The Southwark Tavern, SE1

Official site of the Southwark Tavern - www.thesouthwarktavern.co.uk

Decent enough boozer, although overshadowed by better places in the nearby facility. My pint of Pride (one of two ales on) was OK and there's a selection of slightly exotic overseas lagers available. The stained glass windows are a nice touch. Punters were lively but friendly and the atmosphere was good for a Saturday. Worth a quick half or two, but I think there's better to be had within 10 minutes walk.

I ventured in here recently as it was the only pub in the area that seemed to be open after 11pm on a Friday night and perhaps unsurprisingly it was completely packed. A good selection of beers was available including, Hook Norton Old Hooky, London Pride, Davenport Strawberry Fields, Sharp's Doom Bar and Meantime Pale Ale. The only problem was the long queuing time to get served and the fairly slap-dash service that resulted in me ending up with just a vague approximation of what I had actually ordered. Admittedly the confusion could have been caused by the loud noise level, but it was nonetheless just as tricky to rectify. There was plenty of seating on all sides of the U shaped room and whilst the interior was nothing special, it wasn't quite as drab as some of the previous comments might suggest. There is a downstairs bar as well, but I didn't go down there as I was only staying for a quick drink before the last train home. A decent enough alternative to the often packed Market Porter, but I think I would be more tempted to walk the extra 50 yards to the Wheatsheaf instead.

Randomness Guide to London - Southwark Tavern entry

Randomness Guide to London - Southwark Tavern entry

I had to wait a good few minutes in here when the pub wasn't that busy as the barmaid was having great difficulty getting to grips with the bottle opener. When I was finally served my pint of Pride was 3/4 full as she had no idea how to pull a pint. She was very pleasant and polite, but maybe she should have been accompanied by a more experienced member of staff rather than running the bar on her own. Abbot, Old Hooky and Liberty were all available along with the Pride, which was good, and some premium lagers. There is a small cellar bar which was open during my visit, although the actual bar was closed. This pub is ok, but it is in an area were it has a lot of far superior competition.

I've never bothered to go into this pub before as on the previous winter evenings I've gone past the lacklustre brown-tiled Victorian façade has never appealed. But on this warm summer evening the double doors were open and there was a large crowd drinking outside, so I decided to venture in. It's a two bar pub although I didn't make it down to the lower bar. The ground floor has a central bar serving a decent enough wide range of drinks including continental lagers and a decent array of handpumps including London Pride and Hook Nortons Old Hooky. Not the smartest on service as, of all the pubs I tried on this crawl I had to wait the longest to be served in the Southwark Tavern. Bat, although not very rapid, the bar staff were serving in order, so all in all, a decent enough stop close to Borough Market.