The China Hall, Rotherhithe, SE16

Proper old-school boozer, with a plainly decorated and furnished 'L'-shaped bar including a darts area (opened-out at some stage from the original multi-room layout). Part patio / part grassed beer garden to the rear. Major matches on sports TV and live music advertised. Surprised but pleased to find two handpumps, both in use, with Tetley's Cask (£3.00) and Adnam's Ghost Ship on offer.

This is an old style locals' pub which had a gaggle of regulars chatting around the bar on Friday afternoon. L-shaped, fully carpeted and with predominantly standard chairs and tables apart from one tall round one which looks to be situated as a pint perch for those using one of the pair of dartboards. There is also a pool table but this had a wooden cover on top when I was in, not sure why. The lower walls are green, upper walls and the moulded ceiling in a shade of mustard. Lots of old pictures of the area and the pub on the walls, I noticed a pair of the pub of late 70s vintage when seemingly every pub interior was kitted out in fake wooden beams and posts. Live sports are shown although the TV was off at the time, food served, I didn't see a menu but there is a Pukka Pie and pint deal for a fiver and I saw an old couple sat eating basic sliced white bread sandwiches, you probably won't find pan fried calves liver in here. A cheery welcome from the chirpy barmaid, another from the friendly pub cat who jumped on a bar stool next to me demanding a head stroke. Two cask beers, Tetley Bitter which seems to be a regular plus Adnam's Ghostship, I had a half as I was on a walk from Canada Water to Westminster, this was served in a small goblet not unlike an old fashioned wine glass. There are not too many of these basic old style locals around still but they offer much to many and deserve support, good luck to them.

There were a couple of real ales on – the rarely seen (in London anyway) Tetley’s, and Spitfire (£3.10 a pint). This is clearly a very basic locals’ pub. It’s nicely carpeted; there’s hardly any seating in the small area where the bar counter resides, but there are some tables and chairs in a larger room to the left of the pub. The tables here all had menus on them, plus ketchup and condiments, so no doubt they do provide food, although I didn’t see anyone partaking of it during my visit. This larger seating area also contains a dartboard, and a TV on the wall. The bar area also has a very large TV mounted on the wall, which is obviously used for major sporting events as a sign on the wall reminded patrons there to watch live sport that they had to spend at least £6 over the bar. There’s a pool table in the area in front of the main seating area, plus a tall table and stools in splendid isolation in front of the pool table scoreboard. There are numerous sporting trophies on the bar back (a previous poster has mentioned the darts heritage), and on one of the walls was something more frequently seen in pubs these days – a TV type monitor just showing adverts, seemingly mainly for sports. There’s nothing special about this pub, but you will enjoy it if you like basic and ordinary pubs with no airs and graces. I would have no problem in dropping in for another pint if I was in the area.

Randomness Guide to London - China Hall entry

Randomness Guide to London - China Hall entry

Unashamed local boozer: well run but slightly scruffy, serious darts, proper pub food lunchtimes, even a nice little garden. Beers seemed well kept (Deuchars and Tetley on draught). Enjoy before it gets closed or dragged upmarket.