The Rose Pub

Words by Simon Difford

Address: 123 Snowsfields, (corner Weston St), London, SE1 3ST, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7403 0168
Email: info@therosepublichouse.co.uk
Website: view The Rose Pub’s website
Door: Open door
Style: Gastro pub
Food: Set menu
Established: 2013

Review

Once a workaday boozer which sat empty for three years, The Rose reopened an upmarket gastro pub after a sympathetic refurbishment in August 2013. The Rose always had an enviable position close to London Bridge but it now lies in the shadow of the Shard, close to fashionable Bermondsey Street.

The aim of the owners (also of nearby Wool Pack) was "to create an old English pub" and The Rose indeed looks like a newly built Victorian tavern, achieved using reclaimed oak panelling and copper topped reproduction tables sandwiched by twin-seater benches on a reclaimed herringbone parquet floor.

Only 'craft' beer is served with eight draught beers, including two cask ales and the locally brewed Kernal Pale Ale one of many bottled brews. All 11 wines, on what's described as a "classically French wine list with a hint English eccentricity", are available by the glass. And we like the barrel aged (4-6 weeks) cocktails, particularly the Vintage Manhattan and Negroni.

The open kitchen serves a daily changing traditional British menu ranging from house made pork pies and sausage rolls to ploughman's and more substantial meals such as chicken & leek pie and ribeye steak with peppercorn butter and hassle back potatoes.