The Old Red Lion

This pub is really picking up. Great atmosphere, retro and very individual, extremely friendly but non-pushy staff and excellent food.
The chef really deserves a mention. Everything on the menu is home cooked (how many pubs say that when it is home defrosted/ microwaved??), even his chips are clearly hand cut- and everything excellent value. As it is all home made the menu is not long but has a something for all tastes.
It is still quite quirky. However they could get some decent wine glasses and coffee would be great, too.

Really like this pub, yet another old boozer done up by Antic. Love the mismatched retro furniture and the little details like the dolls houses at the back. Had delicious meatballs and polenta on my most recent visit, was actually really impressed. I hope they do as good a job with the place in Streatham they are taking over.

The Old Red Lion is tucked up in the less salubrious armpit end of Kennington Park Road nearer Elephant & Castle. From here northwards things can get a bit tense of an evening if walking alone. Having said that, it's a short walk from the tube and on a busy main road next to a shiny new Tesco Express.

I used to pass this place before it's present incarnation and it was always a dark and depressing sight, full of locals nursing cheap ales from early o'clock.

Good news, it's much much better than that now! I don't know the Balham Bowling Club or other spots the landlords of this place run, but I've heard good things. This goodness has shone on the ORL as well. .

Filled with mismatching retro furniture in a large mock tudor space. Still feels traditional but with an edge. Interesting and unusual bar snacks. Beautiful wisteria filled beer garden lit by candles. Wine served in goblets and carafes.

Best thing about this pub? Well there's two things. The staff are just the right side of friendly, appearing both efficient and knowledgeable without being overbearing. Second thing is the toilets. Always nice and warm down there of a cold evening. Jet dryers to boot. And once again, some quirky pics hung in all the right places.

They now have a full evening menu and, of course sunday roasts. There's also the obligatory quiz night and now also a folk sessions evening.

It continues to go from strength to strength as the word spreads. Long may it continue.

Excellent pub with a lovely conservatory area out back. Head chef's food was a real winning mouthful - the meat was firm yet tender, and the fish course was delicious. Perhaps slightly over salted though.

This recently refurbished pub is great, it has the feel of a tudor coaching inn (actually mock tudor but what the hell!!), but filled with an eclectic range of 1950s retro furniture and knick knacks - our table was next to a G-Plan dresser filled with toy soliders and plastic farmyard animals.

They serve real ale and a range of wines. The food's great, eclectic music and it's evident that the place is being managed with care by the same people who run dogstar and the East Dulwich Tavern. When's the last time you saw a jug of iced water on a bar for thirsty customers?

The pub is divided into a traditional main bar, a dining area (although you can have food anywhere, and then what I can only describe as an 'indoor outdoor section containing a series of 1 table cubbyholes. Finally there's a good beer garden / patio.

Take a look. You won't regret it, and it beats the Tommyfield.

I had a really good night in this surprising pub which does a great job at mixing cool with tradition.

Lovely pub now, quiet at the moment but no doubt will pick up and become a favorite.

I heard about this place from one of my girlfriend's colleagues, and was pretty skeptical at first. The pub's been around for ages and I always used to cycle past it to work, but it looked like the sort of grim dark local where you'd go at 11am on a weekday to meet up with likeminded (very patriotic) alcoholics, and stand on the pavement chugging through your 60-a-day whilst waving your arms around and farting.

But (even if that was never actually the case) it definitely isn't now. It reopened under new management a few weeks ago, and is now really quite appealing. It has its quirks - quite a few nooks and crannies, and funny little low doorways either side of the central bar to get round to the far side - but has been well done up with an odd but well chosen assortment of furniture. Also, most surprisingly - it's actually quite light inside, and has a beer garden!

No idea what the food is like (they hadn't yet opened the kitchen yet last time I went), but there's a decent selection of beers on tap / bottled (similar fare to the Tommyfield actually), and they do a reasonable selection of wines by the glass, as well as carafes of 250/500ml. The bar staff were welcoming (if perhaps a tad slow), and the music was eclectic but good.

Would certainly recommend it - a welcome addition to the Kennington pub selection (and close to the tube!)