If the Pocket feels familiar. It is because it comes to you from the same independent pub pros as Gospel Oak’s incredibly good Southampton Arms. Despite appearances, the rustic-leaning Pocket hasn’t been here for 100 years, but was opened by stealth in the spring of 2025. Boasting new-old wood panelling, a 1930s anaglypta ceiling, a nerdishly impressive collection of 1970s pub ashtrays (on the walls alas, not the tables). Not Forgetting a battered upright piano (which gets played three times a week).
Their premise is simple, and, let’s be honest, perfect: ‘No reservations, green food or shit beer. No terrible modern music,’ they say. The music comes from either the piano or a vinyl record player which favours vintage jazz and soul. And the crowd is gorgeous. Beer is priced in order of strength, meaning it’s possible to get that rare thing – a London pint for a fiver.
We are fully in the Pocket’s pocket.