When new pubs emerge or are reinvigorated in Greater Kennington they almost always tend to cater to a small sliver of our populace. Namely, those who don’t care how much a pint costs. So it is refreshing to see the Tankard reopening as a pub that has drinks deals, a lottery, quiz night, pie and pint nights and, wait for it people, an old school retro carvery! As the publican is also a wine fan, he’s also curated a fine wine list (and tastings) for those more upmarket Kenningtonians. But as our fine wine threshold starts at the level of ‘look, it isn’t a SCREW TOP!’, we wouldn’t know.
The Tankard in Kennington Road was a North Kennington staple for many years. It was purchased by megachain Brewdog in 2017 and when they decided the margins weren’t to their liking they shut it down last year. Come to the fore Bruno, who owns a pub in Wapping and wanted to create a family owned, traditional pub (well, one with £7 pints). Bruno said that he tries to keep the margins as tight as possible with both the food and the booze. There is a huge outdoor terrace, an upstairs bar, and rooms which can be hired out.
For those of a certain age a Sunday roast carvery exudes a certain 90s nostalgic charm: the glowing heat lamps, the anticipation of the queue, the chance (usually) to come back for more. And so here it is back at The Tankard, the only example we know of locally. On our visit there was a choice of pork, lamb or beef (any of all in combination). There were also meat free alternatives. These are carved for you before proceeding along the line to load up on Yorkies, roasties, carrots, green beans, cabbage, mashed potatoes and gravy. For everything except the meat you can come back as many times as you wish. The meats were perhaps a little over-cooked for our taste and the same goes for the vegetables that sit waiting to be taken, but that’s the breaks with a carvery. But it’s all good hearty fayre and the roasties and Yorkies were actually rather excellent. At £16.95 this is a good offer and we think will be deservedly popular.
Other than the carvery which we are understandably rather obsessed with, the Tankard also offer pub classics such as bangers and mash, fish and chips, mac and cheese and chilli con carne. A wide selection of beers, bottled and tap, wines, and cocktails are also on offer. Overall, our new retro Tankard is an unpretentious local pub where everyone can feel welcome, with hearty menu items defying the unrelenting small plates (just order 7 or 8!) concept. Indeed, the place might take you back to the halcyon days when you could down six Bacardi Breezers while singing the lyrics to any Shed Seven song.
