Millwall
"We've had our jellied eels and our glass of beer" - Traditional
Where to begin?
Despite the sterling efforts of club and fans to redress the problem in recent years, I think it's fair to say a certain reputation lingers with Millwall. You might expect the pubs around the ground to be no-go areas for away fans. And you may well be right. The fact is I wouldn't know, because I've never been in any of them. I suppose this means that I do think those pubs are best avoided. But it's also because, even when Millwall aren't playing, this part of London is a dismal place for a decent drink. I used to live round here, and most of the pubs don't serve anything I would recognise as beer. I went on a pub crawl round Bermondsey once, and I've also done drinking down the Old Kent Road. Unless fizz is your thing, neither is recommended.
It's for those reasons that, on past visits, I've tended to concentrate my drinking in the area around London Bridge station (the Borough and Southwark), which hugs the south bank of the Thames a couple of miles north of Millwall's ground. This is, therefore, pretty much the area that this guide will cover, along with some other South London options.
But first things first. If you've never been to Millwall before, there are a couple of things you need to know. Firstly, Millwall don't play in Millwall. Millwall is on the Isle of Dogs, that annexe to London around which the Thames elegantly swerves, familiar to anyone who has ever seen EastEnders. Millwall FC play South of the River, in South Bermondsey. Secondly, getting there is really easy. Get to London Bridge railway station by whatever means (Northern or Jubilee lines, Thameslink from King's Cross if it's running on Saturdays, or train from Charing Cross or Waterloo East) and take a train one stop to South Bermondsey station, from where you follow the crowds. A 'zones one and two' one-day Travelcard will cover all your journey, and there are many trains. Given this, my strategy has always been to drink somewhere else, get to the ground as late as possible and leave as soon afterwards as the police will allow.
An alternative is to get the East London Line underground service to Surrey Quays (Surrey Docks as was) and then walk to the ground, although this is only really a sensible option if you're coming from one of the other stations served by the curiously isolated East London Line.
Southwark and the Borough
You're within walking distance of London Bridge station from any of these pubs.
The former cornerstone of our pre- and immediate post-match drinking strategy was the Wheatsheaf, on Stoney Street. Hard by Borough Market (star of many Victorian period dramas) and Southwark Cathedral, this was the meeting pub of choice. The people were friendly and the beers were excellent. Alas, it then closed at very short notice, and our August 2001 visit, excellent win though it resulted in, somehow wasn't quite the same without a decent session in the Wheatsheaf. It has since, I noticed when walking past recently without time to stop for a pint, re-opened as a Young's pub. It won't be the same, but an investigation is called for, although apparently it closes on Saturday evenings. Will it be a proper pub, or will it be one of these poncified pseudo-wine bars we're starting to see in Young's colours?
So what of other options? I know some people like the Market Porter, just on the next corner, but I'm unconvinced. It's a huge pub full of odd corners and interesting rooms, but service was distinctly frosty when I last called in, and they seemed to specialise in selling beers too strong for all-day drinking.
There are one or two other pubs around these back streets by the market - including a Young's pub called the Grapes across the Borough High Street, which always seems to be shut when I pass by - but to be honest I never bothered with these while I had the Wheatsheaf. We tended to use it as a base, meeting back there after the game and, after more drinks, pushing on from there. This means that other suggestions must be qualified, as they have all been visited on post-match evenings, which means recollections are suitably fuzzy. And our Saturday nights after Millwall tended to be extraordinarily drunken odysseys. I have a theory that emerging from this then famously unfriendly place unscathed caused a sudden surge of joi de vivre, particularly as we have a good record at this ground. On one victorious occasion we took over a nameless pub somewhere between here and Elephant and Castle, and had to be begged to stop dancing because they 'didn't have a dancing licence'. "You can't dance," we were told. "We know, but it doesn't stop us trying."
Anyway, as you head down Borough High Street towards Borough tube or the Elephant and Castle, there are a number of possibilities. Most of them I can't remember - is there one called the Little Blue Boy, or something like that? Not a great pub, anyway. Meanwhile, the George is possibly the only pub in London to be owned by the National Trust, unless there are others. It's an old, galleried coaching inn, about which I can remember little else.
Then there's the one which may or may not be called the King's Head. It definitely has a picture of Henry VIII on its sign, and it's one of the closer pubs to the station. It's a large and noisy place, and as far as I can recall served a pint of Harvey's which was not as good as it could have been.
