Pubs Galore - the UK pub guide

A walk underneath the railway lines from the tap rooms on Almond Road will bring you to the other side of the tracks and the larger railway arch occupied by the Partizan Brewery and Tap room. Started in 2012 by a home brewer from Leeds and a brewer who jumped ship from Redemption in Tottenham, with second hand kit passed on from the Kernal Brewery, this is another of the Bermondsey railway arch craft brewers who seem to be doing alright for themselves.
Technically on Raymouth Road their tap room has a decent external space with plenty of bench tables (and obligatory street food van) that you have to walk through to enter the arch. Here there is further inside seating before you get to the bar and then beyond is the brewing kit occupying the end of the arch. Seven of their beers were available on tap with a different mix of styles most at £3.50 for 2/3rds or £5.50 a pint. I tried their porter and X-Ale collaboration with Redemption and both were decent craft offerings.
I enjoyed this tap room as it was more spacious than others visited on the day, had decent toilets (important) an absolutely banging Jazz Funk soundtrack being played at a reasonable volume and a very passable craft porter.
Opening hours for this one are 5pm to 11pm on a Friday and 11am to 8pm every Saturday.

This is now an off sales called Curious Liquids, which is attached to Phillies of Shawlands, a new bar at 1179 Pollokshaws Road. Apparently you have to enter Phillies by the off sales Curious Liquids at 28-30 Kilmarnock Road.

Only my second visit since my first in August 2015 and I’m not sure if the pub has perhaps had a lick of paint internally; certainly the fascia has been repainted recently in a more traditional and attractive style giving the foundation date of 1869 when in fact it was founded in 1836 but was probably rebuilt in the 1930s in this attractive narrow street, where dinky houses are priced at around £2.75m. Gone too is the bullseye glass from the windows.
Internally it may have been painted white in a very dated style with white textured papered and woodchip walls, some wood panelling and a dado shelf from which hang floral plates, whilst atop it are old glass and earthenware bottles. Furniture comprises studded chocolate brown vinyl banquettes to the perimeter, some low Britannia tables and small, upholstered traditional stools. The right-hand room also has a couple of tall tables and chairs to the window which looks out over limited pavement seating; the floor is part modern bare boarded and part carpeted and above the bar is a pot shelf with attractive wrought iron detailing. Over by a fireplace is a selection of board games. Music played, but at such a muted level that it was nearly drowned out by the conversation coming from the other six customers.
Clients seem to be pleasantly mixed and according to the photo on the website, includes local resident Jeremy Paxman. The barmaid was efficient rather than friendly on this quiet evening, presiding over Uxbridge Arms Pale Ale, Gloom, Pride and Landlord at £2.30 a half and in decent nick; it was also relatively cheap for the area.
Certainly, the Uxbridge Arms has a slightly ‘villagey’ feeling and if not, then certainly that of a backstreet boozer, but it is perhaps a little dated with an unremarkable ale choice, so I doubt I’ll be making repeat visits, but I wish it well.

Called in again yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon and found it much busier than on my previous visit so I had no choice other than to prop up the bar. The young barman seemed particularly disinterested when serving me and rudely (in my opinion) dropped my change into my hand.

I still like the pub and its beer selection is very impressive, but the service was much better on my first visit.

My Blackheath Stout by Fixed Wheel was rather nice and set me back £2.10 or so for a half. They also had a black IPA by Sadlers (if I am remembering correctly) so was good to see a couple of dark beers available.

We were lucky on our Friday afternoon visit as the place wasn't that busy, compared to Spoons around the corner. There was a group of guys stood around the front of the bar area, blocking access, but they were polite enough to let us through. After all the effort, it turned out that the display of handpumps were positioned at the end of the bar, on the entrance side.
A quick perusal at the beer board, so we settled on the Weird Beard Little things that Kill and Weird Beard Bat Out of Hell, both of which were excellent. This pub also serves food, along the lines of burgers and chicken wings etc, similar to all their other outlets. I also spotted the large industrial beer tanks and a sign near the door read, Big 4 tank opened 4 days ago, fresh and unpasteurised from the Czech Republic Tankovna, which must be their popular in house lager.