Please note, Little Nan’s Broadway Theatre Saloon is now closed. Time Out Editors, January 2019.
Three words are synonymous with Little Nan’s: ‘kitsch’ and ‘Pat Butcher’. Since an ex-Goldsmiths student created a drinking den from the contents of his recently deceased grandma’s living room in 2013, the remit has always been fun, gaudy venues whose menus are stuffed full of cut-out photos of ex-‘EastEnders’ cast members. That and cocktails that look like the kind of thing you’d order on a package holiday in Marbs.
This latest bar – in Catford’s Broadway Theatre – is no different. Walls are lined with ruched red velvet, glass heads wear masquerade masks and palm trees perch amid fairy lights and gold chaises longues. It’s a maximalist riot of tat.
The real draw is the crazy-cheap cocktails. The Deptford Arms is a dimpled pint glass filled with a sharp-as-a-tack combo of gin, grapefruit juice, prosecco and Babycham; while the Lionel Richie turns out to be a funky piña colada in a blue wine glass the size of a human head, littered with tinsel and cocktail umbrellas. Nearly everything on the menu is £6 – a total bargain. There’s plenty more to love too, from a velvet-blazer-clad, lounge-jazz-tinkling piano player to five-quid meals from Mama’s Jerk (reheated in plastic containers).
This place is unashamedly fun, daftly original and cheap as you like. Chin-chin!