please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Very much a gastro pub with several tables already reserved for diners. However unlike many gastros there is a good selection of real ales.
Four Oakham ales and a Batemans guest ale were on when I visited recently after the cricket.
Quite a few drinkers present, mainly males having a drink after a day at the Oval which is about 15mns walk away.
The décor was smart. I understand the place was renovated awhile ago.
Have to mention the friendly staff too!
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Very nicely gentrified pub/gastro bar at the moment. Great place to go for a date, have a good meal. Great interiors. I remember this pub as it was in 2000-2002. Very simple, old interiors, small selection of beers and spirits but man....that place had its own great character then! There was a Polish barman there who used to play some great tunes and had a bit of an attitude at times. There was a wonderful TV watching area - almost like a small cinema where you could watch football and music clips on MTV. The place was very spacious with some fantastic, old furniture and simple and rough local customers. The beer was cheap and of good quality. Good times.
Now....much busier than it used to be but much more expensive and completely different place.
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A few steps from the Old red Lion is Oakhams Ales from Leicestershire flagship pub & restaurant. Oaka is very different to Old Red Lion in that it’s a very nice done up pub which is divided half as a bar and the other half as more of a dining area.
Appears in the 2015 GBG so it was on my “tick list”. Relatively quiet with 2 couples finishing their lunch and 2 guys have a quick drink. I took a stool at the bar and chose from the 5 Oakham ales across the 10 hand pumps, worth noting that each ale was on twice. 3 stronger abv ales are available on the keg lines.
I had halves of Bishops' Farewell @ 4.6% and The Burglar @ 4.9%. £4.00 for 2 halves which I assume is the cost of a pint. Both decent ales with no compliant of the quality.
Rugby world cup on silent on the television with ambient music playing gave the place a bit of atmosphere but with no many punters in it was hard to gauge what the pub would be like when’s busy. I assume it does get busy at it’s almost bang opposite Kennington underground station.
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Went in here before cricket at the Oval on Friday. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. 3 ales were on - Citra, JHB & Bishop's Farewell. Their Oaple cider produced in collaboration with Hogans was on one pump. But there turned out to be very little of it in a bag in the fridge. It was very cloudy and I was warned of this. But it still tasted fine. I guess some people are put off by the cloudiness. The bar itself is L-shaped with the one side taken up by a dining area, where tables are made up and unavailable for drinkers. This leaves very little drinking space. Nevertheless I did still manage to find a table and the pub is far enough from the Oval to ensure it doesn't get too busy. Not overly impressed and I noticed that the pub nextdoor had more ales on and from more than just the one brewery.
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As a keen student of Oakham ales, I was keen to try this place and the Citra was as good as I'd come to expect. Other than that, it's something of a curiosity, however - a pan -Asian restaurant area looks to deliver good, albeit over priced, food but the fact that takes over half the pub along with a needless big screen TV and some overly modern furnishing makes this something of a missed opportunity. That said, with drinks like this, still well worth a visit.
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More a large wine bar, Decent range of Oakham ales.
Wouldn't rush back, as not a pub.
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Bit like an "All Bar One" with loud background music. Did not try the food, only had beers. It might have been me but the beers did not seem like Oakhams I have had in Cambridge. Not my type of bar
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I wish BITE would remove the blurry crappy main first photo. Its way outdated now, looks completely different, and is soooo yesterday.
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Really want to like this pub but can't work out if its a pub, Thai Restaurant or wine bar. Judging by the lack of trade compared to the pub next door I'm not the only confused drinker. If you like Oakham ales you will love this but most people seem to drink lager or wine, so having a large number of identically tasting ales (all very light and hoppy) seems to offer a poor range. why can't some real ale pubs serve a normal bitter or session ale?
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NOT CLOSED. I guess had a change of ownership to the excellent Oakham of Peterborough brewery. Their beers are very good. We ate as well, the food leaning on the Thai side and was extremely good.
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We say an advert for this pub in London Drinker,so as we were not far away we decided to give it a try (it is virtually across the road from Kennington tube station). It is described as a Pan-asian bar with Oakham Ales (The proper name for the bar is Oaka at The Mansion House). JHB: Citra: Bishops'Farewell and 2 seaonal ales were on offer and were in good nick. We had several !! It is mainly a dining bar but they do have a drinking to the right as you enter. Smart modern decor and generally very impressive. We were never hassled to have food but it was there if we wanted it. Beer prices are on the higher side but we thought it was worth it. There is one large TV screen for sport (no sound). Family friendly. CGood toilets (downstairs) and we enjoyed our visit. Note: they do not sell half pints - only pints/thirds or two-thirds !! Well worth a visit if just for the Oakham ales.
