The White Horse, Brixton, SW2

CAMRA claims that this is an early 18th century pub, but what currently exists is more likely late 19th century; a passage to the rear – now a garage – is quite possibly former access for stabling and I wouldn’t be surprised if this were once a coaching inn. In many ways it would seem that little has changed since the last review almost 10 years ago to the day; certainly, there are a multitude of fake magnolia flowers attached to branches beneath the ceiling. Essentially this is a fairly large opened out room: a pale boarded floor, there’s a fair expanse of bare brick with exposed electrical trunking, mid blue walls with a grey ceiling. The bar back is modern, the front covered with shiny black tiles. Furniture too is modern, with mixed tables adorned with bottles of flowers, then tubular steel and ply chairs, tall to the front picture windows; there’s also a baggy old fawn coloured sofa. The young customers were mainly out front on the patio, then a group of older bohemian types looking a bit out of place; to the rear, two elderly customers played on the pool table. Cask amounted to Sussex Best (off) then Deuchars (no thanks), my emergency of choice – Neck Oil – also off, so it was a half of Brixton Reliance at £3.50, served by an apologetic barman. This place is just about ok, certainly preferable to drinking in Brixton Central; a decent cask option would have crowbarred the score up to average. Rated 4.5.

Official site of The White Horse - whitehorsebrixton.co.uk

Official site of The White Horse - whitehorsebrixton.co.uk

This is a simple single room pub on the busy Brixton Hill, easily reached on foot from the tube and train stations. The room is bare boarded with the servery running midway down the left hand wall. A series of long tables and pews are arranged down the right hand side, many of which seemed to be reserved on my early evening visit. The front left corner has some comfy looking sofas under a crumbling bare brick wall with T-Shirts hung on a line for reasons that were not apparent to me. The servery has a plain mirrored, bare brick bar back and a couple of tree branches suspended above it, again to no real purpose or effect. The whole front space has paper daffodils stuck to the ceiling in huge quantities, which created quite a pleasing visual effect. Moving to the rear, past a DJ booth, you find a pool table surrounded by padded wall mounted rests and beyond this there is a screened off area with a table and standard chairs, offering a bit of privacy in an otherwise fairly open plan pub. Some nice potted plants added to the charm of this area, although the intrusion of the pool players is an obvious disadvantage. Quite a few people were eating from a decent looking menu, whilst others were enjoying the weather on the picnic benches out the front of the pub. Music was playing in the background throughout my stay, but was mostly drowned out by the general din. On the bar, I noted three ales available - Caledonian Deuchars IPA and 80/- and St Austell Tribute. I was served a pint of Tribute by a very friendly and efficient barmaid, but I'm sorry to report that it wasn't really up to much. The place was doing a very good trade on my Friday evening visit, making it impossible to find somewhere to sit. This is a fairly standard pub that seems to be doing well by virtue of its location and the prospect of decent pub grub. I was a little underwhelmed by the place, especially the sub standard beer, but it does have its good points and is worth a look in passing.

Like a lot of pubs in this part of the world, this has been turned into an uber-trendy bar, with all sorts of different tables and chairs and ultra-dim lighting. The crowd is young and hipster-ish, so I do my best to blend in. There's a pool table at the back, behind a partition. Caledonian 80 and Deuchars IPA (£3.20) are available, alongside the unusual sight of Birra Moretti. Service is brisk. Its ok - not really a proper pub but quirky enough nonetheless. Better than going to, say, a Grand Union or something of that ilk.