The Wickham Arms, SE4

This is a former Courage pub situated in the back streets of Brockley, just a 5-10 minute walk from the train station. You enter via a large raised decking area in front of the pub, which requires you to climb a long set of steps before reaching the front door, but does at least ensure some decent outdoor seating options. Some nice decorative glasswork in the front porch, hints at probable fine décor in years gone by, but you emerge into a large, opened out U-shaped bar nowadays, with all of the previously individual rooms now combined into one. The room is carpeted throughout with the U-shaped servery in the centre. To the right there is a spacious seating area which looks only half furnished, allowing for a lot of standing room as a result. Towards the back on this side of the pub, there is a very smart room, filled with a pool table, but attractively panelled and easily the most appealing area, which makes it a shame it is being used as the pool room. Scattered tables, chairs and low stools litter the left hand side of the pub, including on a raised corner section. The rear left corner extends into a lounge type area with lots more seating, including some decent banquettes. Several screens around the room were showing the World Cup semi final between Holland and Argentina, with the commentary clearly audible, and almost all of the customers were sat watching it. The clientele are worthy of a mention, as they were almost all well and truly pished, including two chaps who started a surreal fight, which seemed to involve trying to get the rather placid pub dog to attack each other. I noted three handpulls on the bar, one of which was out of action, whilst the two remaining pumps were both clipped with Brockley Pale Ale. We all gave this a try and I thought they did a reasonable job keeping it in good condition, especially as none of the regulars seemed to be touching it. This is a bit of a rough and ready boozer that probably can be seen in a better light by not visiting on a mid-week evening when the local's have been on the sauce all day. The beer was decent enough and there is just about enough of interest to merit a quick look inside, but the place does have a feel of neglect and perhaps even desperation which would probably keep me from heading back.

Randomness Guide to London - Wickham Arms entry

Randomness Guide to London - Wickham Arms entry

I found it very off putting that I had to shout above the very loud adverts that were being emitted from the radio in order to get my pint in this local's backstreet boozer. I should have been grateful as it masked the ‘F this' and ‘C that' which was being spouted by a couple of people in the pub. I spotted a plasma screen for the showing of Sky Sports, but this was off due to my visit being during the afternoon. Courage Best and Pride were both available, but the Landlord was off although I did have a decent pint of Guinness. There is a large decked area out the front with plenty of seating, but unfortunately it was raining so I couldn't escape. I'm not sure whether I would use this again.