The Plough, East Dulwich, SE22

Saturday afternoon visit on the way to Dulwich Hamlet to a pub that I haven’t visited for a very long time, it looks very different internally aswell. The Plough is a large pub in a prominent junction position, it has a huge frontage with benches & umbrella’s outside to keep now doubt keep the beating sun away from the sun seekers that gather here with their drinks. On the bar are 6 hand pumps that on my visit had 4 ales on, 2 national brands & 2 a bit more local. The 2 pints of By The Horns Hop Air Balloon @ 4.2% were very good and enjoyed while sitting out the front under previously mentioned umbrella’s! Food is served here and was proving popular inside, where it was quite busy with young families & 30 something couples. Service was slightly slow but the bar staff were polite, it did seem that food was served before beer so I think that’s where their emphasis is, like a lot of “pubs” in East Dulwich nowadays. Definitely worth a stop, the beer was good, the location is perfect and very easy for buses as there’s a large terminus to the side of the pub. I shall return again on my way to the Hamlet

The Plough is a large pub that is situated close to a busy road junction. Once inside there was a large oblong shaped room with the bar to the left,the left side of the pub was out of use as it was being used for a kids party. The seating in the right side was a mix of Settees,normal tables and chairs and some bench seating,the floor was bare boarded but painted black. There wee 6 pumps on the bar,but only 3 in use,i had a drink of London Pride which was a decent enough drink,the other beers were Purity Saddle Back and Doom Bar. The pub was very busy probably because half of it was out of bounds,there was a good mix of customers in on my Saturday afternoon visit. Pub visited 25/1/2013

This pub has evidently been given one of those so-called upmarket makeovers. The outside is still painted some dark blue/grey/green colour. The main bar area at the front has its walls and ceiling painted a very dark grey/black colour. The seating stretches around the back of the bar to the right where the decor is much lighter, leading to a conservatory area which in turn leads out to a garden. Furnishings are all the sort of upmarket stuff one would expect – mainly sofas and armchairs, but with some normal tables and chairs. Flooring is dark varnished boards, but with the odd rug. But it did have six handpumps on the bar counter – with London Pride, TT Landlord, Spitfire, and Harvey’s Best on. The Wandle had just finished, and the sixth pump was unclipped. I had the Landlord, which was OK, but at the upmarket price of £3.30 a pint. I didn’t recognise the pubco operating this pub, but it had exactly the same menu as the Crown & Greyhound that I had visited earlier (so not exactly basic pub grub then), except that the Plough seemed to be offering the Sunday roast for £8.50 and not £9.50 like the C&G. One thing I quite liked was the bound drinks menu on all of the tables, although of course this is hardly indicative of the sort of basic pubs that I tend to go for. But the Plough is a clean and well looked after pub, and although it is nothing like the basic boozer it undoubtedly was in years past, it is comfortable enough and does do a reasonable selection of ales. The array of assorted clips behind the bar is evidence of regularly changing guest ales. I doubt whether I would go out of my way to visit again, but I wouldn’t be averse to dropping in for another pint if I was passing.

Facebook group for the Plough - www.facebook.com

Official site of the Plough, includes menus and drinks list - www.theploughdulwich.co.uk