London pubs with pretty outsidey bits.

June 2, 2007 7:57 AM

It's a lovely summer day in London and we want to go to the pub. Suggest central, cheap places with nice beer gardens.

Somewhere near the river would be good and bonus points for good pub food too. People will be coming from the South Kensington/Earl's Court area as well as Camberwell/Dulwich/Tooting, so somewhere easy to get to is a plus. Thanks!

posted by jobby to grab bag (6 comments total)

the windsor castle in kensington is a lovely old pub with good food and a beer garden. spend many an afternoon out there in the summer
posted by derbs at 8:03 AM on June 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Richmond's a short tube ride away from Earl's Court and you can sit by the river in the several pubs they have over there. Cheap is not a word I would associate with Richmond however, but I'd probably just hit an offie on my way there and enjoy it sitting on the grass...
posted by slimepuppy at 8:15 AM on June 2, 2007

Though it may be too late for this to be of relevance, there's no service today on the district line between, i think, earls court and acton town (so making it to richmond could be tricky!). that being said, your own booze beside the river would be very very nice!
posted by lumiere at 9:12 AM on June 2, 2007

The Mayflower in Rotherhithe (yes, it's named after that boat and is that old), The Captain Kidd opposite in Wapping, and the Wibbly Wobbly on South Dock by Surrey Quays tube. That concludes the voting from the East London Line jury.

The Mayflower and Wibbly Wobbly can both also be reached within a few minutes on foot from Canada Water tube on the Jubilee Line.

The Wibbly Wobbly is a boat with a floating pontoon out the back which is actually in one of the docks 'twixt the tube and the Thames. I'm not 100% sure it's still open at the moment -- its last proprietor, perpetual enfant terrible of the UK comedy scene Malcolm Hardee, died after falling out of his rowboat, pissed, on the way home after closing time two years ago, and I dunno what happened to the place after he died. On the plus side, he got rave reviews in the national papers for his funeral. I trust that someone here's been in since I left town and can confirm it's still there. If so, it's a great wee pub and you should go there.
posted by genghis at 10:38 AM on June 2, 2007

Late in on this one, but my favourite was always the Canonbury Tavern. Absolutely lovely beer garden.
posted by arha at 9:14 PM on June 3, 2007

Just as a followup - I met a friend early at the Old Thameside near London Bridge (which, comically, had about fifty pirates outside as well as single ninja at the bar) and later on we went to the Southwark Tavern which was a nice pub with friendly bar staff and was open till 1am.
posted by jobby at 9:12 AM on June 4, 2007