Mc & Sons, Southwark, SE1

A rather dull basic pub with a few cheap Dickens prints.Great beer selection.Beers from Twickenham,Milestone,W+ Eton and Adnams.Also Mighty Oak-hoppily ever after which was good.Worth a visit for the beers.

Larger than it looks south London pub, nicely laid out, boarded floor, half panalled walls and pictures/quotes of various Dickens characters on the walls. The area around the bar as you walk in has some high tables and stools, and other trad rectangular tables & wooden chairs. It feels quite spacey. The pub goes deeper from the road and there is a beer garden. Menus on every table with meals starting at £6.50 which seems good for London. 6 real ales, some local, some further a field, good choice and quality & extra mark for this.

Used to frequent this place often for good food food and good beer. Hadn't been for a while untill last nite. Oh dear what a change in 6 monts. The positives. The beer is still very good and priced well. The 2 people behind the bar were welcoming polite amusing and also very knowledgeable about the real ales which is a great plus. The young lady in particular was very helpful in finding me a suitable ale. The negatives. Used to enjoy eating here but won't make that same mistake again. Food is sloppy swimming in grease cold ( they were quiet) no presentation and over priced for what it was. We had four meals and they were all the same. I would visit again if in the area for the beer and bar staff. Just never eat here again. (The white herart around the corner does fine food) its a ahame as this is a nice little pub. Also toilets were filthy.

The interior is open plan,with a wooden floor and an L shaped bar to the right.On the shorter side there are six handpumps,while down the longer side are an array of keg dispensers.There is wooden seating throughout,with a slightly larger rear section leading to a walled courtyard with an awning.There are flat screens dotted about showing terrestrial TV soccer but with the sound turned down,a good compromise.There are prints on the wall of Dickensian characters but that's about the only reference to the pub name that I saw. All ales priced at £3.40 with Hogs Back Spring Ale,Truman Swallow and Swifts,Westerham Finchcocks Original,Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde,Cottage We'll Get it Right and Elgoods Double Swan,which was the pick on the night.There is a kitchen churning out pub grub staples until 9pm at what looked like very reasonable prices for the area (mains £7 -£10).Although the pub was busy,it never became overcrowded and seats were available throughout a Friday evening session.The staff were on the whole friendly and efficient,apart from one guy who was reluctant to change an end of barrel pint,until his colleagues pointed out the error of his ways. A decent selection of well kept ale (it's now in the 2012 GBG)means this place is on the list for a revisit.Slightly off the beaten track,good to find a pub not crammed to the rafters on a Friday night.