Picture of Telegraph At The Earl Of Derby, SE14 5LW

Historical version 8 of Telegraph At The Earl Of Derby, SE14 5LW (view current version)

A refurbished pub in the Telegraph Hill area of New Cross, which reopened on 26 February 2009.

Until a few years ago, when it closed, the Earl of Derby was a local pub serving a residential side-street north of New Cross Road, at the edge of Telegraph Hill. The area, like the pub, has become greatly gentrified over recent years and has now reopened as something fitting its new tranche of local residents.

Out the front a covered area has been constructed, while inside some period features are retained. There's a particularly attractive bar area, as well as plentiful wooden pews in the capacious rear room. A vast map of the world decorates one wall, while on the other side of the pub are two open fires with fresh logs of wood giving off a little bit of extra heat.

There are four handpulls for ale at the bar, serving Fuller's London Pride (£1.60/half pint) and Chiswick, and Gale's HSB and Swing Low on the pub's opening (unchanged a month later), well-kept as you'd expect. There are also a range of regular lagers, as well as Fuller's Honey Dew, Litovel (original and red, with slightly higher alcohol percentage), and Leffe.

Food is served, a fairly short menu including Sunday roasts, and the place was packed out on its first Sunday. There's a specials board above the bar, listing a number of vegetarian options. On a Sunday visit in April 2009, the menu had four mains options (beef and lamb roasts, a fish pie, and a vegetarian choice), as well as a few starters and some desserts. Ewan and Jo had the vegetarian option, a perfectly decent asparagus risotto, with shaving of parmesan on top (£8) photo. Sarah's lamb roast was substantial, with plenty of trimmings (£8.50).

Music is playing, but not too loudly. Upstairs there is a function room. They advertise a quiz on Monday evenings from 8pm.

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Last visited by Ewan, Sarah and Jo, 5 April 2009.
OS X co-ord: 535524 OS Y co-ord: 176467 (Latitude: 51.470430 Longitude: -0.048554)
This is version 8 (as of 2010-01-04 16:27:07). View current version. List all versions.