Duke of Edinburgh

I’ve been here a few times before gigs at the academy but what makes this pub get a near 5 star rating is the fact it has a huge and surprisingly hidden beer garden that would shame any pub. You would not know this from outside and I loved the look of this place.
For a Tuesday it was quite busy so I can only imagine in the summer. In fact I will defo be back to sample summer times here. I would be a regular if I could as I liked the interior too.

This is Brixton’s backstreet gem.
I’m not massively into pubs, but this one is awesome. The pub itself is nice enough with really friendly bar staff, but the really special thing about this pub is its beer garden. You wouldn’t expect it from the outside, but it’s packing a huge outdoor area in the back with a buzzing vibe and great barbecued burgers in the summer.
This is the perfect place to spend a chilled summer afternoon/​evening.

I came here for a Unilocal event and was truly surprised at what a nice pub it was. From the outside the Duke of Edinburgh looks like a off beat slightly old fashioned boozer. Once inside you realise how large the pub is. There are two bar areas. The one at the front seemed for serious drinkers and the much larger bar area to the rear of the pub has plenty of tables and relaxed seating areas. Whilst we were there they were showing the Champions League. There seemed to plenty of screens so it could be viewed from any point in the pub.
The true surprise of this pub is its beer garden. It is huge. It sits up to 250 drinkers, and has outdoor bars set up in the summer. I understnd that you can actually reserve outdoor seating too, which is great as most pubs have this as ‘fiorst come, first served’.
I certainly plan to come here again to enjoy a beer and the sun with friends once the weather gets better!

Great beer garden and live music!

It doesn’t look like much from the front. Or even when you enter — you’ll find a pretty unremarkable front room with some couches, a pool table, and the bar. It looks like just any other pub in South London. I planned a shindig here at the beginning of the summer, and my poor friend wandered around the front bar for a while, thinking he was in the wrong place, since I’d described the Duke of Edinburgh to him as a massive beer garden!
To get to the garden, you have to go all the way to the back of the bar. The door to the back is actually kind of hidden, but you’ll probably spot it when you see the stream of drunk people coming in. It’s a spacious garden area with several dozen picnic tables, most of them pushed together end-​to-​end, so get there early if you’re trying to grab space for all your mates, particularly if it’s nice out.
The food’s all right, but a little overpriced. As the token American, I really dig it when bars have good old Sam Adams on tap, and not only did they have Sam — if memory serves, they had Sam Summer the last time I was there!
If you’re booking a table in the summer, make it clear when you call or email that you want a table OUTSIDE in the garden, or else they will reserve one indoors by default. Whoops– I made that mistake, but it wasn’t hard to salvage, we just parked outside until a table cleared up. There are enough tables that you probably won’t have to wait too long for one, even during peak hours on the weekend.

All Hail the Duke of Edinburgh!
Attennn-​SHUN! On guard! Duff Beer at the ready — yep, they sell Duff. There’s no Homer Simpson moping about his wife whilst Moe dusts off the bar and threatens cut his prank-​callers a new belly button, but there’s definitely the Duff. And it’s bloody good stuff. Well… for a bit. Then, there’s a funny after taste. Be prepared for a raging debate over whether Duff beer tastes any good under the watchful eye of Suicide Baby (just a baby doll hanging in a corner. Standard stuff, really). But that’s what makes the Duke such a special little jewel in the crown that is Brixton. Neo-​rustic, urban country wood cabin with all the trimmings, big cosy sofas that eat you, little alcoves, round tables to have dinner with friends in style and possibly a fireplace — the latter is there as far as my memory serves me, might have to check again. All the more reason to go back.
My only gripe would be with the loos. Yes, me and the loos again. Mind you, I only went into one of the individual lady-​bogs, so the main ones might be different, but it was enough to make me want to stop drinking for the night/​hold it in when the plan to stop drinking went to pot. I initially called them «loos». What I meant to say was glorified phone box, with a bit of plumbing chucked in for a laugh. Oddly enough, the walls are plastered with old pages from the financial times, with certain columns replaced with excerpts for erotic novels. I can sort of see what they were trying to do… I guess you couldn’t complain about lack of reading materials, but I would have swapped it for a working hand dryer or a dust bin to dispose of blue roll. As long as you don’t get too squeamish, the Duke provides a great afternoon of festivities.
Tip: The cosiness makes for a grand Sunday afternoon drinking spot. I know where I’ll be taking shelter for cider and a roast during the impending winter months.

