Arks, Deptford, SE8

Official site of Arks - arks.london

Official site of Arks - arks.london

Facebook page of Arks - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of Arks - www.facebook.com

Originally the Centurion and dating from the mid-18th century but rebuilt in the 19th, the current puzzling name dating from a rebrand of November 2019. This is now a style bar with glass doors, modern boarded floor, black walls and ceiling, the latter featuring ugly exposed suspended ceiling paraphernalia, oddly with a depiction of Henry VIII at centre. Furniture is modern, with bucket vinyl upholstered tubular steel chairs and décor in the form of a few potted palms, a modern bar back with bar front seemingly clad in repurposed railway sleepers, an open kitchen serving tacos and hot dogs, all lit by dangling filament bulbs to a Rotterdam Techno soundtrack; with two scantily clad men writhing about in a passionate embrace, I initially thought the TV was tuned to a gay porn channel, but it turned out to be kick-boxing courtesy of TNT; customers were young and just two in number on a Saturday night. As stated, there’s a beer wall with a general mix including Stella and the like, a pint of Neck Oil costing £6.50, served by a friendly and enthusiastic barman. With a predictable modern identikit interior, almost no customers, wrestling and no cask comes no return; the Birds Nest is just down the road and the Royal George and Dog & Bell are close at hand.

A bit of everything here: café, bakery, cocktail and craft beer bar, workspace... All very modern, but still obviously once a traditional corner pub. No real ale, unfortunately, so I went for the Brockley Session IPA (£5.80, ouch!) as the most local option from the eight keg taps on the bar-back.