Corrib Bar, Camberwell, SE5

Closed - "this intact late 1930s pub has been taken over by a religious sect." - CAMRA NI bulletin 136.

It’s clear from the exterior signage that this pub used to be The Duke of Clarence. The toby jug on the wall indicates that it was a Charrington pub, as do the green banded windows. This is a classic example of an unspoilt inter-war pub that still has three separate rooms, and is possibly a beneficiary of “preservation by poverty”, whereby the owners don’t have the readies, or don’t see sufficient potential to warrant spending money on modernising it. Thus it’s a member of a rare breed now. I spent my visit in the public bar on the corner, which has some nice panelling on the walls, a few tables and chairs, and a pool table dominating the centre of the room. There’s also a dartboard in this room which clearly gets some use judging by the well used scoreboard, and trophies on shelves. I poked my nose in the next bar – the snug – which is a very tiny room (of course), but didn’t venture into the saloon bar at the far end of the pub. Unfortunately there’s no real ale here, but they did have on the rarely seen keg versions of Toby Bitter and Bass. There’s plenty of very reasonably priced food on offer during the weekday lunchtime, including some hot meals for about a fiver. I had a pretty good cheese sandwich for £1. I thought that I had misheard the chatty barman when he asked for £1 – it must be 30 years since the least time I paid a quid for a sandwich in a pub! This is really an Irish pub. I could hear an Irish accent emanating from the snug, there was Irish music being played over the music system, and the barman checked with me that I was OK with some hitherto unencountered (by me) brand of Irish cheese in my sarny. This struck me as a very friendly pub, and one that would be considerably enhanced by a real ale although I guess the locals are happy with it just the way it is.