The Waverley Arms — Restaurant in London

🚇Nunhead 🍺 £6.50 Cruzcampo

The Waverley Arms is located on a quiet residential street next to historic Nunhead Cemetery in southeast London. The nearest station is Nunhead mainline.

This late Victorian pub was built in 1895 and has beautiful leaded frosted windows. As mentioned, the pub sits next to Nunhead Cemetery, one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ Victorian cemeteries, which opened in 1840.

This is a bright and airy, one-bar, two-roomed pub that is traditional at heart with contemporary touches. The servery is centrally located, with the bar forming a “J” shape around it. The decor consists of a boarded floor with chequered tiling around the servery, green half-height wall panels, and lighter-shaded walls above, adorned with colourful photos. There are two fireplaces with mirrors above, and plenty of traditional seating, along with a couple of comfy sofas. Just off the main bar is a good-sized room with an atrium that leads to an intimate walled beer garden, there also some benches at the side of the pub.

There is a good mix of beers available which included two stouts and one cask ale. I kept in simple and opted for a Cruzcampo, my pint was great, price point was a smidge above average. The food menu is hearty British pub classics, fish and chips costs £17.45, roasts are available on a Sunday.

I arrived just after 3 p.m. on a sunny Saturday afternoon in April. The pub was fairly busy, with a mix of drinkers and diners enjoying the chilled, relaxed local pub atmosphere. The service was great — I was served by an upbeat and friendly member of the team who was warm and welcoming.

The pub shows live sport, hosts live music, and holds a pub quiz on Thursdays.

The quiet backstreet location, beautiful Victorian architecture, calming interior, good choice of beers, and friendly service make for an excellent pub experience. What a lovely local pub this is — a must-visit if you’re in the area.

Follow @thewaverleyarms for updates.

📅 12th April 2025

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Wonderful local pub and also where we had our wedding party! Douglas and the team were incredible, and kindly let us take up the entire pub for the evening 😀 countless guests were talking about how good the food was and there was plenty of it ☺️ the staff were so helpful and friendly. So many people have told us how they really enjoyed our wedding and what a great time they had. We couldn’t be happier with our day. Our parents had a wonderful time too, and my mother (mother of the bride, if ykyk) had one of the best days of her life and couldn’t rave about The Waverley Arms more if she tried (and trust me, she’s told EVERYONE!!)

Douglas and the team catered for all the dietary requirements of our guests, coeliac, lactose intolerant, vegan, veggies, pescatarian (me ☺️) and even made a whole dish for my sister, who was suffering from a gall stone at the time and could eat no fats/oils, she said she had the tastiest chicken she’d been able to eat in a really long time and was over the moon. Real thanks to the chef 👏🏻 we also had about 10 kids under 10 at the wedding and the pub has board games ready for them to play, and they played out in the courtyard at the back too, they had a great time ☺️

Honestly I could go on and on! So if you’re looking for a venue or just a really friendly pub lunch, get down to The Waverley Arms!! 🤗

Thank you again,...

We've had a great family party here, and have been for Sunday lunch several times. However, we called in yesterday for a drink after a walk around the cemetery. A table was free, which my partner and kids sat at while I ordered drinks. The Landlord asked if we were eating, which we weren't as we just wanted one drink. He told us we couldn't sit there as there was a waiting list for tables for food. No one was waiting when we sat down. I know how busy it gets on a Sunday and people are putting their coats on your chair the second you look like you might be leaving. It's a pub that does food, not a restaurant, he could have put a reserved sign on the table. He could have asked us to free the table up after we had our drink, which we would have been happy to do. It's clear that we were not welcome for just a drink, and that he was only interested in the next £70 instead of a mere £15 from us. I suspect the people that came in after us wanted food and your greed couldn't wait 15 mins for us to have one drink. Well, it cost you £15 as the drinks has already been poured when you told us we were not welcome at the table, but more importantly you lost our good will. It's not just about...