The Golden Lion is under new management now. The old-style banquettes have gone, and the décor is fresher, less brown. But since long before gastropubs were a glint in a developer's eye, and long after those hostelries which wouldn't or couldn't move with the times were closed and converted into flats, the Golden Lion remains an unashamed community boozer with cheap beer, live bands, and the occasional coach outing to the races.
A former Victorian music-hall palace of varieties, its presence on the main road that runs through Sydenham in south-east London is firmly rooted in the coming of the railway and of the suburbs that created a better life for tens of thousands of city dwellers.
But while the pub's exterior and interior may have enjoyed a facelift, its car park, to the rear, is still a gloomy spot. The trees that once fringed it are gone.
It was here, on Tuesday 10 March, 1987 in this car park, that the Golden Lion's association with one of London's most notorious murders was established – and with it an association with one of the most scandalous instances of British police corruption ever. It was here that a private detective called Daniel Morgan was brutally killed.