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[title]Justice for the flat-roof pub. For decades these stately drinking dens have been snobbily slammed for their seeming lack of character and inert blandness, while blousy, buffed-up Victorian gin palaces are fawned over. But look again and the postwar pub is just as visually arresting and historically important. Built throughout the 1950s and through to the early 1970s – often attached to housing estates which came in the wake of Blitz clearance – their modernist design slotted neatly into the new builds that surrounded them. Rather than looks, their primary purpose was to provide a welcoming space for residents who suddenly found themselves isolated from their community in blocks of flats with a lack of shared communal space.
Nowadays, it seems like flat-roof pubs are the first on the chopping block when all-too-regular pub closures are announced. Unlike their glamourous Victorian cousins, few post-war pubs have protected status as listed buildings, despite their links to now-celebrated concrete brutalism. The Pride of Pimlico – which is part of west London’s Grade II-listed Stourhead House, the first low-rise council estate in the UK – is a notable exception, and, further afield, there’s the Laurieston Bar in Glasgow, a seductive 1960s-time warp with flawless Formica tables and vintage pie heater.
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Though many of London’s flat-roof pubs have shut in recent years, including the centrally-located Tower Tavern (so named for the nearby BT Tower), a handful of notable exceptions remain open and thriving. The Globe on Morning Lane in Hackney is one of the most enduring. Despite a recent interior revamp, you can still get a pint of Guinness for £3.90, the walls are covered with memorabilia from its days as an East End boxing stronghold and we can’t think of a finer start to the week than their wildly entertaining Monday-night karaoke session. The Shakespeares Head behind Sadler’s Wells in Angel is also excellent, covered with fading headshots of long-forgotten 1980s actors and boasting a fully functional sandwich counter that’s part of the main bar.
As these box-like buildings are, visually at least, a relative blank canvas, every one has had the space to develop its own distinct personality. The Windmill off Brixton Hill is known not just for the dogs that prowl its roof, but excellent nightly gigs. Muswell Hill’s Famous Royal Oak offers a cosy, village-like suburban getaway, Tottenham’s Olive Branch makes for a rowdy Spurs matchday destination, while The Paya and Horse in Wandsworth (formerly the Chelsea Reach) is now part pub/part Serbian restaurant.
‘Never drink in a flat-roof pub,’ used to be a popular saying. We wholeheartedly disagree.
The Globe, Hackney
Founder’s Arms, Southbank
Lord Nelson, Southwark
The Heron, Paddington
Shakespeare’s Head, Angel
Paya and Horse, Battersea
Pride of Pimlico
Monkey Puzzle, Paddington
The Tooke Arms, Isle of Dogs
Olive Branch, Tottenham