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Visited this pub a couple of weeks ago, I was very impressed by the large selection of Oakham Ales on offer, all in good condition and well served by the friendly barstaff. I recommend a visit if you are in the area.
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After years of closure this has reopened and reinvented itself. It's not quite a gastropub but with the large space for eating, it's getting on that way and it looks a bit brash for this unassuming part of Kennington. However the beer is excellent with the full range of Oakham brews, a nice change from the usual Kentish beera round here.
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[Reopened NOT CLOSED]
Being local, this has to be my favourite pub of all time for the memories and good times spent in here.
Closed for six years, disappointingly I thought never to be reopened as a pub again. But as recently as three weeks ago I noticed it had been opened, and almost as if it had sprung-up overnight, I had no idea!
It has been massively refurbished, literally from scratch. It has a large multi-wood panelled window front, with central entrance doors that lead towards a beautiful long bar that houses pumps for quality handcrafted real ale's of various strengths, popular well known branded beers, lagers and ciders. My personal favourite is the Krombacher Weizen - a wheat beer.
The interior design is in keeping with pleasant upmarket bars elsewhere in London
The new Oaka at Mansion House also has a restaurant/dining area that serves Pan Asian Cuisine ~ Thai Curry dishes with rice and much more on their menu.
The food incidentally was excellent, albeit modestly portioned, and a bit on the expensive side for what you get. However, that is my only criticism of the wonderful new Mansion House, and comes highly recommended by myself.
I have uploaded some images of the modern Oaka at The Mansion House, as pictures say more than words
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Pub re-opened today under the same name. Owned and run by Oakham's brewery. Didn't eat here but they had ten real ales on offer and it looks like it will be a real improvement to drinking in Kennington. Very handy for Kennington tube and friendly bar staff.
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Phoned Oakham a few months back to confirm this was in their hands. Indeed a director of theirs has it. E-mailed him last week. Not heard but Lambeths' plannig Website states "Application Withdrawn"! It was supposed to be opening late '07. TBC! we've an Admans pub (well bar - Tower Bridge Rd-South), a Hopback pub (Sultan, South Wimbledon), a Harveys in the Royal Oak (Tabbard St. SE1) and a former Nethergate (Black Bull, Whitechappel Hi St) thats now an Indian but still selling Nethergate. How great to have an Oakham it would be!
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To be reopened by the excellent Oakham ales of Peterborough under the new name "Oaka" later in the year. WATCH THIS SPACE
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This pub is now closed.
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My visit for Sunday lunch on 16/01/05 was not my first time in the Mansion House by far. In the past the food has been excellent but today was a very different story. We waited over and hour and a half for our food. The Sunday roast was appalling. My lamb, which was the smallest portion I've ever seen was mostly fat. The yorkshire pudding was a pancake, it really should have had sugar and lemon on it. The roast potatoes were hard in the middle and burnt on the outside. The Mansion House has lost my custom for good
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It has been sometime since I have been to the Mansion House and I was pleasantly surprised to see a vast improvement to it's previous non descript style/ambience. Although it was almost deserted (it was lunchtime Boxing Day after all), it still impressed me with regard to the excellent menu and choice of beers and spirits. The open fire was decidedly magnificent and cosey. I feel that this pub could be a great asset to Kennington, which has a dearth of good drinking holes.
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Had dinner there last night. Good features: Hoegarden on tap, open hearth fire (u beaut!), amazing food - yes, these guys did a great roast, rack of lamb and vegetable dish for our little group.
Desert I recommend the apple crumble - amazing.
Negatives: no cards or credit, but there's cash machines at the stores either side. It's on the quite side Sun night but hey, if you want busy go somewhere else!!
buddha - 15 Mar 2004 17:19 |
recently refurbished, now a shepherd neame pub if it wasn't before. good well stocked bar and selection of beers/lagers. nice food reflected in the gastropub decor. can be a bit quiet but sometimes that's what you want. only gripe is that you had to pay cash as there was no card machine(!)
Daryl - 30 Jan 2004 10:12 |
