Bermondsey pubs
An area still almost as chaotic as Dickens’ description from the end of Oliver Twist. Disintegrating 60s mid-rise, converted warehouses, lines of Georgian cottages and filthy Victorian railway arches form an area as jumbled-up and confusing as anywhere on earth. Rewards any attempts at exploration.
| The Anchor, 34 Park Street, SE1 9EF |
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Not reviewed yet.
Want to review it?
Telephone: 020 7407 1577
Nearby pubs: The Market Porter, 9 Stoney Street, Borough Market (240 metres),
The Wheatsheaf, 6 Stoney Street (240 metres),
The Globe, 8 Bedale St, Borough Market (270 metres),
The Southwark Tavern, 22 Southwark St, London Bridge (250 metres)
Nearest station: Cannon Street, Zone 1 (520 metres)
| The Anchor Tap, 28 Horselydown Lane, Bermondsey, SE1 2LN |
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Seeking to escape from the Tower Bridge Bling of overpriced restaurants and All Bar One clones, I randomly took a side street and ended up in front of a not-very-promising sign. "Traditional British Pub" it boasted, in a way that suggested Beefeaters, Pearly Kings and Ł10 for a plate of fish and chips. What a fantastic surprise, then, to find myself in a wonderful, slightly ramshackle establishment that was properly traditional, rather than a hamfisted faux impression of ye olde England. It has lots of different rooms (including a games room), orange walls, knackered wooden décor and a decent amount of space on the aptly-named Brewery Square for al fresco drinking. Excellent barstaff, a relaxed atmosphere and no music all add to the impression of solid, unpretentious decency. Mad tourists can occasionally be seen wandering the corridors in search of a toilet.
Reviewed by Fred Flange, Jun 2005
Telephone: 020 7403 4637
Nearest station: London Bridge, Zone 1 (690 metres)
| The Bridge House, 218 Tower Bridge Road, SE1 2UP |
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This is a brave step by the owners. They have attempted to create a contemporary feel, but without upsetting the traditionalists. Abraham Lincoln said, "You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time". Well, I am sure some ardent pub purists would be offended by this establishment, but I think the owners might just have succeeded. The full and rather impressive range of Adnams beers is on offer for the ale fanciers, the wine list appears to tick all the right boxes and the food on the menu looks tasty. All the effort seems to be paying off to a degree; the clientele on our visit ranged from Phil Mitchell look-alikes to besuited career professionals. There is even a nice view of the Thames.
Reviewed by Paul Melton, Jan 2006
Telephone: 020 7407 5818
Nearest station: London Bridge, Zone 1 (670 metres)
| The Dean Swift, 32 Lafone Street, SE1 2LX |
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Hyperactive music. Big screen. Sport. Everything wooden - even the food. A workie pub.
Reviewed by Fred Flange, Jun 2005
Telephone: 020 7357 0748
Nearest station: Tower Gateway, Zone 1 (780 metres)
| The Garrison, 99-101 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3XB |
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On walking past I discovered it was a hideous gastropub that was devoid of customers. I chose instead to go to the Woolpack across the road...
Reviewed by Paul Melton, May 2008
Telephone: 020 7089 9355
Nearest station: London Bridge, Zone 1 (540 metres)
| The Horseshoe Inn, 26 Melior Street, SE1 3QP |
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Cracking pub slightly removed from the frantic bustle of London Bridge. Ordinary beer and food selections made up for by a fun crowd, rather nice upstairs patio and a beer garden. Big windows, slightly battered decor, plenty of tables and usually room to sit down. Shows football, but has a room out back for those wishing to escape the joys of watching 22 dull millionaires trying to kick a pigbag. Seems to be a favourite with darts players. Good barstaff.
Reviewed by Fred Flange, Mar 2007
Telephone: 020 7403 6364
Nearest station: London Bridge, Zone 1 (280 metres)
| The King's Arms, 251 Tooley St, SE1 2JX |
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Another rather pleasing Modern Baroque pub, this one distinguishing itself by the assorted bedroom lampshades hanging above the bar. Cheerful in character, with friendly bar staff, good food and a decent range of lagers and ales, there’s little here to set the world on fire but certainly nothing to complain about either. The crowd can get a bit shouty but overall the place bears the hallmarks of a well-run, well-loved pub. Sky sports etc.
