The Chandos, Brockley, SE23

Quite a while since last reviews here. However, not much has changed other than I would say more people come here now to eat pizza and drink craft beer (there is no cask) with the last remnants of old timers pushed to other venues in Brockley (some obvious candidates there). Indeed I was probably the only one of an older cohort than millennial even during my stay here! Don’t get me wrong I really life craft and there is plenty here to choose from. Knowing all on offer I was once again seduced by the “House” pale ale and for once it was really pretty decent. Didn’t get an answer from the v pleasant server as to who it was brewed by though. The pizza that was being consumed in all areas of the venue did small really good also. During my time here, the first half of an engaging Middlesbrough v Leeds game had a lot in the small bar glued to the match (they had commentary on rather than images with music) so the place does seem to attract a sport orientated crowd. Can’t see they would have the evening cards from Windsor and Kempton on though!

Official site of The Chandos - frontierpubs.co.uk

Official site of The Chandos - frontierpubs.co.uk

This place always struck me as a fairly rough and unappealing pub with not much going for it, but passing recently, I was surprised to see it had undergone a major refurbishment and was now full of young families with one or two old locals still in the Public Bar. The pub doesn't look all that great from the outside, thanks to the dark painted external walls, but there are a few picnic benches out here, should you wish to soak up the gloomy aspect and listen to the traffic passing on the busy B218. The right hand side of the pub seemed like the nicest area, comprising a small Public Bar with simple seating, a good deal of standing room and a nice stretch of the curved dark wood servery. A large screen on the back wall showed live football to a rapt audience and the room was separated from the main bar by some nice dark wood screening with etched glass panes - seemingly a nicely retained period feature. The main room to the left is a huge open space set up more for diners, but packed full of young families with pushchairs and screaming kids. It's clearly a former two room set up, with evidence of former partitioning still discernible and the curved servery runs towards the rear before merging into an open kitchen. The bar has a nice counter with a tile frieze on the bar back which has been topped with various beer boxes. The room is filled with regular tables and chairs on exposed floorboards under walls painted in drab neutral shades. Various contemporary portraits and other such bits of art cover the walls, some of which have exposed brickwork, and there was another large screen on the back wall showing the same FA Cup tie. The menu seemed to specialise in pizzas and a number of pizza based offers were being advertised throughout the pub. There were three hand pumps in operation, offering Brockley IPA, Sharps Atlantic and a real cider, but the pub's strength seemed to be its craft keg and bottle range which was also detailed on various boards and seemed to include a good mix of local, national and international options (including the 0.5% abv Brewdog Nanny State which my friend ordered under the impression it was Punk IPA!). Such a faux-pas was avoided on my part by trying the Brockley IPA which was in decent shape if not exactly the greatest example of the style I've encountered. This is a tricky one, as the refurbishment has obviously opened the pub up to a whole new audience but has also seemingly driven out some of the regular who kept the place going over the years. For me it was a bit too bland and devoid of atmosphere, but that's not to say that things won't improve in the evenings. I'd suggest this is an improvement in the main but I feel bad for the displaced old school drinkers and would chose to drink in a number of superior venues up the road in Brockley myself.