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The Joiners, SE5
SE5
SE5 8RS
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Joiners
This is a traditional two bar pub in the heart of Camberwell, with a nicely preserved interior. The front bar is a simple public bar-style space with plain floorboards and dark red half panelled walls. A nice curved bar counter stands in the rear right corner with a tongue and groove counter front, some imposing pillars with decorative capitals and a nice etched glass bar back with what appeared to be an integral office space through a centrally positioned doorway. High tables and stools run beneath the front windows with a row of regular tables and chairs directly opposite the bar and down the left-hand wall, which was almost entirely obscured by a huge pull-down screen showing live football – a series of shelves displaying ceramics, old radios and other such items of bric-a-brac remained hidden behind. The rear wall is a pleasant glazed screen with etched glasswork and a collection of whisky boxes lined up along it. However, the room’s stand-out feature has to be the mightily impressive tile painting on the right-hand wall, depicting the coat of arms of the Joiners’ and Ceilers’ Company. Amazingly, the pub’s dartboard used to be hung on this wall, so there are a few chips in the tiles, but they remain no less impressive a sight for it. Passing through a mosaic tile floored passageway, you reach the rear bar which is perhaps slightly larger than the front room and has ample seating throughout, mostly tables and chairs with a few cheap looking canteen style benches of the sort you find in modern day brewery taprooms. The room is painted in darker shades and seemingly receives a lot less natural light but didn’t feel especially gloomy as a result. Other items of note around the room included a retro arcade machine, an upright piano and another TV screen, hung above the servery on the front wall of the room, with a pull-down screen to the left.
There were two handpulls in use when I arrived, dispensing Sharps Doom Bar and Brockley IPA. I ordered a pint of the latter from the friendly, but almost impossible to hear through her mask, barmaid. Sadly, the beer was pretty ropey and made a disappointing final pint on my mini-crawl around Camberwell.
This pub didn’t really deliver on the beer front and had a much more subdued atmosphere than the other pubs I visited nearby but was still worth a look to check out the tile paintings, etched glasswork and publican’s office – features that are increasingly difficult to find as more and more pubs close across the capital.
On 21st October 2020
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about The Joiners
A two room pub, front and back, there is some nice decorative tiling on the wall in the front bar, the rest of the pub consists of mostly wood paneling,wood flooring and wooden bar and back-bar, the seating is mostly normal tables and chairs with a couple of high tables in the corners. Apparently real ale is no longer available despite two handpumps and a chalkboard to display cask ales on and coming next, this of course was blank. I settled for a Goose IPA on keg and give the ongoing heatwave the cold beer wasn't an issue.I quite liked it here and it had a decent pub feel, I would call in again but it's location is not a place I'm likely to frequent to often.
On 5th August 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1879 recommendations about 1852 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about The Joiners
The Joiners is situated in Camberwells busy shopping area.
Once inside the pub has two seperate rooms,i had a drink in the front room which is square shaped with the bar facing,the seating was quite basic with a few tall tables and chairs to the front and normal tables and chairs elsewhere,the tiled wall looked quite nice.
There were no real ales on the bar,so i was left with John Smiths smooth crap to drink,this was a very poor beer.
The room to the rear is also square shaped,there was a pool table to the rear and a stage on the left side where the live bands that were advertised no doubt play.
I thought this was a fairly basic pub with the only attraction being the live music which was not on during my Saturday dinner visit.
Pub visited 13/9/2014
On 13th September 2014
- rating: 5
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about Joiners Arms
The pub has a horseshoe bar split between the front and back rooms. Boarded floors, high tables in the front bar plus bar stools. The back bar has more going on, there is a pool table in here plus a stage for bands and so on plus a separated area with a couple of decks. Pool and the juke box are free, the music was pretty loud in the back room however leading me to seek peace in the front.
The front room is interesting, one wall is fully tiled with a central focal piece of the Joiner's Livery Company with the slogan "Join Truth With Trust". An area of etched glazing over the entrance states that this is "Camberwell's Whisky Bar". Decor does include a large selection of whisky boxes as well as dart flights, Gaellic football photos (good one of Croke Park) and golf balls and clubs. There is also a large 1950's Bakelite radio on display. A few drink related slogans are stencilled on the upper walls.
Food seems based on home made pizzas and pie and mash, two pumps in the front bar and three at the back, the two on were Goddards Fuggle Dee Dum and Caledonian 80/-. An interesting and worthwhile pub to drop by.
On 9th December 2012
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Joiners Arms
This is a CAMRA London Heritage pub, so you can expect something special inside. And it doesn’t disappoint with pride of place taken by the tiling covering the entire right wall of the front bar (which would originally have been the public bar), featuring the arms of the Joiners’ Livery Company. Unfortunately it’s clearly been used as the backdrop for a dartboard at some stage. These original features have only relatively recently become treasured, now that they’re no longer commonplace. The front room has mainly tall tables/stools, but there is a separate, and larger, room at the back, with its own bar counter that is furnished with normal tables and chairs. There’s a pool table in the back room as well, and the large skylight (now largely obscured) indicates that it may originally have been a billiards room.
The front bar had two pumps, clipped with Adnam’s Lighthouse and Caledonian 80/-. After hanging around the front bar for a while I went round to the back bar in search of some bar staff. The counter here had another Lighthouse clipped pump, and another with a Harvey’s Best clipped reversed. The barman there said that the Lighthouse was off but that they had Landlord on – which he fetched for me from the front bar. All a bit confusing, but it tasted fine. There was no sign of any food or menus when I was in there at around 5.45 PM on a weekday.
This one is definitely worth a visit to see some rather exceptional 100+ year old tiling. In fact the pub as a whole is quite unpretentious, and the evidence is there of a reasonable selection of ales. I’d drop in again if I was passing, but I don’t think I would make the trip to Camberwell just to visit this pub.
On 3rd March 2012
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]