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Disappointment of the week with Gann
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The Three Stags, Lambeth, SE1
SE1
SE1 7PZ
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 Three Stags
A fine traditional name applied to a pub which dates from at least the late 18th century, rebuilt in 1821. It was formerly a Charrington’s house, there’s a granite slab on the pavement to the left of the pub, with logo and pub name.
The previous reviews apply, but this isn’t a Greene King house thankfully, but sadly some of their beers are stocked. The interior is a traditional dark wood affair, which can be seen on Google. The pub boasts that it’s eco-friendly, having a roof garden where produce for their kitchen is grown. As further testament to this statement, there’s a selection of discarded assorted plastic items hanging from the ceiling; lovely. The attractive ‘Charlie Chaplin’ snug is there, as are some original dividers with occluded glass and an attractive glass entrance vestibule; encaustic tiling is in abundance to the right of the bar. Customers were fairly young and vocal, some wearing horrible seasonal ‘Christmas themed’ knitwear.
The ale department wasn’t up to much, with Greene King Fireside, Rocking Rudolph and SE1 Stags Ale at an utterly unjustifiable £2.90 a half; I can easily get a half for 60p less anywhere else round here. That said, this beer tasted eerily familiar, like the ‘house beer’ I’ve had at a couple of other GK pubs recently.
This is an attractive pub, but the ‘punk’ décor and plastic accoutrements don’t appeal. The Greene King ale selection (in an area refreshingly free of GK pubs) doesn’t get my juices flowing and the pricing was a joke. If this pub wanted to crow about environmental credentials, why does it source its beer from Bury St. Edmunds, a round trip of around 170 miles when a far smaller carbon footprint could achieved by sourcing beers from many of the fantastic breweries in South London. In all, I think I’ll stay in the Dog House in future.
On 17th December 2021
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1983 recommendations about 1949 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
E TA left this review about The Three Stags
As described by Steve, below, with the addition of a piano next to the stage area. The barman was inept and knew nothing about beer, blaming the pumps for the poor quality – Loddon’s Hullabaloo and Reading Best were well off form, as was the house beer, Stag Ale. The beers were over-priced, the food average price for the area and looked good, but the rubbish beer and attitude from the staff did not induce our wanting to stay. I don’t see a return visit.
On 27th March 2020
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3281 recommendations about 3246 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about The Three Stags
Warm and busy on my visit.Food served by waitresses.Nice.Plenty of brown wood. GK pub with GK -scrumdown,Camerons -strongarm and my delightfull GK -heritage.Plenty of outside seating
On 13th April 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Three Stags
The Three Stags is a large L shaped open plan Greene King pub with plenty of seating. In the corner is a snug called Chaplin’s Corner where an old no smoking sign led me to believe this was the no smoking area before the nationwide ban. I noted the presence of a small stage area that may or may not be used for live music. There was some background music playing during a recent weekday evening visit and I didn’t spot any televisions. There is an advertisement for additional upstairs seating that is available for hire.
A range of standard and premium keg is available from the bar that supports three hand pumps that were drawing St Austell’s Tribute, Bateman’s XB and Hardy’s Bitter. I didn’t see any menus, but a wood fired pizza oven is advertised. This pub didn’t grab me so I do not plan a return visit anytime soon.
On 1st February 2017
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5233 recommendations about 5201 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about The Three Stags
I visited after spending the afternoon at the Imperial War Museum across the road, the pub occupies a corner site and has large clear glass windows and a boarded floor except around the bar area which has ornate tilework. The area is L-shaped with a screened off corner snug called "Chaplin's Corner"", see previous reviews and Whatpub. An additional upstairs room remains unvisited by me.
Chalkboards over the bar list an extensive wine list, no menus were around apart from boards advertising pizze but I believe this to be a gastro type establishment.
Circular iron columns hold up the floors above, the building does look Victorian, however not much else remains inside to confirm this.
The place is signed externally as a Greene King pub however on entry only "Tolly Cobbold" Pheonix was on plus Thwaites 13 Guns, a nice pint but at my so far record price of £4.60. Ridiculous.
