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Chat about:
Beer of the Week (w/e 15th March 2026) with trainman
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Birds Nest, Deptford, SE8
SE8
SE8 4RZ
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
David Walton left this review about The Birds Nest
Visited 08/01/25. Visited for ticking on 02/09/19, but regular here over the years since.
No cask. Interesting keg range of Stella, Lucky Saint, Orchard Pig Reveller cider, the Pub Stout, the Big Top IPA, the Turntable Session IPA, the Hi-Fi Lager and the Ladywell Pale all from the Firkin Brewery, Stowford Press cider, Amstel.
This is a pretty rough and ready pub, well known for its live music. Bar counter just inside the front door and the immediate area was bare boarded with regular tables and chairs and some
ledges around the pillars. The middle area had a stage with some regular tables and chairs and some excellent live music on during my visit. The area beyond that had a pool table that was much in demand.
A return later in the year on 26/11/25 revealed the venue had been smartened up considerably after a lengthy closure after my visit at the start of the year. The inside configuration changed quite a bit, but live music still a big feature of the venue and an excellent, but non-cask, beer range persists.
On 18th February 2026
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1340 recommendations about 1323 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Birds Nest
Dating from the early 19th century, this was originally the Oxford Arms, situated on a noisy roundabout, five minutes’ walk from Deptford Bridge DLR.
As CAMRA says, this is really something of a bohemian place with a ‘bought at a junkshop’ feel about it but not in a bad way. This is very much an established live music venue with a band on the go on my 10.00pm Saturday arrival (it’s open ‘til 1.00am) playing what I initially mistook for Northampton’s prog rock take on Focus’ House of the King until I realised they were tuning up, though the final result was very good; I wished I could have stayed. Customers were mixed, with many older rocker-types, some studenty-sorts or backpackers from above, many popping out to get some of the appetizing-smelling street food from stalls which seem to enjoy a symbiotic relationship with the pub and Snake Pit next door.
Sadly it’s only keg now, a half of Brixton Low Voltage costing a very reasonable £2.90 a half, served by a dude of a barman.
Despite the lack of cask and dispiriting location, this place certainly makes for something different (especially when paired with the Snake Pit) and if I lived locally would return, making for a good triple with the Royal George and Dog & Bell; a decent cask selection would get the score up.
On 29th July 2023
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2307 recommendations about 2251 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Birds Nest
Usually when one visits an unreviewed pub it's because it doesn't sell real ale or is for some reason a sub 5-star pub, but this one bucked the trend. There were three ales on - Deuchars IPA, Adnams Ghost Ship, and Truman's Firestarter (£1.85 a half). I didn't see any sign of food when we visited on Wednesday afternoon.
This was originally a Victorian pub called the Oxford Arms, but the landlord told us that there had been a pub on this site for hundreds of years. A green-banded window in the now disused corner door proclaims it to be an ex-Charrinton's pub. It's now a dark and Gothic music pub. Decor includes skulls and crossbones, a large scythe on the wall thankfully minus the grim reaper, and wooden Gothic designs on the bar counter front. The front area of the pub is what you might regard as the bar area, with basic and grubby tables and chairs, and with a dark and gloomy room at the back being the music area. It's incredibly tatty with paintwork missing all over the place, masses of wires everywhere, and oddly photocopies of photos hanging by pegs from a wire strung across the front of the window.
Everything here is incredibly and charmingly tasteless. Everything is tatty with the notable exception of the very friendly and welcoming barmaid. One of my companions considered it to be a nest of anarchists rather than a nest of birds, but that's perhaps going a bit far. Very strangely I quite liked it in here. Perhaps drinking my beer of the day, the Firestarter, in here boosted my appreciation somewhat, and clearly the presence of the very friendly barmaid was also a massive plus.
On 29th September 2016
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2617 recommendations about 2531 pubs]