Lincoln Pub Explorations

The end of June 2026 found me in Lincoln for a couple of days with a ticket for a gig at the castle and a plan to get around a dozen-or-so of the city's pubs.

This coincided with England's heatwave #2, the temperature already past 30°C by 11am.  This meant...
1. An element of concern over cask quality
2. The poor folks of Lincoln being subjected to my legs on show
3. Knowing that the trek up Steep Hill would to be a stinker

Having arrived pre-noon, it's an inevitability that I'd start the day in Spoons.  Not the celebrated one in the old cinema though.  I headed down to Brayford Wharf and its modern glass-fronted waterside buildings, home to the Odeon, Wagamama, Nando's and the like.

The Square Sail (Brayford Wharf North, Lincoln, LN1 1YW)
The first thing I had to commend the Square Sail on was some very effective air-conditioning.
The second, a decent selection of guest ales - a trio from Notts brewery Milestone: 'Fletchers', 'Summer Breeze', or 'Summer Lovin'.  Double summer action.
My pint of Summer Lovin' was a little on the chill side to be honest, but still received a satisfied "aaahhhhh" after the first long refreshing sip.
Less commendation for the rather dull industrial surroundings, perhaps with the exception of a giant Lincoln mural on the back wall.

This is a modern and functional branch of Spoons, previously a Lloyds No.1 although I don't think there's any difference now is there?  The high-ceiling gave it a spacious feel, with an additional mezzanine floor offering more seating for a decent pre-lunch crowd.

Right...let's tackle that uphill climb.
I made a detour to the Usher Gallery - free-of-charge and providing another spell of air-con relief.  There's some great stuff in this small gallery, including Lowry's painting of Lincoln and Matt D. Wright's Papestry - an incredible 6-meters of immaculately detailed drawings of buildings on Steep Hill and Bailgate.
Leaving the gallery,  I tackled the steepest bit of the climb to the castle and cathedral and saw those same buildings for myself.
A little further on was the Good Beer Guide-listed Morning Star.

Morning Star (11 Greetwell Gate, Lincoln, LN2 4AW)
A sign outside the pub advertises 'Beer Garden, ample car parking, and secluded cathedral views'.  It looks like the car park has been assimilated into the garden, where you can indeed see the cathedral and where most of the Friday afternoon customers had chosen to sit.  But I'd just walked around three sides of the cathedral, so didn't require a secluded view, always happier to take a seat inside a pub that's new to me.

On the bar was a sturdy national cask line-up of Doom Bar, London Pride, Landlord and Tribute, plus Blue Monkey 'BG Sips' from Nottingham.
'BG Sips' for me - a beer I like but which was suffering in the heat and far too warm.

The Morning Star is designed for socialising and pub chat without any piped music or TV screens interrupting.  Sat in the corner I could earwig the locals discussing how much you needed to spend to get a decent bottle of wine...£8 will be quite sufficient, apparently.  The same cost as the pub's advertised forthcoming Swiss Fish Supper.
Good value, but I've no idea what makes it Swiss?  And it seems to come with bread and no chips, which is just wrong.

I decided to seek out Blue Monkey beer elsewhere and handily their Organ Grinder venue was a short distance away, back near the cathedral.

The Organ Grinder (4 Eastgate, Lincoln, LN2 1QA)
Located in a building dating back to 1895, this was previously Beerheadz, prior to Blue Monkey opening in August 2025.  It has the feel of a large micro - a single rectangular room with raised stage area by the window, bar at the back, and spartan decoration.
This was another pub with welcome air conditioning, less-welcome Oasis playing in the background, and three solo drinkers socially distanced from one another.

Six cask ales on offer...

I admitted to the young lady behind the bar that the grinding gears in my head were contemplating the pros (not many) and cons (many) of picking the cask 8.4% double dry hopped IPA, priced at a remarkable £6.00 a pint.  Respect for her response that it was 'probably a bit early'.
I ended up with the brown and twiggy 'Coopers' traditional bitter (£4.00).  A satisfying proper beer in great condition.

I often seem to mention pubs filling up during my visit.
This time I have photographic evidence...

I really liked the Organ Grinder and could happily have settled here for longer and delved into the tempting keg beer list.
But I refused to be beaten by the heatwave and was determined to continue on to two central Beer Guide inns.

I walked downhill along Priorgate and Pottergate (perhaps one of Oxford's excess of Hogwarts tourist tat emporiums can relocate onto such an aptly named thoroughfare).  Pottergate arch is at the road junction at the bottom of this route, the whitewashed frontage of my next pub across the road.  

The Adam and Eve Tavern (25 Lindum Road, Lincoln, LN2 1NT)
This seems to be Lincoln's oldest pub with records suggesting it opened the doors to punters in 1701, a fairly modest date for a city with such ancient streets and buildings.
Other than some wooden beams, it doesn't feel especially olde worlde within, a grating soundtrack of bad modern pop music, TV screens, and games machines not helping. 

Beers you've heard of from Castle Rock, Sharp's and Timothy Taylor's.  Lilley's cider perhaps not a bad idea on a bright summer day.  But I ended up with the fourth cask whose pump clip is hidden behind the Madri glass in my picture.

