The Prince Regent, Dulwich Road

[Ms T]

No pool tables

Bollocks

Where's the pool team gone?

The Effra?

 

[Ms T]

i'm not sad the Regent's gone. the pub quiz was cool, but the rest was pretty grim

Precisely. Same with the Commercial. Now it's heaving, and I suspect the Prince Regent will see a similar upturn in its business.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Yeah, but I like half-empty pubs. Not everything has to be heaving.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

The Commercial was utterly dead before, so I can't really say it isn't an improvement. I haven't seen the new Prince Regent yet, I expect it will be quite pleasant in a bland sort of way, although I'm a bit pissed off about the pool tables.

The really bad ones are the new Leprechaun Hut and the Hamilton closing.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

The Commercial wasn't "utterly dead", by the way. You could usually get a table but it wasn't deserted.

Locals' pubs are like that. They're supposed to be. it's why I like them.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Hmm, I live about 30 seconds away and it seemed to fit 'utterly dead' to me.

 

[Ms T]

Yeah, but I like half-empty pubs. Not everything has to be heaving.

I have to admit to exaggerating for debating effect.

I normally go there in the late afternoon for a cheeky snifter when it's nice and quiet.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Really though, although I guess we have different views of what we like, there should be room for both. The point about these new places is not whether they're busy but that they're all the bloody same.

 

[christonabike]

I'm with Donna Ferentes, half empty was cool as the people who were there were our friends, some of them on nodding terms and some of them outside for a smoke terms

Ms T, The Regent was perfect for out needs for many years, pool jukebox outside space

The Effra is a great pub but it is not on everyone's way home

It's not like I'm completely gutted but it's a bit "not another one gone that way!"

 

[tarannau]

The Commercial was utterly dead before, so I can't really say it isn't an improvement. I haven't seen the new Prince Regent yet, I expect it will be quite pleasant in a bland sort of way, although I'm a bit pissed off about the pool tables.

The really bad ones are the new Leprechaun Hut and the Hamilton closing.

I actually don't mind the job they've done in the Commercial - fairly decent, although I wish they take the supercooler off the real ales and develop a bit more consistency on the food recently.

For all the unpleasantness of the Oirish environment, Ganley's has done a pretty good job of encouraging regulars and has a friendly atmosphere going on in there. Can't say I like the surroundings, but it's the most sociable of the new arrivals.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

For all the unpleasantness of the Oirish environment, Ganley's has done a pretty good job of encouraging regulars and has a friendly atmosphere going on in there. Can't say I like the surroundings, but it's the most sociable of the new arrivals.

To be fair to the pub, we've been put off by some serious wankers in there. On both occasions though Chelsea were on the telly and that might be the problem as much as the pub itself.

ETA: Also I quite liked it before, which wasn't true of the Commercial.

 

[Streathamite]

Yeah, but I like half-empty pubs. Not everything has to be heaving.

popularity is a fairly good indicator of the quality of the wares and environment though....

 

[tarannau]

Interstingly enough local residents in Fallowfield in Manchester were quite clear that the influx of students and post students had had a disproportionate influence in the development of the area at the expense of locally born residents when they were interviewed on the effect of the first evenings extension of the licensing laws on Radio 5 live. .

Forgot to respond to this btw. I wouldn't put too much faith in a radio phone-in portraying the situation accurately. Besides, blaming students for a town's ills is something of a favoured pastime amongst long-standing residents.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

popularity is a fairly good indicator of the quality of the wares and environment though....

In a way, but that doesn't change the argument. Sometimes you want to do things that not many other people are doing.

 

[tarannau]

popularity is a fairly good indicator of the quality of the wares and environment though....

Erm, Starbucks, McDonalds, Greggs, various nail bars and a whole host of inexplicably popular fried chicken joints. Conran restaurants, Slug and Lettuce pubs, All Bar Ones. The list could carry on.

Sometimes popularity simply isn't explained by the quality of the goods or the retail environment. In fact, in many ways, those qualities become immaterial - it's the perception of the good/brand which tends to the command the value, not some physical quality.

 

[Pie 1]

Even my friends who have lived in East Dulwich for ages are vaguely embarrassed by how posh East Dulwich has become.

My only real regret in life so far, was that I didn't somehow find the means to pay our landlady the £34,000 she was asking when she put the 2 bedroom victorian terrace flat with 50ft garden by Goose Green that we rented off her in 1994/95 on the market.

Hey-ho.

 

[Streathamite]

Erm, Starbucks, McDonalds, Greggs, various nail bars and a whole host of inexplicably popular fried chicken joints. Conran restaurants, Slug and Lettuce pubs, All Bar Ones. The list could carry on.

Sometimes popularity simply isn't explained by the quality of the goods or the retail environment. In fact, in many ways, those qualities become immaterial - it's the perception of the good/brand which tends to the command the value, not some physical quality.

fair enough, but when i walk intoa deserted pub, I'm not often that surprised when it's shite, and it's not often that it ain't - and we are talking specifically about pubs here.

 

[top_biller]

It's where we went after seven a side football down Dulwich, so we'll give it a try tonight again now it's open

We're usually messy as fuck, in our kit with shinnies hanging out, after kicking a ball and running about

So, will they let us in?

Play in Dulwich on a Monday and Tuesday too and was looking forward to post match beers in there as a few of us live within walking distance, so they better! Often have knees and elbows caked in blood as well which will test their dress policy.

Where do you play by the way, Dulwich Hamlets astroturf? If so, you may have come across us putting in spirited performances in the lower divisons....

 

[christonabike]

PM'd you top_biller

 

[articletwo]

fair enough, but when i walk into a deserted pub, I'm not often that surprised when it's shite, and it's not often that it ain't - and we are talking specifically about pubs here.

