The Phoenix, Stockwell, SW9

Visited 13/10/24. Visited previously 15/08/22. Single cask option of Harvey's Sussex Best. Keg options were Stowford Press cider, Amstel, Moretti, Neck Oil, Brixton Reliance Pale Ale, Guinness, Camden Pale Ale and Camden Hells. Corner venue on Clapham Rd. Largely an L shaped venue with L shaped bar facing you as you enter on the corner of the venue. Small space off to the left-hand side of the venue, generally with regular tables and chairs dotted around the venue plus some tall stools at the side of the bar counter. A couple of TV's showing live sport sans commentary and a heavy music soundtrack blasting the venue - not what you want late Sunday afternoon. There is a garden out the back of the venue but glad to occupy the inside even with the loud music today!

Street corner pub which has a Farrow & Ball colour scheme,an L shaped interior with a small room seperate to the left and a fireplace at the far end.There is a long bench seat on the Clapham Road side,dining type tables and traditional furniture .Food is a feature here with an ecletic mix of small dishes,some tandoori mains,tacos,nachos,burgers with mains around £14,smaller dishes around £8. The welcome was friendly and chatty,the muzak decent but the keg selection was mundane and the single clipped handpump was serving Harveys Sussex Best in a branded glass ,clear but with a faint tang ,NBSS 2. I might pop in again for food but the beer options are limited and dull.

Obviously still as Tris describes it a few months ago, four handpumps with three bare and one clipped with Harveys Sussex Best, which turned out to be off anyway, on the keg front it's mostly standard fayre with a couple of corporate craft options, I decided to try the Camden Stout only to be told that was also off, so Guinness it was. This pub is firmly in the 'nothing to see here, move along' category.

This is a mid-19th century pub, originally the Coach & Horses, renamed as the Phoenix following fire damage (how original) and recently taken over by Harvey’s, their third pub in London, all south of the river, presumably not to get too far from Sussex. The interior is very basic and spartan, rough scorched floorboards and a cream of mushroom soup colour scheme; wainscoting painted a shade of Portobello mushroom, the walls and ceiling closed cup button mushroom. There are dark roller blinds and mixed furniture with some cheap-looking banquettes, with studded cloth backs then dark vinyl seats, the whole very brightly lit, not helped by five TVs which for most of my stay broadcast the Sky menu, then silent unwatched tennis; customers were an animated young bunch, quite possibly students. A shoddy showing for a Harvey’s pub, especially for a Saturday night, with cask options amounting to two reversed clips then just Sussex Beast, £2.45 a half and not bad once warmed up. This is a rather characterless pub leaving mushroom for improvement, not helped with all the TVs; if you want a Harvey’s pub, go to the Royal Oak or the Cat’s Back.

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Basic pub with the bar to the right. Couple of weak hand pumps - rest keg. Would not return.

I was in here on 4 Jan at around 7.00 PM, and like aqualung found that they only had Best and Old on, with a couple of pumps unused. But my pint of Old was in very poor condition - undrinkable in my opinion. The barman wasn't happy about changing it - he tried it, and then said he didn't see how it could be off as there were still several gallons left in the barrel. But I was accompanied by several CAMRA colleagues who are experts on beer quality, and they too tried it and supported my opinion. But full marks to the landlord who then changed the barrel and produced an excellent pint of Old for me, instead of taking the easy option of giving me a pint of Best and leaving the same barrel of Old on in the hope that less discerning drinkers would accept it. The pub is as described by aqualung - fairly standard furnishings and a bit minimalist in a modern way. But it was doing a good trade on the Wednesday evening I was in, and was anything but a bit dead. I would hope that the beer issue was just a one-off and that I was just unlucky; and it was dealt with professionally after a bit of encouragement. Another ale from Harvey's range would be a big plus, but of course they can only stock the range that the custom will support. But I would certainly be happy to visit this pub again.

As mentioned below this was formerly the Circle Bar but prior to that it was an Ind Coope pub called the Coach and Horses. It's a fairly typical London corner pub with a ground floor area much larger then the two storeys above. Inside it's an L shaped room with wooden floors having been renovated in the current vogue. It's now a Harvey's pub and like their other two London outlets has a function room advertised. There is a solitary TV at the rear which had subtitles and a quiz advertised for Monday. The place was almost empty on my early Thursday afternoon visit. Although the bar has four hand pumps only Best and Old were available with two unused. I went for the Old (£3.30) which was in good nick and a surprisingly reasonable price for London. It's not a bad place but seemed a bit dead. I suspect it does a better trade in the evening and weekends.

Official site of The Phoenix - www.phoenixclapham.com