October 2025. Elephant & Castle. London.
You left me on Hungerford Bridge after leaving the Old Shades,
admiring the view.
The view changes rapidly as you leave the culture of South Bank and the sunset over Waterloo Station to head the mile to Elephant & Castle, a pub graveyard of late.
It could only be a Spoons bringing GBG joy to Newington Causeway,
in a building I used to visit to discuss creative NHS accounting when it was DHSS property.
Sadly, those interminable meetings aren’t celebrated on the walls of GBG newbie the Rockingham Arms,
which instead chooses to commemorate livelier times.
This is a lively cultural melting pot of a Spoons, quite blokey without ever reaching the heights/depths of the much missed Charlie Chaplin, one of the UK’s great “Rough Pubs”.
I use my 50p voucher on a chewy pint of local Southwark (NBSS 3.5), which gives better value when adding a San Pellegrino to the spice bag, which has different meaning in this part of SE1.
I know that Spoons’s latest culinary marvel, nicked from the Dublin gastro scene, has had mixed views, but coconut rice and curry sauce really bring out the flavour of the salt, if not the chicken.
You ought to have a gastro meal here, as staying 25 minutes rather than 5 allows you to eavesdrop on a meltdown about wills, wonder why everyone in South London wears a hat indoors,
and admire the efficient drinking of a table with five (5th one hiding) ready for two mates to enjoy.
No half-pints here mate.
retiredmartin 
That Spice Bag is a cunning ruse to increase beer sales; the salt content is off the scale.
I’ve not been to that Spoons but it looks like part of the building which in the 90s contained a Rileys Snooker & Pool Club, part of the chain I “ran”. I recall a youngish Ronnie O’Sullivan finishing his practice session and asking for £100 change in £1 coins to play the machines.
LikeLiked by 2 people
“Elephant & Castle, a pub graveyard of late” as documented here
youtube.com/watch?v=TI0HD1Tdpv4
LikeLike
bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=youtube.com%2fwatch%3fv%3dti0hd1tdpv4&qs=HS&pq=youtube.com%2fwatch%3fv%3dti0hd1tdpv4&sc=1-31&cvid=E1752AE21EF5439FADA5578138B1A0B1&sp=1&lq=0&ajaxnorecss=1&sid=315B01D20429698D044A174A05F368DF&jsoncbid=0&ajaxsydconv=1&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dyoutube.com%252fwatch%253fv%253dti0hd1tdpv4%26qs%3dHS%26pq%3dyoutube.com%252fwatch%253fv%253dti0hd1tdpv4%26sc%3d1-31%26cvid%3dE1752AE21EF5439FADA5578138B1A0B1%26FORM%3dQBRE%26sp%3d1%26lq%3d0%26ajaxnorecss%3d1%26sid%3d315B01D20429698D044A174A05F368DF%26format%3dsnrjson%26jsoncbid%3d0%26ajaxsydconv%3d1&mmscn=vwrc&mid=E045B1C5AD0E1CF389BDE045B1C5AD0E1CF389BD&FORM=WRVORC&ntb=1&msockid=1690a7ddb81c11f0920b9463e025f162
LikeLike
One of the Spoons in London which consistently ranks at the bottom of rankings, but at least it is among the cheaper pubs in zones 1 and 2.
LikeLike
I went to E&C over a year ago for the first time. Me & my buddy had just commented what a chilled vibe the area had, when a nasty road rage incident occurred in front of us. Cars pulled up on a garage forecourt and the angry chaps left their vehicles to continue yelling and gesturing at each other in a more personalised way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The old E&C shopping centre was a great place for Caribbean food after my work trips ! Not exactly chilled, mind.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“admiring the view.”
It’s indeed something to admire.
“It could only be a Spoons bringing GBG joy to Newington Causeway,”
For some reason I’m reminded of ‘it takes a brave man’ etc.
“in a building I used to visit to discuss creative NHS accounting when it was DHSS property.”
Creative?
“This is a lively cultural melting pot of a Spoons, quite blokey without ever reaching the heights/depths of the much missed Charlie Chaplin, one of the UK’s great “Rough Pubs”.”
(looks at the pic below)
The price of a pint pretty much tells the story.
“but coconut rice and curry sauce really bring out the flavour of the salt, if not the chicken.”
(slow golf clap)
“wonder why everyone in South London wears a hat indoors,”
Because, if they take it off they’ll either:
– lose it (stolen), or
– forget where they put it
“and admire the efficient drinking of a table with five (5th one hiding) ready for two mates to enjoy.”
It would appear someone’s already been into one of them.
“No half-pints here mate.”
I was going to throw in a remark about stature (either height or IQ) but wisely decided against it.
Cheers
PS – I visited relatives* one afternoon in that area, back in 1981. It hasn’t … changed?
* – I visited some relatives who lived in that area (Heygate estate?) for the afternoon back in 1981. Their Cockney lingo was so thick I could barely keep up with the chatter.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is real “Pearly Queen” territory though it’s a real cultural melting pot, lots of Portuguese flags.
LikeLike
Didn’t Britain and Portugal get on well with both hating Spain ?
LikeLike
How could anyone hate Spain 🇪🇸
They gave the world Madri
LikeLike
No, that’s a 100% British invention.
Sunshine since the 1960s is about all Spain’s given Britons.
youtube.com/watch?v=Yz2LaJOVAiA
LikeLiked by 1 person
Says it all really.
Also, Stafford Paul is entirely correct. I never saw one bloody bottle of Madri backpacking around Spain back in 1980. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
They were hidden then, Russ.
LikeLike
(slow golf clap)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought the Spanish gave us Cruzcampo.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They gave us Pep Guardiola; that’ll do for me.
LikeLike
My favourite Spanish beer is DouGall’s which you can’t get in this country, although I did find it on the foreign beer bar at GBBF one year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Spanish gave us a recipe for Cruzcampo, a variation of which comes from Tadcaster.
LikeLiked by 1 person