Great place to watch the football, with a massive cinema screen in the back as well as other smaller screens. Does get crowded quite quickly, so you’d need to arrive earlier if you want a seat. The roasts are totally decent, and there is a beer garden for smokers and when the weather’s occasionally not terrible.

Known as Brixton’s best kept secret, I am genuinely shocked by how good this place is.
I only really checked out this place because a friend recommended it to view the grand national, but it’s found a place in my heart since then, forevermore!
Whilst a bit of a walk from central Brixton, the walk is worth it for this pub.
Great atmosphere, good selection of drinks, massive outdoor beer garden with cinema screen!
Not to mention internal décor that quenches my nagging obsession with kitsch, taxidermy and quirkiness!
I love you D.O.E… you’re crown among thistles, and your gem? Late night opening for post gig drinks after the O2!

I popped by to meet friends here briefly, so can’t comment on food or drink. It sits hidden away on an eerily quiet Brixton street. You walk in and it’s a nice enough pub, pool table, pinball, couches… but where were my friends? I saw a waitress go out back and followed here to what I assumed was going to be a beer garden and– WHAT THE HELL?!
That was my side-​swiped reaction.
Behind The Duke is a massive space with rows and rows of tables, bunting and a big BBQ pit chuckin’ out smoke like nobodies business. Even a mini pavilion full of bean bags to lounge on. Loads of space for a group of friends to relax, sit, and drink and eat. And on a sunny bank holiday weekend, everyone was taking advantage of it without it feeling crowded.
Rating on space along, it is a little gem carved out in a little area you would probably never walk though. But a delightful surprise!

Definitely the best pub in Brixton.
It has that great Brixton mixed crowd — some hipsters, a few posers, some hippies, a few ravers, and everything in between. It’s ‘not on the high street’ — so you get fewer dorks and tourists.
In summer it is amazing due to the MASSIVE beer garden. Quite literally the BIGGEST beer garden I have ever seen.
Everyone is friendly, there are some really cool parties on the weekends but it is never pretentious or posey.
It does get a bit rammed on Friday and Saturdays but then that is half the fun!
The food is solid and dependable, but sometimes runs out later on.
The décor is awesome, cute and quirky antiques and vintage finds lovingly collected.
A real South London institution.

This pub is the best kept secret. Shh!!!
Once you go in it feel like you’re not in Brixton at all.
Quirky décor, beautiful beer garden.
I had falling out of love with Brixton, but now i’m feeling the love…

The Duke has a great ‘secret’ beer garden really makes this a destination pub in the summer (or any day when the temperature hits 15 Celsius). When I set off in discovery of the beer garden for the first time I must admit that I got slightly lost having headed out of the pub and into a slightly dark and dank alleyway. However, I was rewarded for my perseverance and emerged from the alleyway into a fantastic space set away from the main road (but not the railway line) full of afternoon revellers brimming with bonhomie sat at picnic tables or on straw bales.
An outdoor big screen was showing some sport and a BBQ was dishing out food. However, neither distracted from the simple pleasure of good beer (Tribute from St Austell and a bottle from Brew Dog when I visited) on a glorious summer day.
Inside, the Duke is still pretty fab with a blinged up deer’s head adorning one of the walls and I can imagine that it would equally nice to hunker down here when the weather is less compliant. However, for the moment it is all about the ‘secret’ garden and long may that continue!

The secrets beer garden is fantastic, but shh it’s a secret!

