Royal George, Deptford, SE8

This is a Sam Smith's pub, and unfortunately doesn't serve any real ale, but a half of Dark Mild was only 95p, which is cheap by any standards. I saw no sign of any food on Wednesday lunchtime. The pub consists of three separate areas, all with doors to the street, therefore most certainly and clearly show the original layout of the pub. All three are connected - or perhaps separated - by what looks to be a couple of bits of inter-war screening, one retaining its door in the low doorway, and other having lost its one. With a Sam Smith's pub it's not always easy to tell what is genuinely old from what is introduced by one of their excellent refittings, but here I think they are genuinely old. The bar counter is also genuinely old. The area on the right is clearly the public bar as it has lino, or something similar, flooring, and has the dartboard in it. The middle room on the corner is very small, containing just a single table and chairs and is carpeted, and on the left is the larger, and also carpeted saloon bar which also had a real wood fire alight. The old jug and bottle bar was once between the corner and saloon bars This remains a real old-fashioned locals' backstreet pub. I reckon it's a real winner, but would be so much better with a decent real ale available, but there's little prospect of that while it remains a Sam Smith pub.

Randomness Guide to London - Royal George entry

Randomness Guide to London - Royal George entry

I wasn't expecting to find a Sam Smith's pub here after walking through the estates from New Cross and I have to say that it was a welcome surprise. The barman was very friendly and was getting involved with conversation with the locals which is rare for chain pubs in London. The other clientele was a mix of local residents and Sam Smith fans who had made the trek to have a pint in a relaxed no frills atmosphere. The pub itself is very basic and I think can be best described as looking like an early 1960s terraced house living room. There are three areas around the bar that are barely partitioned off from each other with some old screens and one of these areas houses a dartboard. There is a poster up on the wall that was advertising a meat raffle every Sunday and a darts knockout every Tuesday. There is also a list of sandwiches that are available, which is as far as this pub goes on the food front. I love all of this wallowing in the past when pubs used to be boozers and I have to say that this is one of my favourite SS pubs, even though there is no OBB on hand pump.

3 Room traditional corner local, selling Sam Smiths beer, very nice wood panelling