The Rose — Restaurant in London

🚇 London Bridge 🍺 £6.90 Mahou

The Rose is located close to Guy’s Hospital on the border between Borough and Bermondsey in Southeast London. The nearest Tube is London Bridge.

This pub was known as The Rose & Lily and was originally built in the late 18th century. The pub you see today was built in 1869 and was a former Hoare & Co house.

This is a one bar pub that has a stylish and traditional feel. You enter via a lovely corner vestibule entrance, which you don’t see too often these days. The servery is located opposite the entrance and has a copper topped counter. In front of the servery are a number of poser tables, to the right are some cosy booths with comfy leather benches. As you head further back, there is a small seating area that leads to an intimate beer garden. The decor consists of oak panelling, a herringbone parquet floor and an eclectic mix of interesting artworks. One of my favourite features of the pub was the Street Fighter II arcade machine.

The beer line up will please most and offers a selection of well known brews and one cask ale. I decided on a Mahou, my pint was spot on, price point was above average. The food menu is classic pub fayre with a few twists, Fish & Chips costs £17, Roasts are available on a Sunday.

I arrived just after 2pm on a chilly Saturday afternoon in February. There was an upbeat buzz about the pub with a good mix of punters from different walks of life. The service was great, the team on duty were welcoming and friendly.

Great to see this pub packed and thriving on a Saturday afternoon. I loved the traditional pub vibes with the artistic touches, there was a decent choice of beers and a good mix of clientele. I really enjoyed my visit here, @theroseldn is definitely worth a visit.

📅 1st February 2025

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Hubby and I went for Sunday lunch on Father's day. We chose The Rose because of the many 4 and 5 star reviews so we were surprised the place was half empty with only two other tables occupied.

Having been shown to our table, I was finding it very difficult to understand the blonde waitress with a very strong French accent whose responded with sarcasm "I'll try to speak to you in English next time". Very rude and unnecessary.

The menu was very limited and expensive. You would expect to pay these prices in a high end central London restaurant, not a pub in Bermondsey!

I really didn't fancy staying but my husband wanted to order the Pork Rack - big mistake - he was served 3 slices of pork (where's the rack?!! ) which must have been sous vied as it was devoid of colour and taste, mostly fat (40%) which was served with reheated roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding. He was so hungry I had to offer him some of my sirloin beef, which had also been sous vied, was as tough as old boots and hard to chew. We passed on desert in our haste to find a decent pub.

However, I can't give more than 2 stars to a pub that can't do food properly, charges a lot of money for it (2 roasts, pint of beer and a bloody Mary £45.90) and is under the impression that it's a restaurant. Saying that, the inside of the pub is well decorated and has character, but far too much space is dedicated to dining which would be ok if the food was of a...

This is such a lovely cosy bar and I wanted to rate it higher but our experience there last night was really frustrating. Four of us booked in for dinner and asked to swap tables as it was a little noisy to chat. They moved us outof the restaurant bit to a quieter area- so far so good. We had two drinks and then went to order food and were told that the kitchen was closed. Obviously we were surprised as we hadn't been told and they knew we had swapped tables and had booked in for dinner. When we asked what time it had closed we were told 9pm and it was 9.01! We were laughing at this point thinking come on its 1 minute and they had made the initial mistake, surely they will let us order but no, there was absolutely nothing they could do:/ The situation was obviously a let down but the worst part was just how disinterested, unempathetic and rude the bartender was. He was completely dismissive and walked away from us mid conversation. We left straightaway to find somewhere else to eat,which we did at the gorgeous tapas bar opposite who were really friendly and helpful in every way.

I will say that the other bar staff at The Rose were lovely and friendly, they just obviously busy and...