The Bear, Camberwell, SE5

I was walking past here when I was looking for something to eat, so gave it a go. It’s obviously been given the gastropub treatment, but still undeterred, even by the absence of any pump clips in view, I went up to the counter to ask about ale. There were a couple of silver or chrome coloured (never a good sign in my experience) handpumps, which I now spotted had little chalkboards next to them announcing that they dispensed two London Fields ales - Love Not War and Hackney Hopster. The barmaid told me that the Love Not War was conceived during last year’s riots, with staff trapped in the brewery having nothing better to do than produce a new ale. It sounds a bit far-fetched to me, but I wasn’t there, and it makes a great story. It makes a great ale as well, being my beer of the week, and at £3 a pint is very cheap by London gastropub prices. They do food from 6.0 PM on weekdays. There’s nothing remotely like pub grub – I went for the “ham hock and parsley terrine with celeriac remoulade”, at £6 a pop, which is obviously one of everybody’s pub favourites. Table service was provided, and the menu helpfully pointed out that a voluntary 10% service charge would be added to bills. The pub itself is an old traditional affair with a typical brown tiled exterior, even though it’s been given a thorough makeover. The main “front” room is the larger of the two and is furnished with normal tables and chairs, the dominant feature here being the large stuffed bear on the bar counter. But perhaps, and hopefully, it was a model – it was a bit too dimly lit to be sure. I spent my visit in the room at the back, which is possibly intended as the dining area as the unnecessarily loud piped music wasn’t being inflicted on the handful of us in this room. The Ladies and Gents led off the back room, the doors for which had what looked like original leaded light signage that had thankfully been retained. There’s also a separate bar counter in the back room that’s not much bigger than a serving hatch, but now unused. This isn’t the sort of pub to which I would normally gravitate, but the presence of two London Fields Brewery ales, at reasonable prices judging by the one pint I sampled, sets it well apart from the gastropub herd. If they keep that beer on then I would be happy to pay a return visit.

Now called The Bear