BV London Pub of the Year 2021-22 - part two

What's hotter than the current ambient temperature and more competitive than the race to be Prime Minister?

Why, yes, it's the second part of the long-overdue Return of the Revenge of the Pub of the Year!

If you haven't already read part one, you might want to so so first. Otherwise, here we go with the remainder of this year's contest. Let's find the best pub in London, shall we?

And, not unexcitingly, we happen to begin with two former winners!

 

The Hope, Carshalton

In truth there is very little left to say about the Hope that hasn't already been said, both in my writings and elsewhere. I struggle to remember a time when this wasn't one of the destination pubs in South London. It's won the CAMRA Greater London Pub of the Year award, as well as this one and it would be insane to exclude it.

Sadly the famous pub cat, Pubcat, is no longer resident, though still alive and well.

High hopes for this pub

Range of draught beers: I have noted that the Hope has to strike a delicate balance. On one hand it's a well-known and highly-regarded pub that craft beer enthusiasts will come from afar to visit, but it also has a role as a traditional community local and a core customer base with perhaps more conservative tastes. There are therefore a few house beers that don't change - Windsor & Eton Knight of the Garter and Downton New Forest on cask, and Bavo Pils and Hacker Pschorr Hells on keg. These are solid, if unexciting offerings, but are complemented by five changing casks and about seven (usually crafty) keg options, typically including dark, strong, sour, hazy, fruity (this is starting to sound like the Seven Dwarves...) and otherwise 'notable' beers as well as more standard pales.

Nothing is off the table (except possibly mass-produced/macro stuff) and top breweries that appear frequently include Marble, Siren, Arbor and the Bristol Beer factory. There is also often beer from local-ish craft breweries like Anspach & Hobday, Brew By Numbers and Brick. You might find an imported Belgian Kriek or genuine American IPA too. The only thing that prevents the Hope from picking up full marks is that the actual cask choice can be hit and miss. If you're a ticker like me you might turn up and be absolutely wowed (especially if you do so during a beer festival - see below) but at other times it can sometimes be underwhelming. I get it. Tickers probably make up a fraction of their custom, and I understand bringing back locals 'favourites' is more important overall. 2 points.

Quality of real ale: There's really no argument here. 3 points. Carshalton is a bit of a destination for a pub crawl, and if you attempt it (the real challenge is going anywhere other than the Hope) you'll see (taste?) quickly just how sub-standard the cask condition is in other pubs in the area. This is the gold standard.

Bonus points: My favourite thing about the Hope is the monthly beer festivals, where the range of beers available increases massively, as the marquee out the back offers about 20 casks plus a few extra kegs. These frequently include genuinely rare and one-off beers and the cider selection also increases. They also get it right on the food front, with a wide range of stuff ranging from little tubs of cheese and salami to chunks of cold pies up to full hot meals. Something for everyone, without trying to be 'gastro' in any way. And the basic choice of crisps and nuts (and chocolate bars) is pretty damn good too and worth another bonus point. There's no legitimate reason to deduct anything, so the Hope picks up the maximum bonus points.

The Hope proves that it is possible to be both a local for locals and a destination pub for ale enthusiasts. If you've never been, you've missed out.

 

Antelope, Surbiton

The 'Lope entered the competition for the first time in 2017-2018 and immediately stormed into first place. But has the champion of four years ago been able to make any sort of lasting impact this side of lockdown?!?

The in-house brewery, Big Smoke moved out to Esher, freeing up space for an eating area that can also be used to host beer festivals (yes, please!) and other pubs have joined their little mini chain, like former finalist the Albion in Kingston (which, to my shame, I couldn't include this time as I haven't visited at all within the past year).

Range of draught beers: Up to ten casks and a similar amount of keg, with a strong focus on the local. A few beers from Big Smoke will usually be on, plus offerings from the likes of Southwark, Park and Ascot. There is perhaps a slight bias towards lower-strength, pale, and moderately hoppy, which is probably no more than an accurate reflection of what most people do actually want to drink.

I'd suggest that stylistically the overall range is perhaps a bit more conservative than it was a few years back, but it's still very good, and you'd have to be very fussy to come here and not find anything you want. It's a 2.

Quality of real ale: Occasionally I'll have a conversation with a pub manager about how I scored their cask beer - sometimes from a review going back several years - and if I've given them a score like 1, which I'm giving here, they feel a bit affronted about it. Don't be. 0 is average and 1 is above average. The truth is that cask beer - even the same beer - can vary so much, depending on how it is kept and conditioned and how quickly it is turned over. Most pubs in London would be routinely scoring -1 or worse. The truth is that in the last couple of years I haven't had pints here that have made me think 'Wow, that is absolutely sublime!'. Maybe they're trying to sell too many casks of too-similar beers at once? (Sorry in advance for causing any affrontation! Or is it affrontedness? Maybe just affront as a noun?) Anyway, onwards...

Don't mind if I do!

Bonus points: This place is more 'gastro' than most on the list, but it's not at the expense of the beer. Well, not much. The burgers are decent and filling, the sharing and snacking plates (whitebait, haloumi fries etc.) are nicely executed and the Oreo doughnut balls an inspired dessert. Definitely worth a point. The food here isn't cheap, but there are various special 'meal and a pint' deals on different days of the week - Steak and Blowjob Thursday is particularly good, even without the blowjob. I'm told that the Vegan/plant-based options are good (or did she say 'enlightened'?) not that I'm ever going to care about that sort of thing!

