London Pub Tour 2 - Lambeth: The Windmill, Tamesis Dock and The Rose

For my next pub tour I started slightly south of where I finished off my previous one in Westminster. The reason for this was when in the Marquis of Granby I seen a pub I'd never been to just over the river in Lambeth.

So I set out via the 507 bus from Victoria on a rainy day with quite a bit of traffic on the road. As it was raining quite heavy I didn't have my phone out for directions and was relying upon memory. As I walked up Lambeth High Street (a very misleading name, no shops at all on this road, which one would expect from a high street) I began to doubt I'd taken the correct road, yet I still pushed on. Then up ahead, a lit up pub sign became visible. I'd arrived at The Windmill (SE1 7JS).

The pub is quite large inside, and a few others had braved the weather and were drinking already. The barman was very friendly and made conversation about the rain, which had just soaked me. There were four ales on tap (Pride, Doom, Landlord and Sharp's Atlantic) none of which took my fancy. I then spotted they had Blue Moon Belgium White on tap. This was the first ever American 'craft' beer I ever had and so I had to have a pint for old time-sake (I declined the addition of an orange slice). The beer still holds up well and it is something that I would drink again.

I sat down in a corner near the pool table and surveyed the pub. It felt to have four distinct areas.
The bar area - with a bar up against the wall and no chairs or tables in front of it.
The pool table area - with an advertising board and plenty of seating around the window
The seating area - doesn't need more description, all the sofas and chairs in the big area opposite the bar
The higher seating level - up some steps to a higher seating level and a TV showing sky sports

The Windmill was an okay pub, though perhaps needs a revisit on a better weather day to experience the atmosphere. I headed off out into the rain and walked the short distance to the River Thames and my next stop, the Tamesis Dock (SE1 7TP).

I've visited this moored boat on the Thames many times through the years, but mainly on fair weather days. I've never really sat inside the boat near the bar as sitting on the deck provides you with perfect view to watch life on the Thames and the seagulls on the sand below. I noticed straight away the beer selection had changed since I last came here 5 years ago (when I worked in the Vauxhall area). All the beers on tap were of the craft variety and as being on a moored yet moving ship, there was rightly no ale. I opted for a pint of Adnams, Jack Brand Ease Up IPA for £4.70 and took a seat on the bar level.

The beer had the usual Adnams flavour with extra hop than normally found in their pints. There were a few customers downstairs drinking, though my only experience of the downstairs previously was for use of the facilities. I sat back and relaxed inside the boat with the sound of rain outside and voices rising up from he deck below. I could have easily stayed and relaxed with another Ease Up IPA however the show must go on, and I had one more pub I needed to visit.

As I walked up to the Rose (SE1 7TL) I could see the large number of people inside drinking. Compared to the previous two establishments, this one was heaving. I noticed that the pub signage was missing from the outside, and upon walking in could see they'd done this pub up since I last visited. The central bar looked great as always, though the pub seemed to have turned very gastro with a young professional, suited crowd.

Mon to Tues, free if you spend £300

I ordered a pint of the Caledonian Three Hop Lager for £4.90 forgetting how much  I actually don't like that beer. There was no seating available so I made my way further back down the pub where I realised it wasn't quite as busy as it had first seemed. Sadly it was the usual story of everyone hanging round the bar area that from the outside made it seem busy. I found a corner with a low table to stand in and done what any sensible person would do and pulled out my phone to read the news and not make eye contact with anyone. The crowd around the bar left shortly after, for which I'll take the credit, for lowering the tone of their pub. I'm not sure if it was with the crowd going or maybe someone walked past me, but my nose pricked up at the wonderful smell of mulled wine flowing from somewhere. It was at this stage I realised that I never come to the Rose this early in the evening before and definitely not this sober. It was always a late hangout spot once you've had a few at the Tamesis and maybe the pub had always been like this and I'd just never realised due to my state.

Well it is with that thought that I finished up my pint, walked out and looked up at where the sign used to be and remembered that I used to call this pub the Black Rose because the pub sign used to be black with a red rose on it....