The Queens Head, SW9

Official site of The Queens Head - www.queensheadbrixton.co.uk

Official site of The Queens Head - www.queensheadbrixton.co.uk

What a good pub.Sometimes you walk into a pub and it just feels right. Pleasant staff,2 good condition cask beers,open fire on a wet cold June night,nice interior ,nice covered outside space and reasonably priced beer.Canopy-casino dark and Brixton -effra on cask and a very good keg house beer Orbit -parched were my choices.

This smart U-shaped pub is reputedly the oldest public house in Brixton and makes a handy pre-gig venue thanks to its proximity to the Academy. The pub appears to have enjoyed a fairly recent refit and boasts some nice exposed floorboards around a U-shaped servery. There is a surprising amount of seating in the modest space to the front of the pub and the narrower sections down either side of the bar. This includes banquettes under the front windows, pews along the side walls and lots of low stools and standard chairs elsewhere. The walls are painted in warm shades and decorated with small mirrors, sketches of birds and some conventional portraits. A huge floral display stood on the end of the bar counter and there was a TV screen on the bar back listing various promotional offer, with no suggestion that it ever gets used for sports coverage. To the rear right there is a rather gloomy and sad looking spot with a couple more tables and access to the beer garden, in stark contrast to the slightly larger rear left section where a number of comfy seating options were arranged around a lit fireplace under an attractive skylight. This seemed to be the most popular part of the pub and I certainly wouldn't have minded settling down there had there been any seats available. Music played quietly throughout my visit and there was a good crowd in for the duration of my stay without it ever getting uncomfortably busy, perhaps because of its relative distance from the tube station. There were two ales and two ciders available on handpull, with the ales on offer comprising Brixton Effra Ale and Canopy Brockwell IPA whilst one of the ciders was the intriguingly named Kent Cider Company Vimto! I wasn't quite prepared to give that a try, so settled instead for the Brockwell IPA, which was tasty enough but had a haze to it and was probably on its way out. Keg beers were available from the likes of Gipsy Hill, Bellevue, Brick and Partisan among others and seemed very popular with the fairly young crowd. This is a decent enough pub that has been given an attractive makeover and headed down the craft beer route. It appeals because it offers a selection of beers from local producers and provides a comfortable environment in which to enjoy them. The beer quality was a slight concern and the place perhaps lacked a bit of character, but it's certainly worth a look if you're getting fed up of the usual Brixton boozers.