On my last visit to the Elm Park Tavern, my local, on a Saturday evening at 7pm, it was empty bar two others. And they left shortly after we sat down. Then the bar staff disappeared round to the bit at the back. After a few minutes a couple of people ran out of the back, through the bar, then returned to the rear. This was repeated on a number of occasions, over the space of ten minutes, by various other people. Then the bar staff came back.

Much as I have tried to like the Elm Park, and have kept on going back, I was finally forced to concede that it was shite. So if someone wants to buy it and turn it into a rocket-salad-serving gastropub, good luck to them.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Yes, I can see how Brixton could use another gastropub.

 

[christonabike]

articletwo, the Elm Park Tavern is everything a pub should be

It's a locals place, go every evening and you'll see the same faces, go on a football night and you'll learn their teams

The time you had in there sounds quite entertaining, at least

I don't know what you want from the place, me and her go to sort stuff out, I go for a quiet pint on my own sometimes

I'd hate it to be like the Falcon/Railway/Sun

Anyways, last night the Regent was emptier than if it had the pool tables

 

[Ms T]

Yes, I can see how Brixton could use another gastropub.

I don't think Brixton actually has any, at the moment.

 

[tarannau]

I don't think Brixton actually has any, at the moment.

Erm, there's the self advertised gastropub that is The Prince, decent food at the FarSide and The Hope & Anbchor, poncey mid-priced bar snacks and brunch at SW9, veggie treats at Mango Landing, even some of the most authentic mexican street food in London at the Hobgoblin of all places. And plenty more as well, from Escape through to the ponceyness of the Brixton Bar and Grill and the Neon 'Martini' Bar...

There's plenty of choice for food in both Brixton and Herne Hill. Sadly, it's almost certainly easier to find a ciabatta-based snack than a pool table in a local pub.

Thing is, even though many old pubs have been cleaned up and 'elevated' into food serving, they're no more busy than they were before. Places like The Regent tend to gain an a much higher average spend per customer per visit, but there'll tend to be less customers and a less mixed clientele in reality. I do find that a shame - there should be some better mid-ground options than stripping out a pub of all other distractions bar a comparatively pricey menu.

 

[Ms T]

Ah yes, I forgot about the Prince -- haven't actually been there since it became Harlem, briefly, and then the Prince. I don't think I'd categorise any of the others as "gastropubs", though. I don't think a pub that serves food is necessarily a gastropub, otherwise that would equally apply to the Albert, the Beehive and the Hob. I wouldn't call the Hope and Anchor a gastropub, either.

 

[Ms T]

Thing is, even though many old pubs have been cleaned up and 'elevated' into food serving, they're no more busy than they were before. Places like The Regent tend to gain an a much higher average spend per customer per visit, but there'll tend to be less customers and a less mixed clientele in reality. I do find that a shame - there should be some better mid-ground options than stripping out a pub of all other distractions bar a comparatively pricey menu.

I agree up to a point, but I think that Brixton has a really good range of pubs for all tastes -- the Effra, the Albert, the Dogstar, the Beehive etc. Herne Hill is another matter.

 

[tarannau]

Ah yes, I forgot about the Prince -- haven't actually been there since it became Harlem, briefly, and then the Prince. I don't think I'd categorise any of the others as "gastropubs", though. I don't think a pub that serves food is necessarily a gastropub, otherwise that would equally apply to the Albert, the Beehive and the Hob. I wouldn't call the Hope and Anchor a gastropub, either.

To be honest, Gastropub's just one of those made up terms that annoy me, particularly when the management announce their intention to become a gastropub by the simple mechanism of offering a more expensive menu than they had before.

A gastropub seems to be just a pub that serves food, albeit with the subjective opinion that it's 'decent' food of quality, usually accompanied with one of those airy-fairy overcomplicate, full of buzzy culinary terminology. See the 'Hope & Anchor,' with its 'jus' promoting menu.

It's a nonsense term in reality - some of the best cooked pub meals I've had had have been freshly cooked in the most unfussy of places - fantastic stews and breads up in quiet country pubs and some of the most disappointing in West London's arsey gastropubs.

Point remains, there are plenty of food options in Brixton and Herne Hill's pubs. It's the idea of a community boozer that's under threat if you ask me - pubs shouldn't have to become pseudo-restaurants; there are enough restaurants, bars and cafes to fulfil that need already.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Point remains, there are plenty of food options in Brixton and Herne Hill's pubs. It's the idea of a community boozer that's under threat if you ask me - pubs shouldn't have to become pseudo-restaurants; there are enough restaurants, bars and cafes to fulfil that need already.

Spot on.

 

[Streathamite]

I don't think a pub that serves food is necessarily a gastropub,

it isn't. According to My Sources, that particular community tends to define their thang as 'cuisine that is devised and cooked by a chef (i.e.properly/classically trained chef), and not by a cook"

 

[tarannau]

it isn't. According to My Sources, that particular community tends to define their thang as 'cuisine that is devised and cooked by a chef (i.e.properly/classically trained chef), and not by a cook"

That's also an arbitrary definition though isn't it. Given that many top chefs don't attend catering school, that basically translates as 'someone who has some experience cooking from fresh in a commercial kitchen' rather than anything more impressive. So, by that definition alone, any pub which simply doesn't reheat frozen (Brake Brothers style) portioned food or simply grill/convection oven burgers and pies can count as a 'gastropub'

It's a pile of arse isn't it really?Who gives a shit who went to catering college these days - training's generally stuck in the 70s and often irrelevant to many commercial kitchens. I'd take a good home-taught cook over an average catering school graduate anyday.