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The Walrus, SE1
SE1
SE1 7RW
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 4½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Walrus
Dating from the end of the 18th century as the Red Lion, this was renamed the New Dover Castle in the 19th. The place must have been rebuilt, probably in the early 20th century, when the original name was reinstated, the current name being a recent application.
It’s twinned with the Horse & Stables next door, both doubling as backpacker hostels, though this actually had some customers and although less traditional, had a better atmosphere. The interior is now more style bar than pub, with a modern floor, scaffold and bare brick bar back with a copper ‘plumbing’ gantry above a modern bar, clad with bronze-coloured shiny glazed tiles. Walls are seemingly dark brown, along with ceiling with glitterball, thereafter paisley wallpaper. Lighting is minimal, with décor in the form of Tiffany lamps and framed prints; a large Union Jack adorns the rear wall. Furniture is mixed, being conventional with some low lounge furniture in differing styles. A jazz soundtrack played, in direct competition with the loud rumbling from the rail traffic crossing the adjacent bridge, going to and from Waterloo. This is a backpackers’ hostel, so I’d expect many an Australian and indeed most of the customers were young and probably inmates. There were some older customers, possibly office workers, one elderly gent straddling a solitary pouffe.
An unused pump sat next to one dispensing Doom, me opting for a half of Neck Oil at an unpardonable £3.50 a half, served by a friendly Southeast Asian barmaid. I didn’t see any grub offered, but another barmaid was eating some Thai food, the smell wafting out across the room, doing nothing for the ambience.
This is hardly a destination address, though it’s better than the Horse & Stables next door. Along with the insulting prices, you’ll not hear me say ‘I’m in the Walrus, coo coo kachu!’.
On 16th December 2021
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
E TA left this review about Walrus
As described below, the single bar also serves as a waiting room for people using the B&B facilities. It has the air of a student bar, a feeling reinforced by the multiplicity of foreign students sitting in silence while exercising their thumbs on their phones, the dirge-like muzak and the ineptitude and lack of charisma exuded by the monosyllabic barnonbinarygenderthing. The TV screen dominating the comfy seating area was switched off, the projector on the ceiling was also off, the large screen at which it would point was rolled up to reveal a mural purporting to be a Vivienne Westwood. Two ales on, Doombar and Ubu Purity Goose, both in tolerable condition but overpriced. OK for a swift one, but not somewhere to linger if you value your sanity.
On 6th June 2018
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3284 recommendations about 3249 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about Walrus
The Walrus is a small open plan pub with a bar on the right wall that faces a mix of standard seating and sofas. The majority of the other customers were tourists and residents of the attached hostel. Children are welcome because there were a couple of young mums with prams and babies present. The background music was at a reasonable volume (not too quiet, not too loud) and I didn’t spot any televisions. Once I had been served I decided to finish my drink on one of the awning covered picnic tables out the front.
Available from the bar was a premium draught range alongside cask Purity UBU and an unused hand pump. I do not envisage a return visit here anytime soon.
On 16th January 2017
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5245 recommendations about 5213 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about Walrus
The Walrus is a corner pub that is next to a large railway bridge.
Once inside there is a smallish oblong shaped room with the bar facing,there were some low settees to the front with normal tables and chairs elsewhere,the room is bare boarded.
There were two real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Hogs Back TEA which was a decent drink,the other beer was London Pride.
There was some very loud background music playing.
I was happy enough having a quick drink in this pub.
Pub visited 2/8/2014
On 2nd August 2014
- rating: 6
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Walrus
Plain, rather uninviting, façade. Mostly lounge-style furniture, supplemented by a few wooden patio tables out front. Loud music. Hostel upstairs. Now has two handpumps, offering Pride and an OK pint of Hogs Back TEA (£3.50). Previously avoided, but actually nothing like as bad as I was expecting.
On 18th April 2014
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about Walrus
The Walrus stands on the site of what was originally the Red Lion which in turn had a spell in the mid 19th Century as the New Dover Castle before reverting back to its original name. The current building dates from the 1930’s and, renamed the Walrus Social, is now more of a bar for the attached hostel.
It doesn’t look too inviting from the outside with its drab grey paintwork and the large railway bridge looming overhead and I didn’t find it terribly impressive inside either. The interior is a single rectangular room with bare floors, a high ceiling and a bit of a shoebox feel. It has a very loungey approach with low tables, pouffes, armchairs and sofas. If headaches had a colour they would probably be that of the ceiling. The general atmosphere seems to revolve around the TV, Big Screen and the rumbling of trains overhead.
Don’t expect anything exciting on the drink front. There are no ales and just the standard keg beers at a price (John Smiths Smooth at £3.45!). Service was also agonizingly slow.
Being part of a cheap hostel and so close to a major railway terminus you can expect all kinds of oddballs to come passing through and the customer base for my visit was decidedly downmarket, completed by a strange character who silently made himself at home on my table before producing a quite menacing looking knife and proceding to cut open a sandwich packet before helping himself to a few tins of lager from a carrier bag. I didn’t stay long.
On 13th April 2012
- rating: 2
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]