The Alexandra, Penge, SE20

This is a heavily modernised and gentrified back street boozer, not too far from Penge East station and a short detour from the High Street. You enter to a small, bare boarded ‘landing’ area with a few high tables and stools to the left under some striking modern art prints and dark painted walls. There’s also a dartboard here, positioned weirdly so as to make it unplayable, and a collection of irregularly framed mirrors. The main bar area is up a few steps to the right and has a reasonable sized seating area opposite full of standard tables and chairs and some long, low-backed banquettes which skirt along the front wall beneath some large windows. The bar has a counter that looks pretty clapped out despite its fancy top, and a well-stocked bar back. Fresh flowers in a vase at the end of the bar also help distract the eye from the fact that the bar counter looks like it’s gone ten rounds with a wrecking ball. A beam around the canopy holds a large collection of small plastic moulded toy figurines, for no obvious reason other than they are quite eye-catching. A door to the left of the bar leads through to a rear dining room which is nicely set up with laid tables under bare brick walls, with a large open kitchen to the rear. Some fairly featureless music played quietly in the background and there were only two or three other customers in on a mid-week late evening visit. There are three handpulls on the bar, but with two of these left unclipped, I was left with the lone option of Adnams Ghost Ship, which was poured by a very polite barmaid and was in acceptable condition. The keg selection was marginally more interesting, offering beers from the likes of Camden and Adnams again. This seems like a functional enough pub that I’m sure serves its locals well but is unlikely to make all that much of an impression on the casual visitor. The beer, décor and ambiance were all very so-so and it was only really the pleasant service that stood out. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from visiting – there are far worse pubs nearby after all – but there’s very little to make the place stand out and a quick pint will probably more than suffice.