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Detail Pages
The Albert Arms, SE1
SE1
SE1 6EY
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Albert Arms
Dating from 1851, this is another SE1 pub that’s in quite an unprepossessing area.
The interior is pretty predictable by the standards of any trendified pub, with wooden floor, paint in varying shades of grey or mushroom, a bit of bare brick, with a chocolate brown Anaglypta ceiling. Furniture is conventional, with lighting coming from hipster filament bulbs, mounted in a multitude of different lamp styles. Furniture is conventional, with some brown upholstered banquettes. Décor is presented in the form of framed heavy metal band tour flyers, pictures of R2-D2, framed iconic album covers such as Aladdin Sane and what looks like a fake triptych by Gilbert & George. Customers are young poseurs, many in the lounge room partying to very loud Abba on the stereo.
Ales came in the form of one unused pump, then just Brakspear’s Oxford Gold and Marston’s Pedigree at a reasonable £2.30 a half and fine.
This place is ok for a quick pint and I’d probably pop in if I was up for a swift one late evening, but it’s not worth any special effort to get here, the bland and limited ale range not helping matters.
On 28th November 2021
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Albert Arms
This place still does a reasonable selection of ales. When I was in on Friday they had on Jennings Cumberland, Ringwood Best Bitter, and the two Brakspear offerings of Bitter and Oxford Gold. I went for the Brakspear Bitter (£3.40 a pint) which was in fine nick, and is a good example of a low ABV session ale. There was a chalkboard menu on one of the walls, and although the lighting was a bit too dim to read it from the other side of the room, I did see that a standard beefburger was £5.45.
The pub has two completely separate rooms, but joined by a short passageway by the stairs. The corner room in which I sat was furnished with half a dozen or so standard tables and chairs; the walls have matchboard panelling up to dado level and above that are mainly exposed brickwork. This seems quite a comfortable and homely little bar in fact. The larger room - the Albert Bar - is similarly furnished but with some more modern looking black and white wallpaper.
Being St Patrick's Day weekend all the usual pseudo Irish paraphernalia was on display, and Irish folk music was blaring out. I am sure that I've not seen this pub on a typical evening it probably being being busier than usual, but nonetheless I quite like the place. It's a real pub doing decent beer. But as stated by others, there's not much competition in the immediate vicinity. I would certainly visit again.
On 18th March 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Nick Johnstone left this review about Albert Arms
Hardly worth the walk here but is a welcome relief from the disgusting complex that is the Elephant and Castle. Tiny front bar and some odd stuff scattered around including some cellar doors stuck on the wall. Beer was rank and the 'music' was deafening.
On 12th May 2011
- rating: 5
[User has posted 98 recommendations about 98 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about Albert Arms
There is little doubt that this is my favourite pub in a rather dour area for imbibing. From the outside it looks like a straightforward local but the quirky and slightly eccentric interior shows great imagination: a good balance between clutter and functional features. The 2 bars have copious amounts of bare wooden floors and stripped brickwork and the walls are laden with everything from clocks to candlesticks, barometers to brasses and a few lanterns, tin helmets and road signs thrown in for good measure. Lots of screens for sport: 4 screens (+ big screen) in the back bar and another 3 in the smaller front bar. Fruit machines in both bars and a dart board in the rear next to a tiny but equally interesting snug recess. Good service with tables being cleared and wiped as soon as anyone left. The only downside was beer selection. Of the 3 hand pumps, 2 were off and only the ubiquitous GK IPA was available. They advertise Guest beers and a few old pump clips were on display so perhaps it wasn't my day. A pub well worth knowing about if in the area and the short walk to avoid the dreadful pubs near the repulsive Elephant & Castle complex is fully justified.
On 22nd March 2007
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]