The Earl Spencer — Restaurant in London

The metaphor of watching your favourite pub burn down is often used to describe something completely different, and yet that is exactly how I felt when I walked into the "revamped" Earl Spencer pub last night, the first time since it re-opened last Thursday under new management.

Our homely, welcoming but slightly dishevelled local, where many an evening had been spent over many years sitting with friends or family eating pints of Atlantic prawns, bavette steaks - or whatever other home cooked meals they came up with on that day...along with the always delicious home baked bread - whilst drinking their selected wines and local beers, had in only a few weeks been replaced by some strange "big chain" pastiche, but now with - YAY! - big screen TVs on every wall, and a gleaming slot machine in the corner. (the one place in Southfields you used to be able to avoid this if you wanted to). The daily selected food menu replaced by the archetypal "we sell everything from burgers, pasta, fish and chips...oh and homely pies too!", clearly frozen somewhere and defrosted on site. The fresh bread replaced with sliced white. I chose a couple of light bite chicken dishes, and was amazed at how fried chicken could be so tasteless. The beers at least have retained some locality, with Wimbledon, Brixton and Sambrook's on tap, as well as of course other brands. I noticed the FourPure has been taken off.

To be fair, there had been some effort to at least maintain some of the previous cosy decor. But whilst the large old wooden tables remained in place, the rickety mismatched chairs have been replaced with new pine jobs. The bric a brac on the walls replaced with the aforementioned TVs, and adverts for whatever sporting event was coming up (and requests for reviews…well, here you go!). I also wonder how long the remaining Earl Spencer personality will last.

There is no doubt that the previous owners had had huge difficulties over Covid, and it can't have been easy keeping the pub going. But it's a shame that the bustling, lively and warm (truly) local place where so much of the community had spent so many happy days and evenings now feels like it's had it's soul removed by a huge chain brand. Of course we'll go back, it's still local and there is still a glimmer of it's former self. I also know there are some who much prefer this more sanitised version...but for us I'm afraid it won't...

What has happened to the Earl Spencer?

There are three pubs worth going to in Southfields. The Gardener’s, The Earl Spencer and The Park Tavern. The Earl Spencer used to be my favourite. I first started going to this pub a year ago, when I moved to the area from Putney. And to begin with I was very happy.

There was a good food offering, a pretty good selection of beers and a good wine menu. It’s the closest to a ‘gastro pub’ you’ll find in this area - certainly out of the three. The menu is a little on the pricey side and probably a little too extensive for one that changes daily – and this, for me, is where the problem really lies. The dishes sound great, but recently, some have been poorly made.

I like the Earl Spencer so much I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt when I went back several times to sample the food. But ‘disappointed’ only goes some way to describing how I felt. I also noticed that the prices on the wine list had gone up – I mentioned it, as my bill was more than I was expecting. I was told I was wrong. I wasn’t. I actually don’t mind paying an extra £5 for their delicious white rioja, but don’t treat me like an idiot - just say ‘we’ve had to put our prices up’.

Sadly, this place shows all the hallmarks of a once great pub in decline. And if the management don’t make improvements, they will lose more business. So how can we stop this from happening? Hopefully, they will listen to reviews like this.

They should reduce the menu to a more manageable size and perhaps just do a few things really well, rather than try to do a lot of different things – some well, some not so well. Perhaps a selection of constants and a couple of changes to the specials would work out better for them and for us. What’s their signature dish? What’s the one thing they do really well, or that they are famous for? At the moment, I can’t think what that might be.

There is a sign in the window that says ‘chef wanted’ so hopefully that will bring a change for the better.

I say ‘hopefully’ as I really, really want to love The Earl...

Today was the first day we have eaten in The Earl Spencer in some years. The lack of children’s menu and cost put us off previously.

Anyway, for Fathers’ Day (Sunday) we decided to try it again as the children are older.

My son’s (child’s portion) fish, chips and peas were fine. No complaints. My daughter had a child’s portion of roast beef. The meat was rarer than medium rare, soaked in overpowering gravy. My husband and I had roast beef and chicken respectively. We both agreed there was far too much gravy already in the plate. The chicken stuffing of ‘lemon thyme’ was completely wasted given the strength of the gravy. Far too much salt and pepper in the gravy.

Vegetables were barely tasted due to the awful gravy - potatoes and Yorkies were pretty poor too. Aunt Bessie’s are apparently better.

I reported the excess of gravy within a couple of moments of receiving it and asked for it to be somehow strained off. It was. Nobody came to our table to check everything was alright whilst we were eating. On clearing the plates, an older lady asked how it had been and I reported the strength of the taste of the gravy - she said she would let the kitchen know.

On settling the bill, the younger girl asked how the food had been and I repeated the comment that everything seemed bland because of the awful gravy. Just ‘I am sorry about that’.

We won’t be returning for a roast and by the way, it is still overpriced. Some tables are very close together too. Bar service is slow and no real awareness was shown of who was first in...