Last Chance Saloons
| THE KING’S HEAD 115 Upper Street, N1 (020-7226 0364). Mon-Thurs 11am-1am, Fri & Sat 11am-2am, Sun noon-1am. Very fine and very Victorian, this superbly unmucked-about-with hostelry is a fixture in Islington’s ever-changing pub scene. The lofty ground-floor bar has regular live music and a pleasant, slightly studenty feel. Drinks are served until midnight. To the rear, what is claimed to be London’s first pub-theatre puts on performances of some note. |
THE RELIANCE 336 Old Street, EC1 (020-7729 6888). Mon-Thurs noon-11pm, Fri noon-2am, Sat 6pm-2am. A trip to the late-night playground that is Shoreditch would not be complete without visiting The Reliance. This is a warm, welcoming and attractive pub with exposed brickwork and polished wood. There’s usually at least three real ales available and a good assortment of quality continental beers and a wide-ranging wine list. It has also built up a reputation for serving good, hearty food. |
| THE WHITE HORSE 94 Brixton Hill, SW2 (020-8678 6666). Mon-Wed 5pm-midnight, Thur & Fri noon-3am, Sat noon-3am, Sun noon-midnight. The White Horse is fast becoming one of South London’s most influential DJ-driven music venues. Spinsters are the decks most nights, offering an eclectic range of house, hip-hop, downbeat, breakbeat, funk and Latin. There’s a decent cocktail list and an excellent menu. |
THE WINDMILL 22 Blenheim Gardens, SW2 (020-8671 0700). Mon-Sat 11am-midnight, Sun noon-midnight. The Windmill is an unpretentious, attitude-free pub in a particularly unglamorous part of Brixton. You’ll find something happening every night – it might be comedy acts, punk bands, acoustic folk or a full-on disco. It’s pretty much pot luck on the entertainment front, but you can put up anything for a late licence. |
| THE EAST DULWICH TAVERN 1 Lordship Lane, SE22 (020-8693 1316). Mon-Wed 11am-11pm, Thur-Sat 11am-midnight, Sun 11am-10.30pm. This former workaday boozer was given a bit of a facelift recently and is looking the better for it. A contemporary clutter-free interior now prevails and there’s a popular restaurant upstairs in what used to be the comedy club. You can still catch the sporting action on TVs at the back. |
DE HEMS 11 Macclesfield Street, W1 (020-7437 2494). Mon-Sat noon-midnight, Sun noon-10.30pm. De Hems claims to be London’s only Dutch pub. Does anyone doubt it? It looks Dutch. See its gable. It behaves Dutch. Proost. It’s Dutch all right. The De Hems used to be called the Macclesfield and you’ll find it on the edge of Chinatown. A few more yards down the street and it could have been London’s only Chinese pub, but a Dutch sailor called de Hems took it over in the Twenties – so it’s Dutch Old Masters. ‘Orangjeboom Gezondheid’ declares the mirror behind the bar – a friendly greeting, apparently. It is a very friendly pub this one. The noise level rises as the evening goes on, courtesy of a music licence. The ceiling is a subtle shade of nicotine, thought the ceiling fans do their best and in the summer the doors fold right back. They call the upstairs bar ‘t’Oude Trefpunt’, the old meeting place, and on the first Thursday of every month, many Dutchies living in London meet there. Orangjeboom means orange tree, the symbol of the Orangjeboom Brewery in Breda, near Rotterdam. There’s a huge Orangjeboom pump on the bar pouring out prime Dutch ale and they now do draught Witte Raaf – one of the wheat beers the Dutch and Belgians like so much. |
| THE CASTLE 65 Camberwell Church Street, SE5 (020-7277 2601). Mon-Thur noon-midnight, Fri & Sat noon-2am, Sun noon-10.30pm. Very smartly done-out gastropub with top-quality grub and a seriously good drinks offering. This is a public for the discerning drinker and mature diner rather than a kids’ hangout. But you can let your hair down in the upstairs room, where you can watch major sporting events or hold your own private party. One of the best pubs in South-East London. |
