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The Queens Head, SW9
SW9
SW9 9TQ
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about The Queens Head
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.
On 10th June 2017
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Queens Head
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.
On 10th January 2017
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Queens Head
Refurbished 'U'-shaped pub with another seating area at one end and the door through to the rear patio beer garden at the other. Fairly sparsely decorated, and not exactly cluttered with furniture either, so the interior is much more airy than the dark-painted façade might suggest (so the hanging baskets probably provide a better clue). Two of four handpumps in operation on this visit, offering Portobello Star (£3.75) and a Seacider cider.
On 9th July 2016
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8092 recommendations about 8092 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Queens Head
Sambrook’s Junction was the only ale on, with a Doom Bar clip reversed on a second handpump. I was told there was no food available (I was in on Saturday lunchtime) despite there being menus on display all over the place. But after I had been a while and shortly before I left someone came over to my table to tell me that they could rustle up some goat curry if I fancied that. I appreciated the gesture, even though I was almost ready to move on.
I think you would categorise this as a “quirky” pub. The colour scheme is black and crimson, on the right is a raised stage area bearing a couple of thronelike armchairs from which you can survey the rest of the room, but the high point of quirkiness is achieved by the 10 foot long Raptor missile slung on a beam above the bar counter.
The tables in the main bar area at the front of the room are of the solid variety, all bearing a candle in a wax encrusted bottle and, apart from the aforementioned armachairs, the chairs are all standard issue. There’s a separate but interlinked room around to the left and rear of the bar, with some natural light from a skylight, and containing a handful of tables and chairs. Music is apparently an important ingredient of this pub, judging by the large deck arrangement by the window, although when I was in there was just some jazz being played. There was also a TV on showing the tennis.
I quite liked this pub for a quiet lunchtime drink, but I expect it would become uninhabitable (by yours truly anyway) in the evenings if and when the DJ decks come into use.
On 18th June 2012
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]