Pub Spy on The Talbot

The News Shopper's legendary Pub Spy has stumbled across The Talbot:

Its fatigued green paint job would camouflage it in a pleasant Brockley street if it weren’t for an eyesore patio, while the inside space is at first glance small, plain and dilapidated. But visiting this pub is like sifting through bric-a-brac at a jumble sale and finally unearthing a battered vintage whatnot to treasure...

As I reassessed The Talbot, I realised it is cool in a low-key, beaten up kind of way.

It comes across as no-frills but then serves non-standard lagers and I spied a disused specials board flogging dishes such as game terrine, steamed mussels and venison.

Pub music is always contentious, but if I say I heard two Smiths songs in the space of half an hour, it probably gives you an impression. The overheard bar chatter had a similar vibe – ‘literary canon’, how to define terrorism and class politics.

There was not one mention of Moyes In, Holloway Out, or Ibrahimovic’s screamers the night before – which on one hand I found refreshing and on the other disconcerting. This is a pub where it does not feel wrong to sit in a corner reading a book, so I did.

For the full review, click here.