Catford Constitutional Club, Catford, SE6

There is a place for the Catford constitutional club in Catford. I never thought I'd say that 20 years ago but there you go. Its not my type of place as a 42 year old coach driver who likes the odd argument its not my place but my friend Andy mac has a rich girlfriend and she loves nothing more then a night in the cccc with a glass of wine sitting on a weird stool looking at ironic posters of trains and wondering where all these cool punters come from cos you never see them down the Broadway or at the bustop. It's a good pub. I'd suggest a 10 / 10 rule for Sundays (maximum 10 punters under the age of 10) but I don't make the rules.

Anywhere that has the Clash being played as you walk in and a display of classic Private Eye covers on the wall can't be bad, and this Antic house doesn't disappoint. Also benefits from a substantial patio beer garden at the back. Large, two-part space featuring the main bar and dining area beyond, with a side lounge and another quieter room at first-floor level. Six handpumps on the small bar counter, with a decent choice including the 'house' Volden VIM (£3.50). Slightly hidden away through a covered alleyway leading to a courtyard behind the Broadway, and most of the old signage actually refers to the Catford Conservative Club (which is probably not a great selling point in this part of south London). Possibly given a slightly 'distressed' makeover (although that might have been the state they found it in), but well worth seeking out.

Being an Antic pub there was a good selection of ales on, with Adnam's Lighthouse, Darkstar Partridge (£3.60 a pint), Deuchars IPA, Oakham Bishop's Farewell, and Sambrook's Powerhouse Porter, as well as Weston's Family Reserve Cider all available. Single sheet menus offered main courses from £8 to £16.50, and I ordered the burger and chips, etc, for £10.50. The barmaid helpfully asked if I wanted it served the standard "pink", or if I wanted it a bit more well done, and what condiments I wanted with it (English mustard obviously). It all came served on a standard plate - no blocks of wood or tin buckets for the chips here. This pub is obviously housed in an old club building, it's tucked away down an alleyway and is much larger than it looks from the outside. There's a hallway as you enter, with bagatelle and other strange games on the wall as decorative features I guess. There's a room on the right, that appeared to be occupied by a family party when I was in on Saturday afternoon. The main business is done in the very large room - a hall in fact - on the left. The front of this room is the bar area, furnished with the usual Antic mixed bag of furnishings, and with a very nice herringbone parquet floor. There is what looks like original coving on the ceiling in part of the bar area, indicating that it was probably a completely separate room in the past. The back end of the room is the dining area, with a "wait to be seated" at the entrance. It was fairly quiet on Saturday afternoon (apart from the ongoing party in the other room) and getting a seat was no problem. There was some bunting stretched across the room, I suppose in an attempt to generate some sort of party atmosphere, but there was very little natural light, and I found it very gloomy in here. The usual sort of Antic decor is on the walls - the framed Private Eye covers are still there on one of the walls, and on another wall I spotted a Durham Miners Association poster, featuring pictures of Vladimir Lenin and Keir Hardie. This is a typical Antic conversion, with evidently little or no conversion costs being incurred, and with no pretensions to luxury. But five ales on, at reasonable prices, is good going. But although I find most of these Antic conversions quite interesting, they do seem to concentrate on functionality over comfort.

In November 2013, the Antic chain closed down their existing Catford pub (The Catford Bridge Tavern) and almost immediately opened this place, located in a former Conservative Club that had apparently been empty for 15-20 years. Handy for Catford and Catford Bridge stations, the pub can be found down a small alleyway from the main road. Arriving in the dark, I initially found it a little tricky working out which door led into the pub, but thankfully I selected the correct option and found myself in a lobby with a large staircase to the rear and a cosy looking lounge through a door to the right. Unfortunately this room was being used for a pub quiz and non-quizzers were not allowed in, so I didn't get a chance to snoop around. Instead I went through a door to the left, again not very apparent that it was the right way to go, but as it turned out, it led into the main bar. This comprises a large room with the servery on the back wall, original parquet flooring and a mix of battered sofas, flimsy broken banquettes and reclaimed chairs all serving a number of tables of differing styles and sizes. The room was remarkably cold, so I ended up sitting around in my jacket and scarf. There is an open kitchen next to the bar and a slightly more formal seating area over on the far side of the room under a large skylight. The room has been decorated with pictures of Churchill and The Queen and framed copies of Private Eye, which are worth having a closer look at. Various bits of retro furniture such as old sideboards, dressers etc... are randomly dotted around the place and books are piled up in the window sills whilst all of the windows were behind closed shutters, so I'm not sure they get any natural light. There is some nice cornicing around the room and the entire ceiling is covered in a remarkable amount of bunting. The stairs lead up to the toilets and a trip up them felt like I was walking through a condemned building, as they were so rickety that I expected to plunge through them at any minute. The pub apparently always serves Adnams Lighthouse, Caledonian Deuchars IPA and Brains SA, and all three of these were available on this visit alongside a guest of Clarence and Frederick Smoked Red and one real cider. The barmaid was very friendly and suggested that I try the Smoked Red before committing to a pint of it, as it is a 'bit of an acquired taste'. I like the fact that Antic have brought this interesting building back into the public domain, but I couldn't help think that perhaps they could have done a bit more to make it feel comfortable and the sort of place you'd want to spend more time. A petition was being passed around to 'save the pub', so I wonder if there are problems afoot which have put Antic off investing more into the place, but for me it was worth a visit to see, but not somewhere I'd be keen to return to.

Official site of Catford Constitutional Club - catfordconstitutionalclub.com

Official site of Catford Constitutional Club - catfordconstitutionalclub.com