THE BLACK LION 274 Kilburn High Road, NW6 (020-7624 1424). Mon-Thur 11am-11pm, Fri & Sat 11am-midnight, Sun noon-10.30pm. With the careful restoration of the pub complete, the wonderfully ornate glided ceiling and friezes make for a breathtaking spectacle of interior design. Floors are sanded, chairs are comfortable and the lofty ceilings give the place a spacious feel. A neatly partitioned-off restaurant area is serving some deeply ambitious modern British dishes, but the pubby bit remains every inch a locals’ local. |
| THE WARWICK ARMS 160 Warwick Road, W14 (02-7603 3560) Mon-Sat noon-midnight, Sun noon-11.30pm. This is a nice little find on a pretty desolate stretch of the Warwick Road, opposite Homebase. Although this pub was refurbished recently, it still manages to exude olde worlde charm – plenty of bric-a-brac and curious objets d’art. The recent introduction of an Indian food menu beings an interesting flavour to this traditional pub. Fuller’s ales are served. |
THE CLAPHAM NORTH 409 Clapham Road, SW9 (020-7274 2472). Mon-Thur 11am-midnight, Fri & Sat 11am-2am, Sun noon-midnight. A recent transformation from the old Bedford Arms is attracting new customers to this contemporary pub in Clapham North. That and no-nonsense food, a sensible drinks list, occasional live jazz music and plasma-screen TVs. |
| THE BEDFORD 77 Bedford Hill, SW12 (020-8673 1756). Mon-Thur 11am-11pm, Fri & Sat 11am-2am, Sun noon-10.30pm. Late licences in function rooms. The Bedford is a multi-faceted, honest-to-goodness, traditional community pub in the heart of Bohemian Balham. This is an enormous, four-storey Victorian building in a prime location overlooking a Sainsbury’s car park. It has been sympathetically upgraded from a dodgy old boozer since 1999 and can now accommodate more than 1,000 people in its various rooms. There’s the saloon bar, a comfortable rambling space with fireplaces and the baby grand piano. Then there’s the traditional public bar. But take a peek into the Shakespearean Globe, a dramatic two-storey theatre venue in the round that is also home to the Banana Cabaret comedy club (with a late licence until 2am Fri & Sat), and where major sporting events are broadcast live on the big screen. Upstairs is the ballroom, which holds salsa, swing and jazz and line-dancing classes, and can accommodate up to 150 for a seated dinner. Then there are the Harlequin and Tavistock rooms, also for private dining and with all manner of cinematic facilities. |
THE WELL 180 St John Street, EC1 (020-7251 9363). Mon-Fri 11am-11pm (midnight for diners), Sat 10.30am-11pm (midnight for diners), Sun 10.30am-10.30am. Clerkenwell grew up around Saint Mary’s Benedictine Nunnery – replaced by St James in 1792 in what is now known as Clerkenwell Green – and the Priory of St John Of Jerusalem, both founded in the 12th century by Jorden de Briset. The area got its name from the clerks’ well that adjoined the nunnery. Out of the quagmire of mediocrity that is Clerkenwell comes this quality operation of significant difference. The two-floored venue, on the north side of Clerkenwell Road, is the brainchild of Tom and Ed Martin, both former City boys who’ve decided on a major career change, which is what you do when you’re in your late twenties and can afford such expensive playthings. In the basement is the modern, seen-it-all before Aquarium Bar, with its leather banquettes, tropical fish tanks, cold atmosphere and the toilets – the only real reason to want to go downstairs. But the ground floor offer the pubbiest of pub experiences, with just a hint of a continental café offered by the floor-to-ceiling concertina windows that will fold back on more clement days to allow pavement punters to participate in the experience. An eclectic food menu, along with a good range of beers and wines has helped The Well to achieve its deserved status as one of London’s premier venues. |
send to a friend
