The Libertine, Borough, SE1

A decent sized corner pub, a tad gloomy inside with its fair share of dark wood and dark green walls. As mentioned below there is a dart board in one corner,oddly flanked on the wall beside it with a Hieronymus Bosch Garden Of Earthly Delights triptych. On the bar three handpumps with a choice of two, Oakham Citra and Brick Peckham Pale,mostly normal keg stuff with a sprinkling of mainstream craft. All in all an ok pub.

Typical London street corner local, high ceilings, tables and chairs around the windows. Theres what seems to be a popular darts area. Nice inside, smart, house plants in placesm real ale

This was founded in 1825 as the Skinner’s Arms and rebuilt for Whitbread in 1896. I hadn’t added this pub to my to-do list, because it doesn’t retain the original pub name; if I hadn’t glanced it down a side street, I’d have missed it and certainly during daytime without lights to guide the way; this only goes to show the perils of pubs adopting stupid, non-pub related names. The scuffed floor is still there from the previous review and the raised darts area, which aren’t the pub’s finest hour. However, the pleasing sea green colour scheme is on show, with dark wood wainscotting to the dado, lighting being Victorian style. Furniture is conventional, with décor in the form of framed prints and large potted palms; it’s really rather nice, especially when paired with decent tunes on the hi-fi; an added bonus is that there were no games machines or visible TVs; to the rear is a comfortable, carpeted snug of sorts. Customers seemed to be young professional types, probably recent incomers to the area. The old-school landlady was friendly and welcoming, with a beer range that puts most of the local pubs to shame: three pumps, one dispensing the rather pedestrian offering of Sussex Best, but then two hitherto unheard-of London brewed ales, Forest Road’s Work IPA and Brockley’s Pale Ale at a very agreeable £2.25 a half and very nice it was too. Due to the non-pub silly name, this was an unexpected find, one of the best in SE1.

Probably was a fairly fancy place many years ago but has been gradually stripped back and left to gently decay. The front area is grubby bare board, bland goo green / grey paint walls and a well-utilised darts area. To the rear is what may have been a separate small lounge which now has a worn carpet, dark green walls and fireplace with a mirror above. A few local characters in situ with some interesting chat and “I’m not a racist but [insert contradictory sentence here]” Brexit chat. A surprise entry in the 2020 GBG, there were three pumps clipped with Doom Bar, Redemption Hopspur and Watneys Spaceman, the latter of which was a thin and watery specimen (NBSS 2) served up by the best bit of the pub, a friendly and engaging barman. Didn't see much to get excited about really and I doubt it’ll be bothering the GBG in 2021 unless the local branch really are desperate to fill their quota…

Corner pub opened out at some stage to leave a rectangular bar with the counter in the middle of the inner side wall. Fairly limited number of wooden tables on a bare-board floor at the front and centre, with a smaller lounge area at the rear. Large windows in the front half but quite gloomy further back. Restrained decor. Doom Bar and Proper Job clips on two of three handpumps when I arrived, but the latter went off as it was poured so I waited a few minutes for the Truman's Gypsy Queen (£3.90) to be put on.

A very friendly corner pub with excellent home-made pizzas including several veggie options, but often busy on weekday lunchtimes with many tables reserved - arrive early for lunch if you can! Popular with students from nearby South Bank and with three ales available too. Worth seeking out for pizza & beer.

A little bit off the beaten track in Borough, this is a somewhat quirky single roomed pub with a local yet slightly bohemian feel. Boarded flooring, reclaimed domestic dining tables with candles in dimpled pint mugs, décor includes an antelope's head sporting an Aussie hat with dangling corks, over the bar is a gold painted reclining mannequin wearing a tutu, to the rear are various framed photographs of mainly 1960s musicians and a large snake skin is stretched along a ceiling beam. All pretty standard pub stuff then, the pub is aptly named. There is a slightly raised area to a front corner where there is a dartboard, this area looks to double up as the stage for live music events judging by the lighting and speaker stacks; one wall is covered by a curious Scarfe-esque mural which I found vaguely disconcerting. The look is completed by lots of foliage in the guise of large potted plants, a pair of sofas either side of the rear fireplace provide an alternative to the mostly regular style seating. Three handpumps on the side bar, Doom Bar, Hook Norton Hooky Bitter and Crouch Vale Citra (£3.60), decent value for the area. Food is served but the only options I could see consisted of pizzas. I found the place to be comfortable and rather chilled, the welcome and service were down to earth and cheerful and the small group around the bar were all engaged in friendly discussion between themselves and the staff. Worth a detour off the main road.

The Libertine official site with event listings and menu - www.thelibertine.co.uk