Picture of Royal Albert, SE14 6TJ

Historical version 6 of Royal Albert, SE14 6TJ (view current version)

  • 020 8692 3737
  • 460 New Cross Road, SE14 6TJ (streetmap) (osm) (gmap) (bingmap) (streetview)
  • noon-11pm Sun-Tue; noon-midnight Wed-Thu; noon-1am Fri-Sat

A fine Antic pub in New Cross (towards Deptford).

This was once the "Paradise Bar", the early-00s focus of the New Cross music scene and also known for some stabbings, which probably didn't help its longevity. Now it's been given back its original name, carefully refurbished, and done up with the familiar mismatching antique-style furniture, comfy leather sofas (and some less so, given their advanced state of decrepitude), and retro atmosphere.

Bar staff are exceedingly friendly and on a visit in March 2008 were keen for us to try the St Austell Proper Job ale (£3/pint), which was indeed very nice and well-kept (but no longer on in April). The other ales on tap were Young's Bitter and Landlord. The wine list is fairly extensive and bottles are £14-19. On a visit in May 2008 the guest ale was Top Tipple (£3/pint), with Landlord also on.

The kitchen area is open at the back of the bar so you can see the chef cooking. Food is served 5pm-10pm Tuesday to Friday, 1pm-5pm and 6pm-9pm Saturday, and 1pm-5pm Sunday (with a Sunday roast, including vegetarian option, for £9.50). Mains range from £6-8, with a pizza at £4 and fries £2.30, as well as a selection of mix-and-match dishes for £2.50 each. We tried the hummous and pitta bread starter (£3) in April 2008, which was nicely warmed, with some peppery hummous, very tasty. On a visit in May 2008, the steak & ale pie was adjudged to be very good by Kat, while my mix of market vegetables and fried plantain with 'very hot' chilli sauce was a good size considering each was £2.50 (and the sauce was quite hot).

There's a pub quiz every second Monday (£2 entry, 8pm start time), and movie nights on other Mondays. Arriving at 7pm on Monday the place is almost empty, but it fills up for the quiz which starts fairly promptly. Quiz has six rounds, and is a good blend of easier and more challenging questions, with a picture round and a number of picture questions included, but no sports round. The prize is the takings (in our case, April 2008, this was about £70).

Definitely a place worth returning to, a nice local for the area.

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Last visited by Ewan, Bec, Kat and Rick, 31 May 2008. Prices verified on an earlier visit, March 2008. Opening hours taken from Antic website, March 2008.
OS X co-ord: 537118 OS Y co-ord: 176948 (Latitude: 51.474369 Longitude: -0.025429)
This is version 6 (as of 2008-08-29 23:36:04). View current version. List all versions.