Much better Harvey's can be sampled at the Royal Oak, on Tabard Street, if you can find it, off on an unsignposted street on your left as you wander down Borough High Street. The pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales apparently turned left at Tabard Street for Kent. Anyway, this is a little, smartly-run, nicely-decorated pub, and the only London house of the splendid Harvey's brewery. It offers several from the range, all good. I like this place. Waiting for a catch? You can only call in for night matches. The place closes at weekends!
Further down the High Street, heading towards Borough tube, you come to a Fuller's pub which was okay on my last visit, possibly called the Ship. Told you it was hazy.
Speaking of shut pubs, there's one of these new Fuller's conversions, the Barrow Boy and Banker (or something like that) hard on the approach to London Bridge, but I expect for weekend matches it would be shut too. Anything across the Thames in the City will be. On Saturdays and Sundays, don't even try. Central London, particularly the financial part, must be one of few places where pubs get quieter at the weekends, as no one lives there. In non-residential areas like the Square Mile, you'd be lucky to find one open. In any case, I think you really should stick to drinking South of the River when visiting the New Den.
Bankside
You could, instead, wander west from London Bridge along the bank of the Thames, towards the bright lights of the big city. Give the first pub a miss. You may be drawn to the so-called Old Thameside Inn by the fact that it stands next to a replica of the Golden Hind. Best look at the ship and then move on. While its location is superb, and you can drink outside by the river if the weather allows it, this pub wastes the space that a decent boozer could have occupied. It's all fake, too. A glance inside reveals there's nothing remotely 'old' about this place. It's a long, dull, bland pub, and when I visited in a non-football context, I was eventually served a cold, dull, bland pint of Fuller's London Pride by uninterested staff. The service was poor, the price was steep and the tables were filthy. Can't imagine who'd want to eat here.
Around the corner, you'll come to the tourist trap of the Anchor Bankside. While not great, it's an improvement. It sells beer, albeit again at a price, and has a bewildering layout of rooms to get lost in, but it's all a bit naff, and you'll not find many Londoners drinking in here.
If you persist further, then at the side of Blackfriar's Bridge you'll find the Founders Arms. The Founders is a pub I once rated, but now rate rather less. I think I've finally fallen out with the place. From the outside, it's a squat and unpromising 1970s building. You may be beginning to fear plastic glasses. Some assurance is provided by that Young's sign, as Young's is still the best of the London breweries, and their bitter (AKA 'ordinary') is the sort of thing you can merrily drink all day. Get a pint, and then (if the weather's up to it) get a seat outside for splendid views over to St Paul's on the other side of the river. There's also that former wobbly bridge close by. It should be noted that the Founders' accidental proximity to runaway tourist success the Tate Modern has had an impact on the pub. It's been given several tartings up inside, and the beer prices have gone up several notches to the point where they're now at West End levels. Meanwhile, the dark, secluded corners that I found so appealing are long gone. There's a coffee servery instead, for heaven's sake. Still, service seems reasonably sharp, and the beer is mostly good. This is still, I suppose, a better pub than it has any right to be, given where it is. They also do food all day, a rare thing round here, and although this has gone upmarket with prices to match, you can still just get a bowl of chips. I think what I don't like now are the people. On Saturdays in particular the crowd seems to consist entirely of confused tourists and braying middle-class groups drinking water and wine. You hardly ever see someone supping a pint in here.
Still, if you want to experience a truly shite riverside bar, visit Doggett's, at the other side of the Blackfriar's Bridge underpass.
Somewhere on a back street behind all this, that on the A-Z is barely a notch on Southwark Bridge Road, you'll never find the Lord Clyde, on Clennan Street. This is a locals' pub in a lost part of London, busy on my visit, and not with the most interesting beer - a choice, I think, between Fuller's and Young's - but a rare example these days of a London pub without a plan or concept - a pub that's just a pub.
By now we have wandered some distance from London Bridge, but the Founders and the pubs around it are handy staging posts to the West End. Press on to Waterloo Bridge, cross, and you're practically in Covent Garden, if that is where you wish to be. Alternatively, combine it before the match with a visit to the Tate Modern's Rothko room, which should get you in an appropriately sombre mood for the day ahead.
There are some reasonable pubs between here and Waterloo. Down Blackfriar's Road you have the Prince William Henry, a localish, gloomy and indefinably weird Young's pub. Unfortunately, as with many pubs round here, it's closed on a Saturday lunchtime.
One that generally seems to be open, on the same street, is the Paper Moon. It's not a great pub, and on past occasions it has been busy with various football supporters watching a TV game before their London matches, but it's handy and it does sell beer, including a varying pint of Harvey's. There's not much else round here, and it's friendly enough.