Décor includes a few Sex Pistols posters, framed T-shirt and a photo of Johnny Rotten. God Save the Beer. Once you locate the gents', no easy task beyond the snug and around the rear of the bar, there is an interesting WW1 trench map on the wall.
On 31st January 2015
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1707 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about The Three Stags
The Three Stags is a decent sized corner pub.
Once inside there was a decent sized L shaped room with the bar facing,there is a bench seat to the left with normal tables and chairs elsewhere,there is a small raised area to the front,the room is bare boarded throughout.
There were two real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Black Sheep bitter which was quite a nice drink,the other beer was Greene King Brasillia.
There was some decent background music playing during my Saturday afternoon visit.
The pub was packed with both drinkers and diners giving the pub a very livly atmosphere.
Pub visited 2/8/2014
On 2nd August 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Wayne Ward left this review about The Three Stags
Great boozer - friendly staff and good prices
Nice and close to the days hotel and imperial war museum
The lager was nice and lively and went down a treat
On 12th October 2010
- rating: 9
[User has posted 1 recommendations about 1 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Three Stags
This is a Greene King house, with April Fool, St Edmunds and Royal London on, but unusually no sign of GKIPA, OSH or Abbot. This looks like another traditional Victorian, or possibly Edwardian, pub that has been given one or more makeovers during its illustrious past. There’s still some nice tiling in the splash area round the bar counter but the rest looks pretty modern, although there are some cast iron pillars that look original. On the right there is a small snug called “Chaplin’s Bar”, obviously named after the great man himself. He was brought up in this area, and spent a lot of time hanging around outside pubs waiting for his alcoholic father, including this one. Indeed it was in this very pub that Chaplin saw his father suffering from the advanced stages of dropsy, brought on by alcohol excess, from which he died soon after at the age of thirty-seven.
The pub itself looks out over the grass in front of the Imperial War Museum, which of course used to house the Bedlam asylum. So the pub does have historic connections. The interior is unfortunately made unnecessarily gloomy by the outside canopies over all the windows. I would say that they’re not all necessary on a bright day in early May, as the punters sitting outside didn't really need the protection from the elements they afforded. As mentioned by rpadam, it’s very food orientated – the menu says that there is an optional 10% on tables of four or more, which smacks of restaurant practices to me. The menu also advertised the pub’s twitter and facebook pages, which is not a pub’s traditional activity as far as I’m concerned. The food’s not cheap either – e.g the pretty average chicken, bacon and avocado ciabatta sarny, with a few chips, weighed in at £8. The floor is bare-boarded of course, as they always are in these sort of places, and the furnishings are normal tables and chairs plus a sofa or two. The bar counter is covered with all manner of things – a silver champagne bucket full of packets of crisps, an ice bucket, glasses, etc. There’s hardly a spare bit of space on the bar to put your beer down, and as there are no stools at the bar I guess the message is that they don’t want punters propping up the bar. This is not a bad example of these sort of gastrofied pubs, and is comfortable enough if you like pubs like this, but it’s not the sort of place to which I’ll rush to return.
On 17th July 2010
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Philip Carter left this review about The Three Stags
Very nice pub, think it's what is known as a gastropub, though i'm not sure of the criteria. Anyway the food looks very tasty, though I didn't try it, but judging by the faces of the other customers, it must be good. 3 real ales on sale, Moorland Original, GK IPA & Ruddles County. Food served all day and it is sourced from the local area, though there are not many farms in London so that point may have been stretched a bit.
On 6th September 2009
- rating: 8
[User has posted 757 recommendations about 720 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Three Stags
This place is a typical part-gastroified pub (if you will pardon the expression) that is quite common across London. A Greene King house, it thankfully had the reasonable St Edmonds on in addition to the less inspiring IPA and Ruddles County. Better still, this was dispensed from a traditional handpump rather than one of the fancy new fonts, and was in very good condition. On the down side, it is rather expensive (£4.50 for a pint and a packet of crisps).
On 26th June 2009
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8092 recommendations about 8092 pubs]