The Market Porter
The bar opens at six in the morning, Monday to Friday, because that is when Borough Market's porters used to finish their shift.
Why go
For a cask board that is measured rather than claimed. CAMRA's South East London branch surveyed this pub on 1 April 2026 and counted twelve handpumps, running five changing beers against two regulars (CAMRA). The anchor is Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter, which their own logging has recorded here fifty-three times, the last of them a week before the page was read. Timothy Taylor Landlord is the other fixture. The branch adds its own caveat, that the number of real ales varies with the season, and that is quoted rather than smoothed over.
The room is a Victorian S-shape curled around the bar, with a small air-conditioned area at the back and a dining room upstairs looking over the market stalls, cooking Great British pub food and Sunday roasts. The building is leased by Market Taverns from United St Saviours Charity, a Southwark almshouse foundation, which is a rarer sort of landlord than a pub company.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Harvey's, then whatever is on the changing pumps. Ask what is round the corner before you decide.
- Avoid: peak market hours and late Friday, when drinkers spill into Stoney Street and the bar is unreachable. Bring a card.
What locals & experts say
- Matt Brown, Londonist, on the range and where it hides:
This place takes its ales seriously, with up to nine options on draught (hint: don't be fooled by the limited range you see when you first walk in; most of the pumps are hidden round the corner of the bar).
2 He also notes what the early session is actually for: breakfast upstairs from 6am, pre-booked,with the full English peculiarly paired with a glass of cava.
His piece is from January 2015 and is dated here for that reason. - CAMRA, South East London branch, on the timing rule, in bold on its own record:
Renowned 6am-9am opening hours for market workers and all others Mondays to Fridays.
1 - Nobody has reviewed the upstairs kitchen. No bylined assessment of the dining room surfaced on 1 August 2026, and no chef names this pub in the 622 rows of London industry recommendations held here.
Good to know
- Timing: bar 6am to 9am and 10am to 11pm Monday to Friday, noon to 11pm Saturday, noon to 10.30pm Sunday. The kitchen runs to 9.30pm Monday to Saturday and stops at 4.30pm on Sunday.
- Booking: walk in downstairs. The 6am breakfast needs booking ahead.
- Payment: card only, no cash.
- Operator: Market Taverns on a lease, with the freehold held by United St Saviours Charity.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 5, Southwark, inspected 22 October 2025. Components 5, 5 and 5, where higher is worse. Clean and recent.4
Verdict
should-visit — This is worth crossing the river for, and worth getting up early for once. The licence here runs 6am to 9am Monday to Friday because that is when Borough Market's porters finished work, and the pub still opens on it. CAMRA's South East London branch counted twelve handpumps in April 2026, five of them changing against two regulars, and their own logging has Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter spotted at this bar fifty-three times, last seen a week before the record was read. Matt Brown's line in Londonist is the one that changes an order: 'don't be fooled by the limited range you see when you first walk in; most of the pumps are hidden round the corner of the bar.' Upstairs there is a dining room over the market doing Great British pub cooking and Sunday roasts, and nobody with a byline has ever assessed it, which is the honest reason this stops short of the top rung. Card only, and at peak you will not get near the bar.