The Railway, Streatham Common, SW16

Official site of The Railway - www.therailwaysw16.co.uk

Official site of The Railway - www.therailwaysw16.co.uk

This is a large gentrified pub next to Streatham Common station. You enter into a large bare boarded room which has been opened out from a former multiple room layout and now has a row of structural support pillars through the centre. The room has been painted in contrasting light and dark shades which creates quite a nice effect, and has the overall feel of a relaxed gastro pub. Chunky banquettes and tub chairs line the front wall with lots of sanded tables and mixed chairs through the centre of the room. The servery is to the rear and has a long bar counter with nice curved ends and a pillared bar back. Décor includes a number of retro-style items like old-fashioned clocks, lamps, mirrors and so on, that look like they’ve come from an Antic pub. The other notable feature is a prolific number of blackboards detailing all sorts of food and drink related items plus one which lists upcoming events. There is a nice tiled fireplace in the front left corner with an attractive tiled hearth, but aside from that, much of the pub’s original character seems to have been lost over the years. Music played quietly in the background and there were flyers around the room promoting all sorts of events in the pub from quizzes to comedy nights to farmer’s markets. There were four handpulls in use on the bar and they were dispensing By The Horns Hopadelic, Park Isabella, Redemption Fellowship and Sambrooks Wandle. I ordered a pint of the Hopadelic which was in pretty good shape and quite tasty, although the barman somewhat spoilt things by conducting the entire transaction without bothering to utter a single word. I found myself a bit torn about this place as it seems like quite a nice spot to enjoy a good pint of local ale and had drawn a pretty good crowd which meant there was a good atmosphere. However, the place has lost much of its character and I struggled to feel particularly comfortable in here. It’s worth a look if you’re waiting for a train or passing through Streatham, but isn’t really a destination pub in its own right.

This pub has been thoroughly made over from the very basic pub that I remember from the 1980s. It still has two rooms, although in days past there would have been more. The large room at the front is the main bar area containing the bar counter, with the room at the back, reached via a doorway on the right, looks like it's intended as a dining area as it contains the food servery. There was a sign to a "beer garden" (which we all now realise is actually a "garden") but I didn't look out there. The paintwork in the main bar is a combination of dull light blue and battleship grey - typically gastro. There's a mix of furnishings including bucket armchairs, banquettes, but mainly normal tables and chairs plus small round stools. The floor's bare-boarded with what looks like the original floorboards, which looks so much better than modern replacement boarding. All the tables had little sprigs of flowers on them, but the walls had little or no decor - just a few little round mirrors to break up the battleship grey painted space. On a ledge round one of the pillars was a sign saying that "our coffee comes from Volcano, roasted with love in W Norwood". It's hard to imagine anything less likely than a coffee roasting business in West Norwood, but I suppose it does inform us that coffee is available, not that there would really be any doubt in a place like this. They obviously do food, although I didn't see a menu (I was in there mid-afternoon after lunchtime). This pub is now a candidate from CAMRA SW London pub of the year mainly because of its policy of selling local ales. When I was in they had on the two main Sambrook's ales of Wandle and Junction, plus East London Brewery Nightwatchman (£3.60 a pint) with a fourth pump having a reversed clip. Not a bad selection, but all three ales are of a similar style so not an excellent selection. Other things of note were the presence of London Drinkers; the fact that there are no TVs; a farmer's market twice a month; and a comedy show on the last Sunday of each month. This place is rather uber chic, but nonetheless it's quite a comfortable place and I wouldn't mind visiting again.