Moon Under Water in New Cross
Many as are the virtues of the Moon Under Water, I think that the garden is its best feature, because it allows whole families to go there instead of Mum having to stay at home and mind the baby while Dad goes out alone. And though, strictly speaking, they are only allowed in the garden, the children tend to seep into the pub and even to fetch drinks for their parents. This, I believe, is against the law, but it is a law that deserves to be broken, for it is the puritanical nonsense of excluding children —and therefore, to some extent, women—from pubs that has turned these places into mere boozing-shops instead of the family gathering-places that they ought to be.
- George Orwell comes out on the side of yummy mummies in the great debate about pubs
The Sun today carries an article by Robin Turner, author of the Rough Pub Guide, who asks which pubs today still capture the spirit of the pubs celebrated by George Orwell in his famous essay, The Moon Under Water.
New Cross' Montague Arms is one of four pubs he highlights, saying:
OCTAGENARIAN staff (landlord Stan Pownall is 85), decor like the pirate ship in The Goonies and an events calendar including The Unwrong Quiz make this one of our strangest, and best, boozers.
