Great Southern, SE19

I’ve mixed feelings about this pub. With only 15 minutes before my train, I reckoned a swift half of London Pride was called for. It turned out to be about the rankest beer I’ve had for some, but the barrel was changed and my dodgy half pint was replaced with a full pint. Now that is an excellent response to a returned glass of beer. Obviously I missed my train though, but no way was I not going to finish my pint. The other ale on was GKIPA, dispensed from one of those new “pseudo keg font” handpumps. There’s a separate room at the back with serried rows of chairs facing a large screen. It seems that this room is used for watching major sporting events, as well as doubling up as a cinema every other Thursday when it becomes the “Film for a Fiver” venue. At the back is a raised area, with tables and chairs on it when I was in, but is apparently used for live music occasionally. There was a log fire ablaze when I was in there, with some sofas surrounding it. It had the strangest flooring I’ve seen for a long time – patterned blocks of 16 tiles, each surrounded by wooden boards. The main room of the pub is very large, with plenty of open space, and I found it a bit barren. The welcome and service was friendly, and in my opinion the bad beer episode was dealt with in an exemplary manner, but for some reason I didn’t think that it was a very comfortable pub. I’d probably give it another go if I was in the area, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit again.

This pub is nice enough with a plasma screen that was showing football and I also heard some table tennis being played in the back room. There is a fire in the bar area with some sofas placed around it that would be good as the weather turns for winter. I was glad to find some covered seating in the nice sized beer garden out the back as it was raining heavily, although there were some die hards sitting in the pouring rain which confused me a little. Pride was the only ale offering and there is only a standard draught selection, but my Guinness was on good form. The only real let down of this pub was the rude barman, but apart from him I enjoyed my stay and I would return.