Crown & Anchor

Booma shut its own restaurant across the road after ten years and moved the charcoal tandoors into this pub.

Why go

Two things are happening in one room. The beer first: CAMRA's South West London surveyors record three changing cask beers and no regulars at all, which means nothing on that board is permanent, alongside "at least one cider on handpump, usually from Seacider" listed as a dedicated real-cider line (CAMRA). The pub itself claims up to twenty-five taps at once across cask, keg, bottle and can, and says it was "the first pub in Brixton to bring a proper beer selection to SW9" (venue).

Then the kitchen. Booma traded for a decade at 244 Brixton Road and has now closed that room: "The Booma kitchen has now moved next door into our pub, the 'Crown & Anchor' 246 Brixton Rd, SW9 6AQ... Our charcoal tandoor ovens, handmade naan breads and bold, balanced flavours now sit comfortably within a relaxed pub setting" (Booma). The plates are built to pair with the beer, and the Sunday roast stayed, with a couple of the dishes given a Booma turn. North Indian cooking and a Brixton cask pub, both intact, in one long bare-brick room.

Order this / avoid

• Order: whatever is out of the tandoor, the naan, and whichever cask beer the board has this week. The Seacider if you want the thing they keep a dedicated pump for.
• Avoid: Monday, when the kitchen is closed. And bring a card, since the pub takes no cash.

What locals & experts say

• Mike Gibson, then editor of Foodism, reviewing Booma at its old address across the road (May 2017): "salmon hot out of the tandoor, delicately spiced, with its crisp, salty skin intact; Pudhina lamb cutlets with a requisite deep char, served with zingy papaya and herb pureed chutney." ref He also caught the concept early, "smart Indian small plates, each one designed to pair with an extensive range of craft beers". Read that as a verdict on the kitchen rather than on this building, and read it as nine years old.
• CAMRA, South West London branch, on what the pub is: "this stripped-back but stylish corner pub reopened in 2012, offering an enterprising range of beers from cask, keg, bottle and can, plus at least one cider on handpump, usually from Seacider." ref
• The local food desk is gone. Brixton Blog reviewed Booma and the site is now offline, preserved as an archive at Lambeth Archives after its last editor died in January 2026. That review cannot be read, and no chef names this pub in the 622 rows of London industry recommendations held here.

Good to know

• Which Crown & Anchor: 246 Brixton Road SW9 6AQ, CAMRA pub ID SWL/3914. The name is one of the commonest in London and this row is that address only.
• Sites: the operator is London Village Inns, which also runs the Jolly Butchers in Stoke Newington and the Black Lion in Kilburn. Booma's kitchen runs in all three. Nothing either sibling has won is claimed here.
• Timing: pub Monday 4 to 11pm, Tuesday to Thursday to midnight, Friday 3.30pm to 1am, Saturday noon to 1am, Sunday noon to 10pm. Kitchen closed Monday, otherwise 5 to 10pm on weeknights, from 1pm Saturday and noon to 7pm Sunday.
• Booking: worth booking for the kitchen; the bar is walk-in.
• Payment: cashless.
• Hygiene: FSA rating 4, Lambeth, inspected 7 December 2023. Components 10 for food handling, 5 for structure and 5 for management, where higher is worse. The inspection is 32 months old and predates the kitchen change, so it describes an operation that is no longer there. ref

Jeff's take (his words)

Jeff saved this pub with no note. His raw saved-places export carries an empty Note for the row, so nothing above is in his voice and no order is attributed to him.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

should-visit — The reason to come has changed. Booma spent ten years running its own North Indian room at 244 Brixton Road, then shut the door and moved the charcoal tandoors and the handmade naan into the pub at 246. So this is now a Brixton beer pub with a proper tandoor kitchen in it, small plates built to pair with what is on the lines, and a Sunday roast that got a Booma turn rather than being dropped. On the drink, CAMRA's South West London surveyors counted three changing cask beers and zero regulars, which means the whole board turns over, plus at least one real cider on handpump, usually Seacider, listed as a dedicated line rather than a gesture. The pub claims up to twenty-five taps across all its draught. The one thing missing is a verdict on the current version: Mike Gibson's dish notes are excellent and they are from 2017, about the room across the road. He had 'salmon hot out of the tandoor, delicately spiced, with its crisp, salty skin intact'. Kitchen shut Mondays, cashless, open to 1am at the end of the week.