The Duke, Deptford, SE8

This place dates back to the mid-19th century, but is now in a far from Victorian area, one now dominated by high-rise glass ‘apartment blocks’ and is also nestled in the shadow of a substantial campus and student accommodation block for the University of Greenwich. Seemingly unchanged since the previous review, the interior is what I’d call ‘restrained trendy’, with a boarded floor, plum walls and white ceiling, open kitchen with pizza oven, a bar back with shiny ceramic tiles and massive industrial lamps over it, a Space Invaders machine, mismatched furniture and a pool table dominating the frontal area. There were a few residential types in on my mid-Friday evening visit, but the rest of the customers were overwhelmingly studenty types which came as no surprise, the overall ambience was relaxed but would be improved if the pool table were moved to the rear. The ale selection amounted to a reversed clip, Wadworth XXXXXX and Horizon at £2.40 a half and as ho-hum as it’s ever going to be. This isn’t a bad place, but it can’t displace the Dog & Bell up the road.

The ales on here were Adnam's Ghost Ship, Ringwood Razorback, and By the Horns Stiff Upper Lip (£4 a pint). The first pint of SUL came up cloudy, but when we pointed this out the barmaid assured us that there was a note on the cask that said it might be hazy. Hmmm - we were unconvinced as we had had BTH beers before. The second pint was less cloudy - very hazy perhaps - with the third drink up, a half, being only slightly hazy. When we pointed out that unlike the pints, the half was only slightly hazy, the barmaid said that was probably because the glass of the pint glasses made it look different. That's a new one on me. By this time she realised we weren't happy with the beer condition and invited the pint drinkers to try them with the implied condition that if they were dissatisfied they could be changed. But they judged them drinkable and that was an end of the matter. But most pubs would have changed them without debating the issue. The food seemed straightforward enough. The "cheeseburger and rosemary salt fries" is £11, and I also spotted "beer battered fish goujons, pea puree and tartare sauce" at £7. This seemed to me to be pub grub dressed up in fancy names. The pub's bare-boarded, the furnishings are scrubbed dining room tables with normal chairs, plus a sofa or two. We saw a roof terrace advertised, but didn't explore it. There was a lot of black paint around, with black painted bar counter, pillars, and wall behind the counter. One interesting, and most unusual, bit of kit was the retro (70s?) Space Invaders machine. The music being played, at low volume, was also very retro being from the 50s and 60s. There are books on a shelves in front of the windows, presumably for patrons' use. Despite the beer issue (which I generously presume and hope might be an isolated incident) I found this pub to be different enough to be interesting. It's nothing like the traditional sort of pub that I like most, but it's certainly worth a visit if you're nearby. It was fairly quiet on Wednesday lunchtime, but maybe it's busier in the evenings.