The Actress, East Dulwich, SE22

Official site of The Actress - www.theactresseastdulwich.com

Official site of The Actress - www.theactresseastdulwich.com

One of several backstreet pubs in this part of Dulwich, this is an open plan street corner pub that has been given a modern makeover to appeal to the local community. There are two entrance porches, which suggest this was once a more conventional two-bar backstreet boozer, but any partitioning has long since been removed, creating two sizeable seating areas either side of a centrally positioned U-shape servery. The pub has light coloured floorboards throughout with half panelled walls and pastel shaded uppers with a few sections of rough exposed brickwork here and there and a small kitchen area to the rear left, turning out what looked like quite decent Italian food. Banquette seating follows much of the room’s perimeter, with standard tables and chairs and the occasional high table with bar stools thrown into the mix, whilst the banquette has been formed into booths in a small space tucked away behind the servery in what might be the pub’s only truly cosy spot. The bar has a grey painted tongue and groove counter with some much-modified metal-frame shelving units along the bar back that rob the room of much of its potential character. Some large, brightly coloured posters for continental brands such as Campari have been used to decorate the walls near the bar, but much of the pub suffers from an excess of bare wall space or else has been broken up by uninteresting items such as plain mirrors or shelves holding bulk-bought identical bottles. A large Tv screen was showing a muted football match with an ambient soundtrack playing harmlessly in the background. The staff were very thorough in their application of the online track and trace process, checking my phone carefully to make sure my details had all gone through correctly, but didn’t seem to have quite such a firm grasp on their beer selection, informing me that they had no cask ale on, despite me noticing a clipped pump after I’d already ordered a pint of Camden Pale Ale on keg. The resultant pint was, as you might expect, both unpleasantly cold and upsettingly expensive. This seems like a decent enough pub that is perhaps a little too over-modernised, making it feel a bit stilted and devoid of character in places. The perceived lack of any ale didn’t help things either, but there was a decent crowd in, including a few old boys enjoying a couple of jars, who didn’t seem perturbed by the makeover and helped generate a bit of atmosphere. Not the worst pub of this style I’ve seen, but it wouldn’t be all that high on my list of pubs to revisit the next time I’m in Dulwich.

Another large corner pub, modernised inside,the decor was light and bright,Pizza was the main thrust of menu and there was an open kitchen complete with pizza oven to one side of the pub, families with children are welcomed but restricted to the slightly more foody half of the pub,leaving the rest to the drinkers. Very busy on a sunny saturday afternoon the atmosphere was vibrant.The cask ales on were nothing to write home about, Greene King IPA and Southwark Bermondsey Best but there was a decent selection of craft keg options, my Beavertown Neck Oil was perfect on a very warm afternoon.Another pub that did it for me on the day.

The four ales on in here were Triple fff Moondance, GK IPA, Truman's Swift, and London Beer Factory Chelsea Blond (£2 a half). Menus were attached to clipboards on the tables - "Flat iron steak, fries, watercress & chimmucurri" (?) is £16, and the "roasted cod, romescu (?) and parmigiano" is £13. There was plenty of stuff on the menus I looked at today that I didn't recognise as food I knew. Perhaps I should eat out more, but it probably wouldn't help as I tend to avoid food that I've never heard of. The pub itself has been extremely gastrofied. Indigo is seen all over the place; there are too many tall tables, tall stools and tall benches around the sides; there are plastic covered banquettes; and some norml tables with brightly coloured chairs. A sign on the door says that children are welcome on the left hand side of the room, which is where all the tables are laid for diners. There's no decor to speak of, except an enormous mural of a woman's face on the back wall (who looks a bit like Lily Allen). Who would want someone who looks like Lily Allen pouting down at them while they're trying to enjoy a quiet pint? To be honest I found little of interest in here, except the LBF Chelsea Blond, which was in excellent condition.

The Actress is a corner pub that has now got the battleship grey look on the outside. Once inside there was a large L shaped room with the bar facing,there was a tall leather bench seat facing the bar which was comfortable enough but the stools opposite were far too low for the tables,there was normal bench seating and chairs to the far right and rear left which looked more comfortable. There were three real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Trumans Runner which was a decent drink,the other beers were Weasle bitter and GK St Edmunds. The pub was very busy and noisy on my Saturday afternoon visit. Pub visited 25/1/2014