - the smaller of the two on the left which contains the pool table, and the larger of the two accessed through an opening on the right. The larger of the two has three doors, suggesting that was once two separate rooms plus a jug and bottle bar. The three vestibules in this room are relatively recent additions. There is some decent fielded panelling in this room, as well as an inter-war bar counter. There are TVs in here, plus a large pull-down screen at the back, and knick knacks all over the place. I rather liked this pub. All the furnishings are normal tables and chairs, but a better ale selection would be a massive plus.

In town for a Neil Young show at the O2 and had a few hours to burn before heading for the show. Greeted by friendly barstaff - Queenie - who recommended a certain ale - locals seemed a little boistorous - but before long we had met one or two of them - Irish and Polish and had a great afternoon over indulging. It's rough around the edges - includes a hostel upstairs - but I soon felt at home! I've seen it described as an old fashioned pub with old fashioned values - I'll go with that.But he beer .. you ask.. Guinness seemed fine, but limited choice - no real ale.