Another barely remembered place on nearby Southwark Street, between London Bridge and Blackfriar's Road, was the Shakespeare. It's a long time since I called in for a pint of ever-disappointing Courage, so I couldn't say what it's like now, but it's the only pub on that stretch if you can't hold out.
Towards Waterloo
Continuing across Blackfriar's Road will take you to Stamford Street and the Mad Hatter - just around the corner from the Paper Moon. Opinion is divided on this one. Many like it, but I'm unconvinced. It's certainly a grand building, an imposing conversion of what must have been some very smart offices. You will find that many London pubs have been converted from other buildings, which is odd, because in the countryside the trend is to convert pubs into houses. Anyway, Fuller's have given it the 'ale and pie house' treatment, and it's also, perhaps principally, a not very cheap hotel. A lot of money has clearly been spent on it, and for that you get a large, woody drinking area, with the usual Fuller's beer range. The place was rigorously airconditioned on the scorchingly hot August day when we played Millwall in 2001. Against this, you would not believe what a journey you have to make to go to the toilet. Beer is okay, and the food range has improved to above average, perhaps veering towards the tarty. But I can recommend the giant fishfinger sandwich. I called in on a Friday lunchtime once and it was full of pinstriped tossers.
On Upper Ground, the next street between here and the Thames, where we once pointlessly protested against Granada, is a newish, somewhat sanitised Young's pub, the Mulberry Bush, which I suspect is closed at weekends. After a number of visits, I've come to the conclusion that I don't like this pub. Their beer isn't well kept, and some right arseholes drink there.
By now, you're a significant distance away from London Bridge, but handily placed for the South Bank arts complex. Hey, the National Film Theatre Bar will be open! It sells Young's bitter - and the food's alright, too. I like the NFT as a place, and my only problem here is the poseurs who frequent this bar. Are you spotting a theme?
Just to complete the picture all the way to Waterloo, there are a couple of drinking options close by the station. Opposite the new Jubilee Line exit there's the Wellington, a large pub which I drank in often quite a few years ago, when it was then newly refurbished. Last time I went past it was being re-refurbished - well, it had been a couple of years - so who knows what it's like now?
A traditional alternative is provided by the Hole in the Wall, which is not quite literally that, but a filled-in railway arch. This pub would appear to still have a loyal following amongst those of a certain era, who recall when it was a real ale standard bearer in a beer desert, but those days are long gone. The beer range is still there, but my last pint was poor. That said, it matched the pub's grubbiness and the surly attitude of the bar staff.
You could always go on the London Eye while you're around these parts. It's a surprisingly non-naff experience. Queues can be long, so best to book your tickets in advance.
Towards Tower Bridge
Or you could tootle east from London Bridge, past the rubbish new City Hall, towards Tower Bridge, along Tooley Street. The Shipwrights Arms is the best pub around these parts. It once had a celebrated beer range, and now, if the most recent visit is anything to go by, rather less so. Rather a characterless pub, but nevertheless a decent pint from a changing roster. A sanitised pub is provided at the Hay's Galleria complex - one of the few round here I've not been in. And there's that (nameless) pub further on, which had the Wild Rover on the jukebox, unless they took it off immediately after our visit.
You could then finish up at the Wetherspoon's on Tower Bridge Road - the Pommelers Rest - which is at least guaranteed to be open. It's nothing special, but the locals pack it out drinking the cheap beer, and the walls are too red.
Rotherhithe
Rotherhithe is one of those bits of London which likes to pretend it's a village. It abuts the Thames north of Millwall's ground, and on one visit on a sunny afternoon it seemed unthreatening enough. One pub I know here is the Mayflower, on Rotherhithe Street, by the river. The Pilgrim Fathers are supposed to have set sail from here. I don't know about that, but the pub carries a crust of history, it's an interestingly ramshackle place, and you can drink on their jetty jutting out into the Thames, which is very pleasant indeed. Beers unfortunately came from Greene King, although there should be a more appealing guest. Service was hopeless on our visit, but it was a hot day, the place was busy, and we were drinking fast in celebration of a win. Rotherhithe is served by the East London Line, and so you can get to the ground via Surrey Quays, or back into the London mainstream via the new Jubilee Line connection at Canada Water. This is probably the nearest pub to the ground I've drunk in on a matchday, but it was football-free. Indeed, after the New Den, it was another world.
