The Vanbrugh
91, Colomb Street
SE10 9EZ

If ever there was an evening to go to the Vanbrugh, it’s a July evening in the middle of a Greenwich heat wave. As the weather makes a setting and the setting is what really makes The Vanbrugh, so regardless of some pretty significant shortfalls I enjoyed my time there.

Don’t be fooled by the poncey Flash website (show me a good Flash website and I’ll show you a flying beer barrel), the Vanbrugh has a decidedly laid-back atmosphere. It’s been sectioned off into a few distinct areas: there’s the rather forgettable small and dark bar area, outdone in size and style by both the large traditional garden and the permanent marquee that leads to it. Yep, marquee, and it’s bizarrely furnished with huge red Chesterfield sofas and matching lighting. It works though, as you feel more part of the garden than the pub, yet it’s cosy at the same time.

I am not without my gripes about The Vanbrugh, though. When I say it’s laid-back, I mean laid-back. The barmen look and act as though someone’s just shaken them out of a coma – not unfriendly, but somehow not all there. No real effort’s gone into the drinks or food selections either, which are indistinguishable from every other pub in the area. I rarely eat in pubs but I chanced it here and it didn’t stack up. It wasn’t dreadful, but the nachos were so stingily dressed that I may as well have turned up with my own bag of cheese Doritos, and the broccoli & cheese bake was strangely watery, with stodgy chips not tasting of much. Kudos for managing to go beyond soggy lettuce and onion in the side salad, but really if you have to rely on your side salad for a good review, it’s not a great sign.

Back to the plus side, The Vanbrugh is one of the busiest places I’d been to. Not wonderfully located next to the train tracks near Maze Hill station, one can only assume folks seek it out and it’s been recommended to me on many occasions, both of which speak volumes. Food and zombie barmen aside, it is certainly worth a visit for a nice place to just have a drink and be still for a while. Just make sure you don’t sink too far into those sofas, you might slip into a coma and be forced to join the staff there on a permanent basis…