This was an Arkells World Cup-themed 3.7% pale ale name 'The Showboater'.  All the way to Lincoln to drink beer from Swindon.

No local ale in my next pub either.

The Birdcage (54 Baggholme Road, Lincoln, LN2 5BQ)
"A pub is not just about the ale", says the CAMRA website listing.  Wise words, which I don't think every CAMRA member has grasped.  Here it's all about the community atmosphere which was in full effect on a Friday afternoon when plenty of folk seemed to have used the hot weather to warrant clocking-off work early.
Cask ales on offer were St Austell 'Tribute' or Timothy Taylor 'Landlord' on this occasion.
The Tribute was in fine condition and absolutely hit the spot.

There were a good number of customers, many of them in the garden, all of them regulars I suspect.  I could have gathered numbers for repairing the roof, landscaping the garden, and re-wring the electrics from the various polo shirts being worn, Lincoln's tradesfolk in evidence enjoying an end-of-week pint. Another couple of chaps made their entries into the forthcoming meat raffle which was much a much more complicated process than I would have imagined.

There was a decent soundtrack including Cyndi Lauper, Thompson Twins, The Farm, then Stevie Wonder's 'Happy Birthday' on request for someone's special day.
"Ain't nuthin' wrong with Stevie fuckin' Wonder", confirmed the chap at the next table.

Now for some local beer.
I made my way to the bus station, dilly-dallied in Co-Op picking some snacks and almost missed the 17:50 PC Coaches service to Oak Paddock Farm.  The twenty-minute trip took me out to the suburb of North Hykeham where I'd never have found Poachers Brewery had it not been for the sign.  The brew kit and tap room are basically down a driveway, behind a house and next to a vegetable patch in the back garden.

The Poacher's Den (439 Newark Rd, North Hykeham, LN6 9SP)
Opening times are somewhat limited...

So I was chuffed to have made it, first customer of the evening.  Now I've ticked it, feel free to put it in the Guide!

There were three of their own cask ales on the bar, plus a Bee Sting and national-brand keg lager and cider.
I am still mystified as to how anyone can keep three cask ales when they're only open five hours a week.

But I have no complaints about the two I tried.
Firstly the 'Teddi Boy' a 4% pale ale, then back for tasty 4.5% 'Hykeham Gold', both priced at a n amazing £3.00 a pint.
It was thoroughly pleasant sat on the picnic benches with the micro brewery beer, a band setting up for later in the evening, a handful of local customers gradually arriving. 

I made a ten-minute walk down the main road back towards town, reaching the retail park which has the Centurion pub on the corner of it.

The Centurion (Newark Road, North Hykeham, LN6 8LB)
Is this the equivalent of Reading CAMRA sticking various Tilehurst boozers into the beer guide?  It doesn't jump out as the most obvious of entries, but has graced the Good Beer Guide for a few years now.
The Centurion is exactly what you'd expect from a modern pub by a retail park aimed at families and diners.

Perfectly fine to settle in with a pint - plus the menu offers some good value pub grub - but not somewhere you'd want to divert from the centre's real ale pubs to visit if you have limited time.
The cask range was a trio of big names: the now slightly lesser-seen Sharpe's 'Doom Bar', a different Timothy Taylor option - their 'Golden Best', or Leeds Kirkstall 'Three Swords'.

I grabbed myself a 'Three Swords' - in good condition - and sat quietly in the corner, checking the bus times for the return to the centre.
Stagecoach charged me £3 - £1 dearer than the outbound PC Coaches trip - to get back.

That's a taster of Lincoln's pubs - more to come in the next post when I explore the High Street hostelries, storm the castle, and find a beer named in honour of a tank.

Blackheath Bound (the London one)

A capital pub ramble taking in a handful of SE venues from Lewisham to Blackheath: a backstreet gem, a brewpub, a SIBA award winner, and an unexpected pint of Bass to end the day.

Despite living in London for thirteen years, this is a part of the capital that I hadn't ventured to previously.  Greenwich, on the northern side of the heath was well-known territory, but I knew nothing about Blackheath except it being where that 26-mile fun-run starts each May.
As for Lewisham, where I hopped off the train, people would have looked at me in horror at the end of the nineties if I told them I was heading there for a pint - put your affairs in order before you go.

I wonder if it's changed much...

Yep. I suspect so.
At least they still have a proper market selling you fruit and veg and carpets.

After an overkill of Wetherspoon's in the previous post I was starting my day in at the bottom end of Lewisham's high street in.... Wetherspoon's.

The Watch House (198-204 Lewisham High Street, Lewisham, SE13 6JP)
It's named after the historic village green which would have once been the centre of old Lewisham.  This has been part of the JDW chain since 1997, witnessing the transformation of the neighbourhood surrounding it.
Step inside and it's a decent-sized place, the supports disguised as bookshelves making it feel less open-plan, with distinct separate areas to the side and back. 

As I hoped for, there was a great diversity of customers in the Lewisham 'Spoons, which was doing a decent pre-noon trade.

