RateBeer Brew Tour Guide's Comments
-- The only Harvey’s pub in London. Essential. Worth coming to Southwark just for this pub. But be aware that it closes for the weekend (see next).

Fancyapint.com
-- A wonderful Victorian pub in the heart of Borough, the Royal Oak is a winner in every department. It serves a selection of excellent ales (including Mild, Pale, Best and Christmas Ale and Porter in winter) by Harvey's of Lewes and also offers a very good menu; on our weekday visit, we enjoyed an excellent steak and ale pie with side vegetables for less than a fiver. The wine list is pretty decent too. The pub has the feel of a vibrant local rather than just an after-office drinker, with a good mix of people who are in no hurry to leave. On this evidence, why would they? And now it's open at the weekends, great!

Fancyapint.com
-- The Lord Clyde is a gem of a pub tucked away on what must be one of the tiniest streets in London. It's a welcoming place with friendly staff, a good atmosphere and a fine selection of real ales. An inn has stood on this site for almost 300 years and the current building is wonderfully preserved as rebuilt in 1913, featuring beautiful glazed tiles, wood panelling, brass fittings and long leather seats. The pub has been run by the Fitzpatrick family since 1956, and the landlady offers a menu of home-cooked English fare. If you need a literary incentive to come here, you might want to know that the Lord Clyde is located close to the original site of the Tabard Inn, where Chaucer's pilgrims started out towards Canterbury. The young Dickens also lodged nearby so that he could visit his father in the debtors prison at Marshalsea. Get down here and see how things should be done.

Fancyapint.com
-- Hidden away in a quiet Knightsbridge street, this is one well worth searching out. Wood panelled, low ceilinged and full of old penny arcade games, this pub has a character all of its own and is ideal for a leisurely afternoon of drinking. Unsurprisingly, there's not a TV nor a jukebox in sight (but there is a "What the Butler Saw" machine in the corner). In such a carefully realized environment playing CDs can seem a tad incongruous, but the choices from the bar are usually spot on (Nina Simone when we last looked in). The pub's independent nature comes from its landlord who when not insisting that customers hang up their coats, is improvising quality pub food with whatever comes to hand (his Shepherd's Pie is especially recommended). We've even seen him kick out punters who ignore his "no mobile phones" signs. Top bloke, top pub.