South East London
For those who want to stay further south, Greenwich is a possibility, with some decent pubs, if a bit on the poncey side at times. Just be sure to give New Cross and Deptford a miss on the way (is the Deptford Arms still the worst pub in the world?). Recently in Greenwich I've been in the Plume of Feathers by Maze Hill station (cosy but exploitatively priced - how can they charge more just for being on the bloody Meridian?) and the Trafalgar Tavern, down by the river (a grand, big old pub with a too posh clientele and spectacular views over to Blair's tent).
Alternatively, there was a time when I would go drinking in the other direction, in Camberwell. Although it's now many years, the Hermit's Cave then offered basic pleasures, while up Denmark Hill the Phoenix and Firkin was one of the better of that ilk (but will doubtless have been re-branded). Slightly further up, the Fox on the Hill was a good version of Wetherspoon's.
Food
As for food, options are slender at weekends. London Bridge station offers the usual shite and expensive fare, while only the self-hating would risk the local snackbars. Guy's Hospital, you may recall, offended liberal sensibilities when it opened the first Mcdonald's on NHS territory. Indeed, for once, the ground may well prove to be your best bet for a bite to eat. Millwall pioneered the pizza, beer and TV approach to half time.
Policing and safety
Sadly, we need to mention personal security. To a great extent, Millwall have cleaned up their act, and the supporters and the club deserve credit for doing so. Because of this, the ban that had been imposed on Burnley supporters for the 2002 / 2003 season was lifted by the time we came to play there. The subsequent night match in March 2003 was very strange. The smallest Burnley contingent I have ever been a part of - I could have shook hands with the whole away end, and most of them I knew - sat through a match that had zero malice, menace, or, indeed, atmosphere. The walk up to the station was as placid as a Sunday stroll in the park.
We can only hope that this is the way it's going to be now. It is incumbent on Burnley supporters to behave. This match in the past has tended to attract our yobs, too. I want to keep being able to support my team at this ground, so we have to make sure that ban is never coming back. Whatever the security and policing arrangements are, try to go along with them. Despite the above, don't turn up obviously drunk. Don't talk back to police and stewards, although Lord knows, they make it hard for us, and I'm guilty of not always following my own advice. Remember, the police didn't want us to be there last season, and I recall a game a few years back when supporters were hauled out indiscriminately. As for getting to and from the game, be sensible and do what I do: don't wear colours. If in doubt, keep your mouth shut.
It's possible that after the final whistle there will be some pretty rigorous policing. When we won here 3-2 in 1994 (Mark Winstanley!) they gathered us all together and marched us back en masse. January 1999 was like the miners' strike: Clarets on one side, Millwall on the other and a line of police in between, abuse and threats hurled over their heads. There were more police on the station and train. Curiously though, that long walk through the passage that took you from the station entrance to the platform (a longer walk than you might expect) often had to be undertaken without police protection. I guess it fell between two stools.
On more recent visits, the police formed a barrier across the road and held away supporters in for quite some time. I don't know how long, because we found an alternative way to get away from the ground, but don't expect me to tell you about that here. Millwall fans, of course, didn't have to wait around after the game, so their yobs had plenty of time to get organised. London Bridge station has consequently sometimes been a bit hairy after the match.
Every time we come here, the police seem to have refined their tactics, so none of this enables us to predict what the situation will be the next time. There is now a special walkway between South Bermondsey station and the away end. For our visit for the FA Cup match in February 2004, this meant it was all change again. As opposed to the minimal police presence in March 2003, now we had police aplenty. We had segregated trains from London Bridge and our own walk to the ground. After the match, those of us catching the train were 'invited' to stay behind for a few minutes. This was clearly the kind of invitation you can't turn down. We ended up being corralled outside the ground for around half an hour engaged in a sort of sarcasm contest with the police, which at least passed the time. We were told they were merely protecting us, but since did when protection have to be so patronising? Eventually we were walked incredibly slowly to the station, and put on another segregated train. Fortunately we escaped at London Bridge, where they were apparently set on taking people all the way to Euston.
Follow your nose!
Returning to the far more interesting topic of pubs, I suspect the above hazy suggestions are inadequate. Well, these aside, there's the whole of central London itself on offer. What more do you want? Explore it. London is an extraordinary city. Contrary to what people in the North might think, London is also full of great pubs: pubs with character, pubs with history, friendly pubs, pubs that sell excellent beer. Follow your nose and see where it takes you.
You see, despite the crowds, the congestion, the grime, the people acting like wankers, the almost comically bad transport system - despite everything - London is still one of the world's great cities. I've never had much time for those who dismiss London, say they've been there and hated it. It's a much more interesting place than that. I could spend a lifetime trying to work out whether I like it or not.
Firmo
Last visited: February 2004
Last updated: February 2004
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