{"id":5743,"date":"2025-09-24T11:40:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T11:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=5743"},"modified":"2025-09-24T11:40:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T11:40:18","slug":"at-the-final-stop-of-the-clapham-omnibus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2025\/09\/24\/at-the-final-stop-of-the-clapham-omnibus\/","title":{"rendered":"At the final stop of the Clapham omnibus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On Wednesday 20 August CAMRA\u2019s London Pubs Group visited four pubs in a short tour of the Clapham Common Old Town area that were candidates for inclusion on CAMRA\u2019s Local Inventory of pubs with local historic interest.\u00a0 First was the Prince of Wales<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0This is primarily of interest for its two superb tiled fireplaces featuring ceramic images of beer barrels and falcons, the latter being the emblem of the former Lacon\u2019s Brewery. \u00a0It is a single bar corner pub, distinguished at night by its exterior blue neon ‘POW’ sign, while the interior is adorned with hanging traffic lights, old school desks, stuffed animals and all manner of bric-a-brac. \u00a0The pub dates from around 1884 and is described in the Clapham Society\u2019s The Buildings of Clapham<\/em> as having a \u2018pleasant mini neo-Queen Anne doorcase\u2019.\u00a0 This pub is in CAMRA\u2019s Good Beer Guide<\/em> 2025 and offers a 10% discount on cask beers for card-carrying CAMRA members. Greene King Old Speckled Hen, Harvey\u2019s Sussex Best Bitter and Timothy Taylor Landlord are normally served here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although based at Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, Lacon\u2019s Brewery once had at least 14 pubs and 11 off-licences in London.\u00a0 They were acquired by Whitbread in 1965 and closed by them in 1968. \u00a0The Coach & Horses in Soho<\/a> and the Coborn<\/a> in Bow appear to be the only other surviving ex-Lacon pubs in London, although the former Builders Arms<\/a> in Canonbury, now converted into flats, still displays its Lacon\u2019s signage.\u00a0 The brewery, still in Great Yarmouth, was revived in 2009 after enthusiasts acquired the rights to the Lacon name from AB InBev and a new range of beers was launched under that brand in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next call was the Rose & Crown<\/strong><\/a>. \u00a0This pub is a candidate for inclusion on the Local Inventory because of its fine exterior, with a green and gold Simonds livery announcing its \u2018NOTED ALES & STOUT\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Behind the fine Simonds fa\u00e7ade lies a thoroughly modern interior, although it makes use of traditional materials including wood and stained-glass.  There is also a large restaurant area to the rear.  Reading-based Simonds amalgamated with Courage & Barclay in 1960, to become Courage, Barclay, Simonds & Co Ltd with the name being simplified to plain Courage Ltd in 1970.  This is a three-storey, 19th century public house with an early 20th century terracotta faience front.  The Clapham Society say this has been a pub since c.1870.  Rose & Crown Ale (probably Greene King) and Timothy Taylor Landlord are normally served here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From here it was a short walk across the road to the Sun<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0Its inter-war stained-glass windows showing evidence of its former Charrington ownership are the feature that makes it of local historic interest. \u00a0The pub dates from c.1880 and replaced an earlier one on the same site. \u00a0It was originally in the centre of a row but the cottages that stood on the present courtyard-garden were destroyed by a bomb in the Second World War, together with the adjacent church. \u00a0The front bar is completely opened out and decorated in a restrained gastropub style. \u00a0There are separate drinking areas at the rear.\u00a0 The pub remains something of a landmark in the Old Town and looks out directly onto the Old Town bus stand where, appropriately, route 88 terminates.\u00a0 This was the service that was marketed as \u2018The Clapham Omnibus\u2019 by the London General in the mid-1990s. \u00a0Fuller\u2019s London Pride and Timothy Taylor Landlord are normally served here.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Our final destination was outside the immediate Old Town area on Clapham Common South Side.\u00a0 The Alexandra<\/a><\/strong> is a Grade II listed building with a fabulous exterior that includes a dome and polychromatic brickwork.\u00a0 Designed by Edward l\u2019Anson in 1863, it was converted to a public house c.1876, at which time the flanking wings became separate properties. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, all the original interior fittings have been destroyed in successive refurbishments. \u00a0Nevertheless, CAMRA\u2019s website describes it as an \u2018unusually atmospheric pub with separate drinking areas around a large central pine bar. \u00a0Bare brick walls adorned with old advertisements; wooden floor and wooden furniture\u2019<\/em>.\u00a0 The pub was also formerly part of the Courage estate and takes its name from Princess Alexandra of Denmark who married Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1863 and went on to become Queen Consort in 1901. \u00a0Greene King Abbot is normally served here, although mostly at weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim Rennie and Jane Jephcote<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday 20 August CAMRA\u2019s London Pubs Group visited four pubs in a short tour of the Clapham Common Old Town area that were candidates for inclusion on CAMRA\u2019s Local… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pub-crawl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5749,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5743\/revisions\/5749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}