One of the best pubs around, a true Brixton institution.
The interior is really nice and welcoming for everything from a night of drinking to a family pub lunch. Plus they have some great activities going on (on the last night I was here there was a pub quiz involving a round where the teams had to turn one member into a T-​Rex with just newspaper and tape, it got pretty inventive).
Add to that one of the best and biggest pub gardens in London, with a live music stage, and this pub is well worth a visit.

It’s a nice pub. It’s got a decent selection and decent prices. It’s often a bit on the rammed side, with a few (but not really enough) sketchy characters. It’s got fairly indifferent service and a slightly too cool for school crowd.
But, then, maybe I’m not cool enough for school.
I like this place. I somehow don’t end up coming here all that much, though. Not fabulous, but not bad.

Man, this pub has one of the best beer gardens in London!
The pub looks oh so average from the outside, when you enter, it still looks pretty average, then you go out the door to enter the garden. you walk down a walk way, with shrubs sticking out of either side, you turn a corner and cool! MASSIVE beer garden! (seats around 250) With a BBQ area, random couches, etc.
Really laid back cruisey crowd and a nice vibe.
I love it! Bring on summer so I have an excuse to go there again!

A nice up-​and-​coming trendy place but can’t help feel it used to be an old faithful local (given there were a couple of old fellers that kind of looked out of place in their jersey tracksuit bottoms with their bottoms hanging out too) that has had a refurb trying to get new clientelle but unless you stumble or indeed find reviews like mine on here, you probably wouldn’t find it as it is off the beaten track.
Outside looks nice unless you are greeted by the landlady sat on the bench outside with the shortest of dresses and a fag hanging from her mouth.
Food looked nice. Décor interesting. I would return.

As with Katie B I found this place during the Royal Wedding and had the most amazing time — dancing on tables, a DJ, bands, a BBQ
They also do Cider Festivals a few times a year as well as Flea Markets once a month. A brucey bonus if you visit on a Tuesday of free pasta with every 2 drinks!
Top Tips;
1 — The beer garden is immense, seats for 100 space for a shed load more
2 — Hit the BBQ, the burgers are fit
3 — Stay after 12, sometimes they kick in some DnB!!!

What a find!
Some friends and I visited this aptly named pub the evening of the royal wedding. None of us are particularly ‘into’ the royals but it was hard not to get caught up in the hype of having the day off work so we decided to make the most of the sunny evening.
The pub is deceptive from the exterior (or maybe I just arrived from the wrong side) as it looks fairly small but it’s long in length. We grabbed some drinks from the bar and headed straight to the beer garden. Similar to the pub itself, the garden is larger than you expect. They had picnic tables running the length of the garden, a BBQ on the go (the food was delicious!) and a couple of bands including a rather fabulous female jazz singer.
True, we visited on a particularly celebratory evening but we will definitely be returning. Great fun and a really friendly vibe!

Nestled on the edge of Brixton, this is one of the area’s best kept secrets. It doesn’t look much from the outside.
The pub has undergone a bit of a makeover of late. No drastic changes to the size and space of the pub (big and wooden) but subtle changes tell me it’s now in better hands. Quirky décor (think odd chairs and stuffed birds) has replaced the fruit machines. Flea markets and cider festivals now fill their calendar. When passing recently I spotted a sign which suggested a silent disco might even be on the cards. AWESOME.
But the real highlight of this pub is it’s beer garden. All pubs with outside space claim that they have a ‘fantastic garden’, but the Duke of Edinburgh is the King of Beer Gardens. It’s HUGE. It has a BBQ kitchen out the back, a huge screen for sports and films, a ton of benches, tables, seats, alcoves and patios. Even table football.
There isn’t a better spot in the area for outside drinking. It’s still relatively unknown for now, except for canny locals. Get in there quick.

hier treffen raucher auf füchse. beide schleichen jedenfalls durch die gassen, wenn der große biergarten dicht macht und dann vor der tür geraucht werden muss. dorfpub-​atmosphäre im jeder-​kennt-​jeden-​stil. musikauswahl nicht immer souverän, aber gut zum betrinken.