The Vanbrugh

The Vanbrugh

by | May 2, 2026 | Business, Community, Eating Out, Pub, Uncategorized

You can’t keep a good pub down. I only found out via social media that the Vanbrugh pub has risen from the demise of the Duke of Greenwich, which was forced to close due to landlord greed.


I noticed on Instagram that the Vanbrugh was having its opening night on the 1st May, so after finishing my other prior drink-ups planned for that evening, I rushed over to the Vanbrugh, and the place was heaving.
There was a DJ in the corner keeping the atmosphere going; the pub garden was very busy on a nice, sunny evening, and there was an outdoor bar as well.


The general layout of the pub has not changed much, but the toilet facilities have changed drastically. Gone are the Ladies and Gents to be replaced by three unisex toilets with the entrance located by the kitchen and two disabled unisex toilets, one in the room leading to the pub garden and another in the garden.
Unfortunately, all the real ales and craft beers are gone, replaced by generic pub selections.
The food selection has also changed, replaced by what I can only describe as a very middle-class pub menu. Not posh but not your usual pub grub either.


One thing that they have right over the Duke of Greenwich is the pub’s opening times. The Duke of Greenwich did not open on Mondays or Tuesdays and only stayed open for half a day on Sundays. They seemed to treat their opening hours as if they were at a brewery taproom rather than a pub. The new Vanbrugh has decent standard opening hours, though they close at 9 pm on a Sunday, which is still a bit early.
I’m now going to have to remove the Duke of Greenwich review, wait a while and do another review. It’s never fair to give a review on any establishment’s opening night, as it never gives a true reflection of how the place is doing.

The Duke is gone.

by | Sep 22, 2025 | Business, Pub, Uncategorized

 

The Duke of Greenwich

It is with a heavy heart that I read about the Duke of Greenwich pub in the murky depths blog https://www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk/2025/09/16/greenwich-pub-for-rent-at-80000-after-landlord-couldnt-agree-new-terms/ )  that yesterday (21/9/25) the pub shut for the last time, due once again to a  greedy landlord who is demanding £80,000 per year in rent.

I went to the opening day off this pub, just when it first opened, after waiting some time for the Vanbrugh pub replacement.

I would frequently jump off of my train journey home and Maze Hill for a pint or two of their real ale, and craft beer selection, before continuing my journey to Charlton.  I was even at their beer festival just over two weeks ago.

This is a great shame as it was a great pub. Great beer and a great BBQ outside when the weather was nice.

The opening times were a bit of a puzzle.  Closed Mondays and Tuesdays  and did not open till 4pm on a Wednesday and Shutting at 9pm on a Sunday but despite this the locals and real ale enthusiasts loved the place.

 

Rock Leopard Brewing Co

Rock Leopard Brewing Co

by | Jul 11, 2025 | Business, Community, Pub, Uncategorized

 

The Royal London Borough of Greenwich has a new pub. Well, sort of.

It’s actually a brewery taproom,  located at the Rock Leopard Brewing Company in Thamesmead.

The Rock Leopard Brewing Company was set up in 2017 by Stacey Ayeh, who by then had nearly twenty years of experience in the brewing industry.

Initially, he used the spare brewing capacity of other small brewing companies, such as Cloudwater and Drop Project, which is a method of brewing called cuckoo brewing.

By 2022, the Company had built up a good reputation and business brand, so the next step was to find a permanent brewing home of their own,  and to do this, they used crowdfunding.

They now have a permanent home for a brewing operation in Thamesmead and a community hub taproom called Bouldr Bar, which at the moment is only open at weekends.

Friday 09:00 – 22:30

Saturday 12:00 – 22:30

Sunday  12:00 – 22:00

Location: 13 Wagtail Walk, Cygnet Square, London, SE2 9FE.

Being a taproom, it will obviously be selling their own beers, but it looks like they will probably in future have rotating guest beers, as most tap rooms do.

At the moment, they only have outside seating, which is great for a sunny day but not so when the British weather is being its usual dreary and cold self.

I first heard about this place from a YouTube channel that I follow called John Rogers Walks, and it follows an ex-radio broadcaster called John Rogers who walks all over London whilst giving an educational history about all the places he visits or walks past.

On this one particular episode, he was following the River Wogebourne (No. I had never heard of it either) from its source in Oxleas Woods by Shooters Hill to its ending in the River Thames.

But just before it reaches the Thames, it flows to a large pond in Thamesmead called South Mere, and the Bouldr Bar just happens to be located on a square on South Mere.