Reviewed by Fred Flange, Feb 2008
Telephone: 020 7407 3207
Nearest station: London Bridge, Zone 1 (780 metres)
| The Roebuck, 50 Great Dover Street, SE1 4YG |
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Large, high-ceilinged, student oriented pub that is cluttered with tables and students. Served some interesting, non-standard real ales, and on a bleak Sunday evening when everyone else in Bermondsey had given up on providing food, also gave us chips. Reasonably-priced, reasonably interesting fayre, along with a cheerful atmosphere, managed to elevate it above the simply mediocre.
Reviewed by Fred Flange, Dec 2007
Telephone: 020 7357 7324
Nearest station: Borough, Zone 1 (420 metres)
| The Ship Aground, 33 Wolseley Street, SE1 2BN |
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How depressing. A bad refit has denuded the place of atmosphere and intimacy, with too-bright lights and a terrible juke box bringing on the sense of a school hall during a really bad assembly. Rather weighty, scary-looking people lumber around in a slightly lost fashion. The only point of interest is the carpet, which has drawings of ships on it.
Reviewed by Fred Flange, Jun 2005
Telephone: 020 7237 3314
Nearest station: Bermondsey, Zone 2 (470 metres)
| The Shipwrights Arms, 88 Tooley Street, SE1 2TF |
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The pub stands on the south side of Tooley Street facing the various new glass and steel structures that make up 'London Bridge City', buildings which themselves will soon be dwarfed by the new 'Shard of Glass' tower in a few years to come. The pub itself is a charming 19th century building and both its name together with some aspects of the traditional décor within allude to the rich seafaring history of the Pool of London. The bar, staffed by a very butch barmaid indeed, is situated slap bang in the middle of the pub and serves a decent range of beers. It's popular with local office workers, but didn't seem to get overly full on our visit. Worth a visit if you happen to be passing by.
Reviewed by Paul Melton, Jan 2006
Telephone: 020 7378 1486
Nearest station: London Bridge, Zone 1 (170 metres)
| St James Tavern, 72 St James Road, SE16 4QZ |
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What a relief to find this place after wandering the wastelands surrounding the Old Kent Road! Now I truly know why the creators of Monopoly consider going back there a punishment. Its bleakness is only punctuated by massive B&Q warehouses and McDonald's drive thrus. Even after we escaped north we still had to cross seemingly miles of bland housing estates (and no pubs) before we considered ourselves to be back in the land of the living. Fortunately for us this wasn't your average grotty backstreet boozer. Our drinks were served with a smile and to our utter amazement the cricket was on, which meant we were finally able to watch the thrilling climax to the NatWest one day series. Cheerful banter with the friendly locals ensued as England's cricketers staged a heroic comeback. Consequently we left the place with a warm fuzzy sensation and a familiar feeling of drunkenness. A good pub.
Reviewed by Paul Melton, Jul 2005
Nearest station: Bermondsey, Zone 2 (300 metres)
| Suchard, 2 Crucifix Lane, SE1 3JW |
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A combination of the silly name etched out in a dreadful font and the soft-purple exterior had left me thinking for years that this was some kind of arsey delicatessen. It is in fact a pub marooned in the 1990’s, all stripped wood, clean lines and lots of light. The corporate blandness fits well with an ethnically mixed but dully conformist white shirt/white blouse work crowd, many of whom probably think they’ve somehow grown a personality by voting in Boris for mayor. The bar staff are reasonable friendly, if somewhat unfocussed, serving an ordinary range of beer but an excellent spread of (you guessed it) Thai food. They didn’t bother to lock the door before opening up the outside cellar entrance for a delivery, the result of which being that I nearly ended up down with the beer kegs on my attempted exit. Using such underhand means of retaining custom smacks of desperation. Half decent pool table.
Reviewed by Fred Flange, May 2008
Telephone: 020 7357 7995
Nearest station: London Bridge, Zone 1 (410 metres)
| The Victoria, 68-70 Pages Walk, SE1 4HL |
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Not reviewed yet.
Want to review it?
Telephone: 020 7237 3248
Nearest station: Borough, Zone 1 (1180 metres)
| The Woolpack, 98 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3UB |
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All Bar One meets gothic. A stylish, dark interior gives way to a decked beer garden adorned with local street signs. The far end is dominated by a huge umbrella decorated with heat lamps, thus enabling people to drink outside in all weathers. On our visit most folk were outside enjoying a rare glimpse of the British sunshine. Clearly some had been drinking a little too much in the sun. We witnessed a business meeting degenerate into a debate about whether salt and vinegar crisps were better than cheese and onion. Back at the bar, trendy and rather expensive continental lagers are the order of the day.
Reviewed by Paul Melton, May 2008
Telephone: 020 7357 9269
Nearest station: London Bridge, Zone 1 (500 metres)
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