The Old Mill… old charm and atmosphere

BY BILL LACY

An old windmill, situated next to a girl’s school and opposite the expanse of a grassy common, seems an unlikely place for a good pub.

But The Old Mill is certainly that. It isn’t quite as off the radar as it seems.

There’s a couple of decent pubs nearby, including a relatively new micropub and a pub with the delightful name The Who’d ‘a’ Thought It.

But it is The Old Mill that stands out. You can still see the remains of the old mill protruding from the middle of the building.

But this is no mere curiosity, a place just to go because it is a listed building.

It is a very good pub, on any metric you care to name. I remember coming here many years ago.

It was decent enough then, if a little down-at-heel, although certainly far better than a nightmarishly bad pub called The Prince Albert which was on the other side of the entrance of the school, since closed.

But the intervening years has seen The Old Mill move up several levels – it has previously featured in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide and was even the site of a beer podcast I recently listened to, essentially two blokes talking around a table about how good the beer is.

The beer is indeed good enough that it could be described as a beer drinker’s pub, but it is more than that.

Six handpumps dispense a range of fine real ale.

There’s a few traditional English choices such as Courage bitter, a nod to its past as a Courage pub (before that the pub belonged to Beasley’s Plumstead Brewery, now defunct).

I was pleased to see Hardys and Hansons Olde Trip (named for England’s oldest inn in Nottingham), which I haven’t often seen in London.

The bar is resplendent with eye-catching old whiskey vases with names like Cutty Sark and Haig.

It radiates a sense of history, then, but it’s also a friendly, welcoming pub, with a local’s feel, and a place to have a good night out, with live music at the weekend.

Apart from the history pieces the recently refurbished interior is bare and modest.

A fruit machine looks slightly out of place.

An L-shaped bar snakes round to a function room called “Andy’s room” and a large beer garden, which was a frightful mess the last time I came here many years ago but has now improved.

The Old Mill is a great example of a pub that is moving in the right direction but has still retained its old charm and atmosphere.

The Old Mill, 1 Old Mill Road, Plumstead, SE18 1QG

 

Pictures: Bill Lacy