The pub also picks up a point for its range of ciders which is almost certainly the widest in this part of London, and of course any pub that can put on a decent beer festival will take home a bonus point for doing so. And it shouldn't be the focus of a pub in my view, but the wine list is a cut above anything you'd usually find in a pub like this, so that gets another point.

I am going to take off a point simply for high pricing. I get that this is an affluent and expensive part of London, but it's not the centre, and £6/pint for an ordinary strength cask pale ale, which I have paid here, is going to put off some customers when they can get a similar beer for a third of the price in the nearby Wetherspoons. But, having done the maths they still get the maximum 3 bonus points.

Personally I think the Antelope has lost its beer focus just a little since the brewery moved out. It's still a great pub, but it just feels like these days it's more concerned with selling jackfruit burgers and prosecco to middle-class Mumsnet Admins. But that's me being cynical - I still have a lot of love for the place!

Southampton Arms, Gospel Oak

A warm welcome back to one of our favourite pubs in North London - and one that appeared ten years ago in the very first BV London Pub of the Year, finishing a very creditable fourth.

The vibe here is very much 'old school'. Jug glasses, jazz on vinyl and a battered old upright piano, upon which the resident cats sometimes eat their dinner.

I'm not sure a better pie exists anywhere

Range of draught beers: Since I first surveyed the Southampton Arms all those years ago, the keg range has increased from just two to about eight, with a slight reduction in the number of cask beers and ciders typically on sale. On balance, this probably means a broader choice overall than a decade ago when you probably wouldn't have found a sour or a saison here. It feels like the sort of place where one should be drinking a malty brown bitter, but there is so much more usually. The selection changes all the time and is another solid 2.

Quality of real ale: Really nicely conditioned beer here, particularly when one opts for a mild, stout or porter. My only complaint is that paler, hoppier beers could sometimes do with being cooler, but overall you get a very good pint in a pub that really should be all about the cask. Just short of outstanding, but not by all that much. 2 points.

Bonus points: It's another very good pub for cider drinkers, with six different ones typically on offer - I recently tried a raspberry mojito cider here that was absolutely batshit insane but entirely delicious! Definitely a bonus point for the cider. They'll pick up another for the pork pies which are among the best you'll ever eat - meaty and delicious with crunchy pastry and, best of all, very little jelly! (If you time your visit right you might get a hot snack, provided you like roast pork and crackling!) The overall atmosphere is worth a point too. I love all that woodiness and a working piano in regular use is a delight. One day I shall ask to have a go and belt out some Chas'n'Dave standards! So, three bonus points then.

One thing to be aware of - this is now a card-only establishment. Not that unusual these days, but just a few years ago the Southampton Arms was cash-only with no cards accepted, so don't get caught out by the reverse switcheroo!

 

Golden Ark, Selsdon

And so we come to the final entrant in this year's competition and it's a fresh new face - the Kemi Badenoch of the competition, if you will. If you've never been to Selsdon, you're probably in good company. It's a villagey outpost in the East of the London Borough of Croydon with poor transport connections and an indifferent Wetherspoons.

Snacktastic selection at the Golden Ark

It is, however, home these days to a quirky and rather good little micropub, the Golden Ark.  Opened in early 2019, it fills an important void in an area with few pubs and unashamedly seeks to replicate the features that made the micropubs of Kent and South East London so successful. This it does very well indeed.

Range of draught beers:  It's uncommon for a micropub to have more keg than cask on, but it might be a more sensible approach, especially if that's what the regulars want. There's usually three or four cask and about six keg available at any one time, with a couple of non-standard lagers, light and dark casks and something more offbeat, often involving fruit. The beers change pretty rapidly so come in with an open mind. Of course it's not a vast palace with an endless array of taps, but for a local micropub of its size, a decent and varied selection is always guaranteed. Score 1.5.

Quality of real ale: By keeping the cask range relatively limited, the ale here turns over quickly which ensures good quality. The Spoons down the road might have access to a massive national cellarmanship training programme, but their beer is not as fresh and tasty as it is here. I did have one sub-standard pint here once, but it was the very end of the cask, I was allowed to have it for free, and I only forced it down for the tick. Another score of 1.5.

Bonus points: The Golden Ark has probably the best selection of 'over the counter' snacks you'll find anywhere. Not just crisps and nuts but biltong and salami-type meat things and some spicy Asian bits and bobs that don't even have a name. Well they do, but I haven't learnt it yet. It's like a tuckshop within a pub and it's worth a bonus point. 

Another interesting feature is the opening hours - pretty much all day, every day, which is not typical of most micropubs. I've no idea if it's actually sustainable, and it's none of my fucking business, but fair play to the Golden Ark for taking this approach and offering solace to the thirsty, whatever time of day it may be. Slightly irregular to give out a point for opening times, I know, but it's genuinely unusual in the micropub world. I'll also score them highly for the community presence built up over such a short period of time - despite the disruptive pandemical nonsense of the last couple of years. They do quiz nights, live music, and you can hire out the space for meetings in the mornings prior to opening time. It's very swiftly become the central activity hub in an otherwise sleepy area.

And so, there we have four very different pubs to complete the entries for this year's Pub of the Year... Give me a week or two and I'll be revealing the overall top five, and, of course, the winner!

 

Where to find it...

The Hope
48 West street,
Carshalton
SM5 2PR (map)
website / whatpub
*********

Antelope
87 Maple road,
Surbiton
KT6 4AW (map)
website / whatpub
********* 

 

Southampton Arms
139 Highgate road,
Gospel Oak 

NW5 1LE (map)
no website  / whatpub
*********

Golden Ark
186 Addington road,
Selsdon 

CR2 8LB (map)
website / whatpub
*********