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The Jolly Gardeners, SE11
SE11
SE11 6AB
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Tris C left this review about The Jolly Gardeners
This is a mid-19th century pub visited – apparently – by Charlie Chaplin Snr; what’s certainly true is that this is the place which featured in the ‘Desert Eagle Point Five-O’ scene from the film ‘Snatch’ and my word, YouTube shows what a change it’s had in 23 years.
In 2008 this place had been imagined as a German food and drink-themed bar called Zeitgeist, but this ended when it was reinvented again in 2021, the original name reinstated, with a hotchpotch of food from around the world, none German, thereafter just a couple of German beers, the pub’s new USP being to showcase keg stuff from south London. With a bare boarded floor, the interior is quite stripped out with the bar at centre, the bar back featuring a very interesting carved Grecian relief then contemporary dark painted front. The overall colour scheme is white with an Anaglypta ceiling, a verdant – fake? – rear wall and hanging baskets with variegated green and white ivy, the whole now less Teutonic, more gin ‘n’ tonic. Customers were sparse on my visit last Thursday night and seemingly studenty. There was a decent soundtrack but otherwise the place was a bit soulless; perhaps more customers were out back in the covered area?
Only two German keg beers, then five from London (plus Adnams) on tap with no cask of course, my half of London Beer Lab’s APA rolling in at £3.25 a half and keggy.
With very swanky lavs this place is ok, something different perhaps; there are better pubs in the area, but this isn’t the wurst.
On 17th July 2023
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Moby Duck left this review about The Jolly Gardeners
An interesting set up in what appears externally a normal traditional Victorian London pub but as mentioned before
is actually a German beer and food bar and really quite good.
On 12th July 2023
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1872 recommendations about 1845 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Jolly Gardeners
You would never guess it from the traditional façade, its location at the bottom end of Lambeth Walk or the name, but this pub is inexplicably German-themed in terms of both beer and food. The interior has been opened out at some stage to leave an island bar with dining furniture to one side and a rather more regimented array of tall tables on the other. Also has some tables out on the pavement and a rear patio area. Plenty of large, ceramic German founts distributed around the counter from the likes of Bitburger, Spaeten, Franziskaner, Erdinger and Weihestephan, but I went for the Krombacher Dark (£4.16).
On 3rd June 2017
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about The Jolly Gardeners
This is a very large Victorian street corner pub which nowadays features German beers. A large central island bar features numerous large fonts but there is also a beer menu. I plumped for some kind of dark wheat beer at the happy hour price of £2.50 a half (normally £3 or £5 a pint). It came out very lively but in fairness the barmaid ensured a full half but probably wasting another one in the process.
The pub has a high red ceiling with black walls and a boarded floor, a rather gloomy if gothic look despite large clear glass windows but a side area with light wood panelling and a polycarbonate roof is a bit brighter. The bar gantry has some unusual illustrations repeated along its length.
Really this was a curiosity visit as much as anything as I stumbled across the pub while wandering around looking for a shop doing Oyster top ups....the station system was down. I sort of liked it but would never choose the place as an evening venue, the beer I had, despite being a bit cold and fizzy at least contained some flavour.
On 23rd November 2016
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about The Jolly Gardeners
Nice building - large open plan area. Beers were all unknown german brews (Krombacher Hell) served in large tankards (probably still a pint) for £5 a pop.
Only in London.
On 9th July 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1338 recommendations about 1324 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Jolly Gardeners
It’s always nice to stumble across something completely unexpected, and so it was with the Jolly Gardeners (or ‘Zeitgeist’ if you must). Located down a quiet street, a short walk from Lambeth Bridge, this is a specialist German beer bar and gastro-pub. The dark exterior is a bit off-putting, but having entered, you find yourself in a smart two room pub with a large servery separating the two halves. The pub has bare floorboards throughout and the left hand side, which is the larger of the two areas thanks to the shape of the building, has plenty of, almost exclusively, high banquette and stool seating. Quite why the entire room has to have high seating, which can often be uncomfortable, is beyond me, but thankfully the right hand side of the pub has similarly styled furniture, but at normal heights. The main room has a small fireplace on the back wall and decorations include various German beer adverts and mirrors, although the German theme is generally quite understated (I spotted some German football scarves behind the bar), although I imagine that might change at other times of the day and during certain sporting events. The ceiling is nicely patterned and the bar back is worth a look, retaining a nice tile frieze around the top. A door at the back of the pub, next to an upright piano, leads out to a small patio with a few benches.
There are no hand pumps in this pub, just lots and lots of German keg fonts. Beers available on my visit included offerings from the likes of Erdinger, Bitburger, Paulaner, Krombacher, Weihenstephaner and Warsteiner. I gave the Krombacher Dark a try and thought it was pretty good. All pints are charged at £4.50 and a half pint is rather confusingly £2.50. A German themed menu with more sausages and schnitzels than you could ever imagine, was displayed on most tables and seemed a bit pricier than your average pub menu.
There’s more to this place than the novelty value of finding a specialist pub in an unlikely location, but I personally found the prices too steep for me to consider staying beyond the one drink. I wouldn’t mind coming back here when there’s some sport on, to see it a bit livelier, as it seems like a welcoming kind of place.
On 4th March 2013
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Jolly Gardeners
As mentioned by Michael below, this pub is also known as “Zeitgeist” (spirit of the times). The menu as well as the window bears the name Zeitgeist, but the main exterior signage is of the jolly Gardeners and the graphic depiction of the gardeners is still set in stone above the door. There are numerous German beers on draught, as well as in bottles, but no real ales. I don’t normally drink lager style beers, but my pint of Bitburger slipped down rather nicely, and at the very reasonable price of £3 a pint. I’m glad to see that the Europeanisation of this pub didn’t affect the tradition of getting a full pint in this country – the barmaid went to some effort to get a full pint in the glass. I didn’t look at the menu, but I noticed a chalkboard advertising a buffet lunch available on Wednesdays and Fridays, at £6 for all you can eat.
The pub itself is an old Victorian backstreet pub, with the trademark high ceilings and cast iron pillars with elaborate capitals still in place. It’s a very black pub now – the photographs show the black painted exterior; inside the upholstery’s all black, as is the front of the bar counter, and the red painted ceiling gives it a devilish look. There are two distinct and very different rooms, joined by a narrow area at the back of the island bar. The room on the right as you look from Black Prince Rd has some standard metal-framed tables, accompanied by black upholstered benches and normal chairs. The room on the left, which contains all the beer fonts, is furnished entirely with tall black upholstered benches along the side wall, tall tables and tall stools. The benches here are particularly uncomfortable for someone whose legs aren’t long enough to reach the struts on the table, let alone the floor
This is clearly a speciality destination pub, and is a must to visit for anyone who is a fan of German beers.
On 8th November 2010
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Michael Jessops left this review about The Jolly Gardeners
Also known as Zeitgeist, it has an extensive German beer selection on tap & by the bottle - worth travelling across London for.
On 15th November 2009
- rating: 10
[User has posted 3 recommendations about 3 pubs]