The Shipwrights Arms, London Bridge, SE1

Slightly scruffy pub with central bar taking up a lot of space means it gets very busy being close to London Bridge & the Shard and with only standard beers available not really worth a special effort.

Lovely looking pub from outside but less impressive inside.Very busy.Three common beers Duechars, Doombar and Flying Scotsman.

It has taken me five years, but as promised I have returned to the Shipwrights Arms at a quieter time (Monday afternoon) so that I could have a proper look around. Unsurprisingly the décor has changed little since my last visit as this is still a high ceilinged single room with a central bar. There is a nautical theme throughout with some interesting tiling that has been mentioned by previous reviewers. At the rear is a jukebox that was providing some background music for the ten or so other punters present. I noted a rolled up projector screen, but there were no advertisements for any live sporting events. The bar is stocked with standard draught and there are three hand pumps on the front of the bar and another two at the rear. These were drawing Deuchars, Doom Bar, Caledonian’s Flying Scotsman, Bombardier and Adnams Southwold. Food is available from midday until 15:00 and 17:00 until 21:00 during the week and from midday until 16:00 at the weekends. My visit was whilst the kitchen was closed so I didn’t see any menus, but the roast dinners on the specials board were all priced at £10, which is reasonable for the area. Thankfully the service was much friendlier and attentive during this visit so I have increased my rating from a 5 to a 7 accordingly. 14th April 2009 This is a single room high ceilinged pub with a central bar that offers Deuchars, Adnams and Spitfire alongside a premium and standard draught selection. I found the staff to be extremely slow and more concerned with cleaning glasses than serving, which I wouldn’t have minded if they had run out of clean ones but there were plenty. I will revisit this place at a quieter time so that I can have a better look around.

With a striking dark blue painted exterior, this is a high-ceilinged corner pub with a traditional Victorian edifice. The central island bar was serving up three ales, Black Sheep and two from Caledonian, making me wonder if this is an old S&N pub. My half of Deuchars IPA was middling. Other reviews suggested more ales were to be had but I failed to spot them unless they were round the far side and out of sight. The slightly shabby interior has a number of maritime stylings and bric-a-brac. Perhaps the most notable feature is off to the left, where a pretty tiled depiction of the Pool of London is sited on the wall. Assuming it was just the three ales on, then there isn’t a vast amount to mark this out as anything other quick visit material to admire the tiling and bric-a-brac.