John Rogers noticed the Bouldr Bar, sat outside with a drink and gave a summary of his days walk.  If I hadn’t seen the YouTube video I probably  wouldn’t have found out about the Rock Leopard Brewing Company or the Bouldr Bar.

On Saturday (12/07/25) I was on my way to the Ealing beer festival and thought, why not kill two birds with one stone? The Bouldr Bar is only about 11 minutes from Abbey Wood Station, and I can get to Ealing direct from the Elizabeth line at Abbey Wood.

When I got to the Bouldr Bar it had already been opened for about half an hour, and there was a young couple with a child just leaving and for a while I was the only customer until another young family was curious about the place and stopped for a drink.

Stacey Ayeh was serving the Rock Leopard Brewing beers, snacks, and soft drinks from the doorway to the new premises. The inside looked like it was filled with building and decorating stuff.

I asked him when did he think the premises will be up and running as a proper pub. He said they should be installing a kitchen in a few weeks with new interior furniture also to be installed, so they will be doing hot food as well as selling beers, but he hoped to be opening in about three to four months as a fully functioning pub.

Eventually they will be also brewing from the premises.  The Bouldr Bar is set in deeply residential area, and gathering from the hurdles the Green Goddess at the Blackheath Standard had to go through to get a licence to brew on their pub premises I fear Stacey will have a hard time convincing Greenwich Council to agree to it without strict stipulations added.

One of the council’s main worries was the smell of the brewing upon the local residents,  but I for one can say the Green Goddess does not exude any Brewing smells.

He has already been through one block after another with the council so far, just to get where he has now.

He has only been selling his beers from the doorway for the last month or two and already has a  following from some of the locals.

I personally wish him well and can’t wait to finally see the Bouldr Bar open as a proper pub, hopefully by October.

 

 

 

 

The Anchor and Hope closure

by | Apr 2, 2025 | Business, Community, Pub

 

The Anchor and Hope closure.

The Anchor and Hope pub on Riverside, Charlton, closed unexpectedly in March. After some basic investigating, it would appear that the landlord, Mark Brooker, died recently after a short illness.

It would seem his brother owns and runs The Bull and the Red Lion on Shooters Hill, and his late father ran the Anchor and Hope before him, so we are talking of a bit of a publican dynasty. Hopefully, the pub will be back up and running again soon. On one local forum, someone has said that they relinquished the lease back to the brewery.

With its outside area overlooking the River Thames. I especially loved going here in the summer when the sun was shining.  Unfortunately, so did everyone else, and it can get very popular when the weather is nice.

It is also within a short walk of the Valley football ground, which makes it very popular with Charlton fans on a match day.

The Riverside area redevelopment is also due to start soon, I hope it doesn’t affect this great boozer. It’s heartbreaking, the number of good pubs we have lost in Greenwich over the last few years.

 

 

 

The Guardhouse Mystery

by | Apr 2, 2025 | Business, Community, Pub

 

The Guardhouse Mystery

Is it a prank, a joke or a scam? Surely it can’t be for real.

There have been rumours that the Guardhouse in Woolwich is too close or that the Young’s brewery is selling the lease off.

This I can understand, as although the Guardhouse is a great pub, it just doesn’t have the same attraction as the Dial Arch pub, which is another Young’s pub just 50 meters away.

The pub has a lease that expires on 14th April 2139, and they pay a peppercorn fixed rent.

Last December, the local newspaper, the News Shopper, published an article saying the Guardhouse  is up for sale at the exclusive  Savilles estate agents for £1 million, and it had the viewing instructions as follows:

Viewings:

Staff are unaware of our client’s intention to dispose of this property.  Consequently, all customer visits must be carried out discreetly and under no circumstances should any direct approach be made to any members of staff.  Should you wish to view the property, then make a prior appointment via the sole selling agents, Savills.

The News Shopper then added at the end of the report that the pub itself had been asked for a comment,  so they obviously know about it by now. 

I cannot believe this is seriously how Young’s go about treating their staff,  if it is true then shame on them.

The fact that this viewing instruction is still up on the Savills website months later makes me wonder if this is really all a prank

As I have said, it would not surprise me if the lease is sold on, but to do it like this is underhanded and ridiculously impractical.

How on earth is a speculative client possibly  able to view the property  without the staff being suspicious  about strangers who are wondering  about the place going into places the public have no place being.

Whilst looking at the Guard House lease on the Savills website, I also found that the lease for the Old Mill on Plumstead Common is also up for sale. I hope they have told their staff.

Come on, Savills, the game’s up; everyone knows about the lease sale by now. Take the sneaky wording down from your website. It doesn’t look very professional.