Pubs Galore - the UK pub guide

Another first for an E3 pub, into this former Truman's house dating from 1935. At first glance it would be easy to assume that it was built by their inhouse architect, A. E. Sewell in the so-called 'improved' style, but this would be a basic schoolboy error, as it was in fact designed by Eedle & Myers, architects of the legendary Angel, which gives its name to a part of Islington and a square on the UK Monopoly board. I won't go into any real detail about the place as it's well documented below and on CAMRA's Pub Heritage website, suffice to say that unsurprisingly nothing has changed and the couple who have run it since the 1970s are presumably still here. Arriving with around 40 minutes to go before the 'new normal' last orders and what a shock compared to The Lord Tredegar over the road, not because of the obvious differences in architectural style but because of the customers: the Lord Tredegar was pretty much as full as the law allows with diners aplenty. Here, just one old boy who has probably been a regular all his life, chatting away to the staff behind the bar. Entry required very little in the way of track and trace, just a notebook for names and numbers and a bottle of denatured alcohol to be splashed sloppily onto the hands without any little pump. As mentioned, the lighting in here is rather different (or traditional?) as there's little lighting beyond a deathly orange glow. Music flowed gently but was contemporary where one would have expected Glenn Miller or The Andrews Sisters wafting over the windup gramophone. The floor is carpeted but I doubt it is original though. The lavs were ok, but what was a little alarming is that there's no gent's cubicle. There was one solitary ale, Mighty Oak's Maldon Gold which was very good but at an absolutely excruciating £5.00, which is more than a substantially stronger pint at the Tredegar with its far more affluent client base. It also had to be paid for in cash which I had brought along specially, having been forewarned, though it didn't go into the cash register of yesteryear. I'm glad I saw this place in all its original glory, but I doubt the interior will survive in its current state once the current landlord/lady move on, so best see it while you have the chance.

This is a traditional two bar pub in the heart of Camberwell, with a nicely preserved interior. The front bar is a simple public bar-style space with plain floorboards and dark red half panelled walls. A nice curved bar counter stands in the rear right corner with a tongue and groove counter front, some imposing pillars with decorative capitals and a nice etched glass bar back with what appeared to be an integral office space through a centrally positioned doorway. High tables and stools run beneath the front windows with a row of regular tables and chairs directly opposite the bar and down the left-hand wall, which was almost entirely obscured by a huge pull-down screen showing live football – a series of shelves displaying ceramics, old radios and other such items of bric-a-brac remained hidden behind. The rear wall is a pleasant glazed screen with etched glasswork and a collection of whisky boxes lined up along it. However, the room’s stand-out feature has to be the mightily impressive tile painting on the right-hand wall, depicting the coat of arms of the Joiners’ and Ceilers’ Company. Amazingly, the pub’s dartboard used to be hung on this wall, so there are a few chips in the tiles, but they remain no less impressive a sight for it. Passing through a mosaic tile floored passageway, you reach the rear bar which is perhaps slightly larger than the front room and has ample seating throughout, mostly tables and chairs with a few cheap looking canteen style benches of the sort you find in modern day brewery taprooms. The room is painted in darker shades and seemingly receives a lot less natural light but didn’t feel especially gloomy as a result. Other items of note around the room included a retro arcade machine, an upright piano and another TV screen, hung above the servery on the front wall of the room, with a pull-down screen to the left. There were two handpulls in use when I arrived, dispensing Sharps Doom Bar and Brockley IPA. I ordered a pint of the latter from the friendly, but almost impossible to hear through her mask, barmaid. Sadly, the beer was pretty ropey and made a disappointing final pint on my mini-crawl around Camberwell. This pub didn’t really deliver on the beer front and had a much more subdued atmosphere than the other pubs I visited nearby but was still worth a look to check out the tile paintings, etched glasswork and publican’s office – features that are increasingly difficult to find as more and more pubs close across the capital.

This is a good-sized Antic pub – one of two in Camberwell – with a decent location opposite Camberwell Green. You enter into a large open-plan room with fine varnished dark wood flooring, large windows down two sides with heavy drapes and some funky wallpaper to the rear and left-hand side. The room’s spacious dimensions have allowed for copious amounts of seating to be arranged in several rows through the centre and along much of the perimeter, with standard tables and chairs mixing with low stools, some high tables and stools to the front and a couple of drinking ledges either side of the front door. The servery occupies much of the rear wall and has a tatty old wood panelled counter front with nice brass hand and foot rails and a grand mirrored bar back with a window through to the kitchen to one side. This part of the pub notably lacks any of the quirkier décor and furnishings that the Antic chain is generally known for, but there is a cosier side room to the left of the bar which has a few unusual items dotted around the wall in a lounge-like space with a good deal of extra seating across a split-level space that seemed much more peaceful that the busier, chaotic main bar area. TV screens in the main bar area were showing a live football fixture with the commentary on, which added to the general noise level. There were just the two cask ales available on this visit, perhaps because of a drop in demand during the week although the pub was pretty busy on my Thursday evening visit. The options on this occasion were Volden Session and Butcombe Original, and the former was in great shape, served to me by a friendly member of the waiting team. I quite liked this place thanks to its buzzy atmosphere and seeming lack of pretensions – something that can’t be said of all Antic pubs. The focus on just two ales may put some off, but the quality was very good so there were no complaints from me. This pub felt like an important part of the local community and I would be more than happy calling in here again the next time I’m passing through.