On Thursday night my wife and I met some friends in The Old Dispensary, mainly because it’s the easiest to find if you haven’t been to Camberwell before — except maybe The Silver Buckle, so you see why we chose The Old Dispensary (who still don’t have their website online, despite printing it on all their promotional materials — a major no-no).
It has everything I tend to like in a bar — nicely decorated, good range of beers, table service — but there’s something about it that I can’t put my finger on that makes me not like it very much. I mean, it’s fine; it’s a nice place to meet for a drink, and they have Leffe (the best beer ever?) on tap, and it’s bright and warm… I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. I’ll still go there, but I don’t know if I’ll develop an attachment to it.
Straying out of Camberwell slightly, on Sunday afternoon we went to the Peckham Multiplex (95a Rye Lane, SE15 4ST) ; I guess I can justify it’s inclusion here as it’s the nearest cinema to Camberwell. The Multiplex’s USP is the fact that any film, at any time, costs £2.99. That’s pretty awesome. The cinema itself is spacious and clean, with really good sound. We saw The Incredibles, by the way, which was great fun.
In the evening we went out for our regular ‘monthaversary’ (there must be a better word than that). We wanted to try Willow on Denmark Hill, but it was closed due to an electrical fault. So we decided to go back to Blake House, but the upstairs restaurant was closed and they just had a pricey bar menu. Instead, we tried the George Canning (123 Grove Lane, SE5 8BG).
It’s a fairly small, lively place; nothing fancy, but comfortable. On Sunday evenings they have live music (a nondescript guitarist/singer last night; I remember nothing of him). The food is a little steep (£7–11 for a main course) but simple and tasty; I had a steak sandwich in ciabatta with fries, my wife had a burger and wedges; both were around the £8 mark, but both were cooked really well and had plenty of flavour. It’s not the first place I’d recommend for eating out, but if you ever get the urge for big, meaty food (and you don’t mind paying a couple of quid too much), the George Canning is worth it.
This morning I heard on the radio that there’d been a crash on Camberwell New Road (the longest Georgian road in Britain, apparently), at the junction with Kennington Park Road, and the traffic was backed up. I decided to walk from my house, and that was a good decision. It took me about 40 minutes to get to Vauxhall, and I passed several buses along the way; none of them caught me up by the time I got to the station. It was a pretty pleasant walk; I’d do it again. But not in my big winter coat, which made me sweat.
The bit about you sweating in your winter coat made me laugh out loud. I always do that…And may I step in and defend the Silver Buckle again?
that’ll be ‘mensiversary’, then. jaysus, it was gridlock. got off the 436 and walked. there were some policement taking pictures of a crashed car at oval. hmm.
Guy, I’m sure that The Silver Buckle has it’s uses — I’m just damned if I can think what they are. Late license? The Castle has that. Big screen sports? The Grove has that. I guess it’s unique selling point is that you can get glassed in the face there. Or am I being too harsh?
No you’re not I just like that heady brew of violence and cheap bitter.