Picture of Old Justice, SE16 4TY

Historical version 13 of Old Justice, SE16 4TY (view current version)

  • 94 Bermondsey Wall East, SE16 4TY (streetmap) (osm) (gmap) (bingmap) (streetview)
  • noon-12:30am Mon-Thu; noon-1:30am Fri-Sat; noon-midnight Sun

Pub near the river on the Bermondsey/Rotherhithe border. The front part of the pub is just a standard lager-drinker's pub, no real ale, nothing particularly exciting or unusual. The really interesting aspect, and perhaps the main reason to choose this place over any of the other locals around here, is the saloon bar out the back — it's been converted into a restaurant area which serves Korean and Japanese food (noon-10pm every day, as of May 2007, with a possible extension to 11pm if the chef happens to still be around).

Kake visited the front part on a sunny Sunday afternoon in June 2008; there was quite a contrast between the scattering of solemn tourists (French and American, I believe) sitting on the benches out the front and the cheerfully loud and tipsy locals inside (who I was quite happy to banter with, but who might well come across as scary or intimidating to some). Strongbow was £2.80/pint and Guinness £3/pint.

As of June 2008, a blackboard near the front entrance listed the "Happy Old Justice" daily offers: on Monday you can get a free mixer with any shot; on Tuesday, free nibbles are available after 5pm; Wednesday features 3-for-2 on bottled beer; Thursday, free home-made crisps; Friday is BOGOF on fish and chips; on Saturday you get one free dish with any Korean meal; and on Sunday a roast dinner including soup to start and dessert to finish is available for £9 between noon and 10pm.

Kake, doop, and Bob visited on a Wednesday evening in March 2007 to try some of the Korean dishes. The food was pretty good, and sensibly priced. The Korean pancakes with spring onions and seafood, served as a starter, were tasty; hot, tender, and crisp without being oily. Dol sop bi bim bap (vegetables with sizzling rice in a stone bowl) was good too, particularly the mushrooms, though it was a bit of a surprise to find meat in the dish as well. (We don't think vegetarians would like it here. That was the only vegetarian-sounding dish on the Korean menu, and it, well, wasn't.)

Kake and Bob had another go at the Korean food on a Sunday evening in June 2008. (Bob had wanted to order from the Japanese menu, but it wasn't available that evening.) Kake went for the dol sop bi bim bap again (£6.50) photo, and it was again good. Bob had the chargrilled belly pork (£7); sadly, although they have proper grills embedded in the tables now, there needs to be at least two of you having barbecue for this to be sensible, so it came already grilled and chopped on a sizzler platter.

The back room is perhaps not really describable as a restaurant as such; although it has a separate entrance and there's no throughway to the lounge bar, it really feels more like a room in a pub than a restaurant (especially given the sport-infested flatscreen TV in the corner). On our May 2007 visit, there was also an outdoor dining area/beer garden leading off the saloon bar; it's pretty nice, with fairy lights and plenty of plants in pots, but in June 2008 this door was closed and we don't know if the garden is still in use.

Kake's verdict: We should come here more often. They appear to also do some kind of Korean booze, and this bears investigating.

Getting here: Probably the easiest (though not the shortest) way to find the Old Justice is to come out of Bermondsey Station, cross the road at the crossing, turn left, and take the next right, which is Bevington Street. Follow this all the way to the end, and the Old Justice is on your right, with its main entrance just around the corner on Bermondsey Wall East, and the restaurant entrance around the next corner from the main entrance. Note: the photo above is taken from Bermondsey Wall East; if you follow these directions then you'll be approaching from behind the pub on the right hand side of the photo. (No, it doesn't look as if there's a street there, but there is.)

See also:

GPS data collected by Kake on a Garmin eTrex, 28 March 2007, and released into the public domain: OSGB 534467, 179702

Last visited by Kake and Bob, 8 June 2008. Food last sampled on that visit. Opening hours and food times confirmed with the landlord (by Kake) on 6 May 2007.
OS X co-ord: 534467 OS Y co-ord: 179702 (Latitude: 51.499756 Longitude: -0.062532)
This is version 13 (as of 2008-11-23 15:01:11). View current version. List all versions.