HALF A DOZEN PUBS IN EVERY GBG COUNTY. No. 26 – SOUTH-EAST LONDON

One of the GREAT counties up next, though my map suggests all my top picks are relatively central,

with only one out in the sticks in what traditionalists might call Surrey and Kent.

No Lewisham, no Crystal Palace, no Peckham, no Tooting (or is that SWL ?) No excuses, either, but I will direct you to Deserter, whose classic book contains all you need to know about pubs. And has one of the great jokes;

Inevitably, I start in Borough, one of the world’s great stretches of pubs, but perhaps not where you expected.

Borough – King’s Arms

But I loved the King’s Arms (not to be confused with his head up the road), and as there’s been a few concerns about the Royal Oak’s refurb this might be the place I guide the tourists to to sample Harvey’s and Landlord.

“Another mixed crowd, perhaps a few more tourists than you’d expect. This is the sort of English Pub the Americans sitting next to us come to see. And it was as immaculate as a New York “pub” like the Ear with staff keeping the tables spotless.

I think they were shocked how quick the Harvey’s was slipping down. But I had a cold, and beer is the best thing for a cold, apparently.”

I was worried our next pick might not have survived,

Greenwich – Morden Arms

but the Morden Arms What Pub description is reassuring;

“One of a dying breed of back-street boozers in the area, quite spartan inside, it has a clientele of locals and music lovers. A free cheese board” 

The Truman’s Swift was £1.50 a half.

“Are you sure ?” I said, sounding a little doubtful at the price.

Apparently the tills were being updated and prices for a half might be a bit off the pace.

“A charming place in which to attempt to resurrect a misbehaving umbrella while being regaled with stories about mammoth trees on North Island.“. But which North Island ?, I wonder 5 years later.

After something very old, something very new.

New Cross – The Shirkers Rest

The ACTUAL Deserter pub, in fact. I was slightly alarmed to find it open on tim.

This is the pub where I met lovely Will Hawkes to talk about pubs and travel and gentrification a year ago,

which obviously makes me a bit biased, but this really an instant classic, at once busy, cosy and weird.

Who else puts brown sauce on their crisps ?

I’m not sure how the Shirkers will feel to be lumped in alongside a Spoons.

Denmark Hill – Fox on the Hill

But the Fox is a great Spoons, and JDW often are your best bet in those outer South London suburbs.

And, unlike those North London Spoons, it actually looks great.

“OK, not QUITE as ornate inside, but there’s a touch of grandeur about it, as well as one of the biggest car parks in the ULEZ zone, with a barrier that tried to decapitate me on entry. I don’t care about decapitation since completing the Guide.“

If you care about that sort of thing, the cask choice (ugh) is one of the best.

“I sit outside as the plans fly over and phone my father-in-law (85), who tells me how good was the Wetherspoons down the road from the hotel we’d booked for them before their morning appointment at Kings. The one I’m at that very moment, in fact.“

And finally,

Hayes (Bromley) – Real Ale Way

A suburban micro ? How quaint !

As soon as you get beyond Greenwich heading east you hit micropub central. Some, like the Real Ale Way, cater for a crowd well beyond the Real Ale Bloke of the Herne model.

“The Larkins was a cool, rich 3.5+, a pleasure only (politely) interrupted by the Landlady asking if I’d got a scarf. Or lost one.

One of my favourite “micros”, helped by a dynamic between Landlord and landlady that was warm and touching. “Missing you already” she shouted as he popped off, just as Mrs RM shouts at me. Or something similar.

NB: I hope they haven’t sold up, or murdered each other, since my visit. If they have, it’s not my fault.

Right, over to you for the sixth, inevitably the Royal Oak.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

29 thoughts on “HALF A DOZEN PUBS IN EVERY GBG COUNTY. No. 26 – SOUTH-EAST LONDON”

  3. Make sure you visit the Old Justice in Bermondsey the next time you’re around. A welcome reopening, ensuring “no more lonely nights” for those lucky enough to have it as their local.

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  4. I learnt something yesterday, in a village pub, not a great village pub but one of the very few round here that can be relied upon to be open all-day Monday (if we discount Corby, though please don’t obvs’).

    Local orders pint and crisps, bar person opens crisps and shakes in some Worcester Sauce, scrunches top and shakes the bag around a bit, gives local his crisps, not one head turned or eyelid batted! “Is this a thing?” thinks I. Well is it!…

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    2. That reminds me of Kinver many years ago.
      A non-local asks “A bag of crisps, please”
      “Small or large ?”
      “Small, please”
      Landlord puts bag of crisps on bar counter and bashes it with his fist.
      You don’t tend to get that sort of humour nowadays.

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  5. King’s Head very much underrated to my mind, their cellaring is top notch, never had a less than very good pint in there. Per your mention of the Arms, for a good while we were permanently confused between the two so took to calling the Newcomen St one the Kings Part, so we all knew which one we meant.

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  6. I thought I saw a comment somewhere around here on the price of beer in London this month.
    For what it’s worth my twelve pints there last year averaged £5.66.
    Cheapest was Master Brew in Mabel’s’s Tavern at £5.15 – and £5.80 wasn’t bad for the Bishop’s Fingers there.
    Dearest was £6.25 for Harveys Sussex Best in the Harp and Fullers ESB in the Signal Box.
    I’ve not been to London yet this year and, with other plans, might not get there before the autumn.

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      1. Yes, when I started using London pubs in 1972 if someone told me that when I approached my three score years and ten a pint in the capital could cost more than my Advance rail ticket there I wouldn’t have believed them.

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      1. Thanks for the update, Martin. I asked because I was writing an article about Truman’s for my Old Family Brewers of Britain series. The trail went cold, after the pandemic, when Truman’s previous owners sold the rights to the brand, in order to invest in that Big Penny Social Club in Walthamstow. (The one which the British Guild of Beer Writers selected for their Christmas dinner.)

        Good to see Truman’s beers on sale again.!

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      2. Paul,
        I can’t share your enthusiasm on an old name being revived for beers that have practically no connection to the historic brewery.

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      1. So Slabs must be the new Walkers.
        Nearly fifty years ago Richard Boston wrote that “in the view of most connoisseurs, the best crisps now are Walkers of Thurmaston, Leicester, to be found mostly in pubs in the Midlands, Yorkshire and Anglia. As well as being delicate in shape, taste and colour the packets carry interesting facts …………. “

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      3. I might try them, that’s if they ever get in the pubs I use.
        ( A nice walk, four pints of Pedigree in three pubs and the bumpy bus back this afternoon )

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      6. Knot and Plough not far out of town from home.
        Then Weston,
        Saracens Head, Pedigree not as good as in the Summer,
        Woolpack, Tuesday meaning £12.25 for a burger and a pint. Then £4.30 for another pint.
        Then what started as the 4.25pm bumpy bus from Uttoxeter. Next time I think it’ll just be a day out in Uttoxeter, Bass as well as Pedigree.

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  9. I think my nomination for a SE London pub would have to be Blythe Hill Tavern. As reliable as cask gets in the capital, and a regular bus trip when I was living in Crystal Palace

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