The Man Of Kent, Nunhead, SE15

A large boarded single room with an island bar, squint ended at the rear, and evidence of the once multi-room layout. Some decent wood panelling remains, as do the original Truman's leaded banded windows, a high shelf over what would once be a partition has a row of porcelain Bell's whisky well bells really, plus one of those Spanish wine pouring containers usually put to use in drinking challenges in Benidorm. There is an exposed brick fireplace at the rear with a plain mirror and chiming clock above, otherwise not much catches the eye apart from a painting of the pub. One corner at the front is completely devoid of any features at all as if it is unused. Window cills are lined with a range of rather tatty looking books and there are a pair of brass bedpans on a couple of pillars. Three handpumps but only Bombardier Gold on, £1.90 a half, most were on the Fosters, one chap to my amusement ordered a Fosters and a brandy as a chaser. Horse racing on TV, the Sporting Life is the paper of choice in here. I don't think they serve food, could be wrong but one punter was scoffing a takeaway pizza from a box. I can't see myself returning here.

There were three handpumps on the bar counter, one with the Courage Best clip reversed, and the other two apparently unused. I didn’t see any sign of any food, or a menu, during my midweek lunchtime visit. This pub is included in the CAMRA publication “Inside Story”, featuring those pubs with interiors worthy of preservation. Some of its inter-war fittings remain, notably the leaded light windows. But this was hardly the golden age of pub interior decoration. The floors are bare boarded, with what look like some pretty ancient floorboards; furnishings are some simple but functional tables and chairs, and the main item of decoration which you can hardly avoid is a large blue and white flag for Athenley FC (?). I saw some sports trophies in a case, and of course there are the inevitable fruit machines, and that pretty well sums up the interior. This is a bog standard pub with no real ale, at least on my visit, and I doubt whether I shall make a return visit.