There be dragons...

And Windsor & Eton guest ales...

As it was, I picked the Elgood's 'Patron Saint', priced at £3.21.  A brown and malty 4.3% ale, that was on reasonable form but was never going to be a beer that blew me away.

A bolder man (Mick Citra?) would tackle the Lewisham Craft Unions, but I elected to continue onwards to the Beer Guide-listed Dacre Arms.
The route for the day was panning out like this...

Plenty of walking.
Starting with a trek along the A20 which features a remarkable range of pan-global establishments including Brazilian butchers, Oriental Stores, Dosa Sambal and Nepalese Momo.  And a curiously high number of nail salons.  One turn took me to quiet tree-lined residential streets that quickly became fairly smart and affluent.
The Dacre Arms came into view on a fork in the road ahead of me.

 

Dacre Arms (11 Kingswood Place, Lewisham, SE13 5BU)
I'm unsure why I felt it necessary to take a picture of the entrance...perhaps I was just impressed by the wood panelling, or maybe the 'Served with Pride' etched into the frosted glass...

On the other side of the door: half-a-dozen mid-week lunchtime patrons, posters advertising the weekend appearance of Dacre Morris, Robbie Williams' 'Let Me Entertain You' piping out the speakers.
And a quite marvelous pub interior where you're never short of something to look at...

There were four hand pumps on the bar, but just Fullers 'London Pride' and St Austell 'Proper Job' being served on this occasion.  The 'Proper Job' proved lively and a challenge to pour, although it came with a reassuring insistence from the friendly staff/landlady(?) that I tell her if it wasn't up to scratch.  It was fine.
One chap at the end of the bar eyed the ⅔ of a pint that had been pulled through before filling my glass - "I'll have that," he said, tipping it to what was left of his lager.

Propelled by his Proper Job - Peroni mashup, this customer proved entertaining for ear-wigging from my curved seating booth by the door.
Untrustworthy modern news outlets, watching colour telly for the first time, and how close Millwall came to promotion were a few of the topics.
I discovered a bit of Del Boy in the gents - I'd thought that was a one-off in Worthing, but here you got framed pictures of Rodney, Grandad, Mickey and Trigger.

I left the pub and headed up the passageway opposite, a pleasant shaded route taking me to St Margaret's Church, then past big and expensive-looking houses to the edge of the heath itself.
Facing the open space, on one corner, is the Hare & Billet pub.
The best thing about it was the ducks on the pond opposite.  I should have just sat on the bench there for thirty minutes.  Even the pub picture went a bit wrong - sometimes it can be too sunny. 

The Hare and Billet (1A Eliot Cottages, Hare & Billet Road, Blackheath, SE3 0QJ)
The original pub on this site was a well-known coaching inn which was operating in the 17th century.  Back then it was isolated in open countryside, this section of the London-Dover road notorious for highwaymen.
The current iteration is a square Georgian brick building which has had a recent spruce up inside.  Very gastropub.  Any historic rustic charm zapped out of it.
The run of hand pumps offered a house-badged bitter or pale ale, Five Points 'XPA', Thornbridge 'Bother Rabbit', or the local Southwark IPA.  I opted for the Southwark 'Mayflower Session IPA' with a hefty price tag of £6.10, the quality barely acceptable.  I may not have been the victim of a highwayman, but I felt I'd been robbed of over six quid for this.  I'd waited so long to be served in the first place whilst the fella behind the bar delivered things to luncheon customers and made fancy drinks and coffees, that I couldn't muster the enthusiasm to take it back.

All-in-all, I wasn't sorry to leave, making my way to the heart of Blackheath.
Where the best way to appreciate the old buildings and heavily pruned trees is in your vintage sports car with the roof down...

Blackheath is home to the original Zerodegrees brew pub, opened in the year 2000.  I've visited their branches in Bristol and Cardiff and had a fair few pizzas and pints in the Reading one, so it seemed a good idea to pop my head into where it all started.

Zerodegrees (29-31 Montpelier Vale, Blackheath, SE3 0TJ)
Having found a few old pictures online, this used to be a lot more pub-like, whereas now it's more restaurant-with-a-brewery than brewpub.
Big front windows, a clean paint job and enough light fittings to make the lightbulb suppliers rub their hands in glee, it's a bright and airy place. 

It's also cavernous, the small frontage disguising the range of rooms inside on different levels.  It's the kind of place you get lost trying to find the loos.
Then stumble across unexpectedly extensive brew kit...

It was their 'Sunset Calling' a 4.5% ABV pale ale that I ordered at the bar.  Another pricey bill with this weighing in at £6.50 for the pint, but more confidence that the draught Zerodegrees beers would be cool and fresh.

A fairly long walk through the south-east corner of the heath, then onward up Startheddon Road took me to the Green Goddess - a 2026 SIBA award winner.
On our way to Halifax earlier this year we'd called into Brewers 1841 at Ossett.  The taproom for Ossett Brewery had just picked up SIBA's award for best independent bar/pub non city/rural.  I was keen to visit this year's City winner too.

Green Goddess (43a Vanbrugh Park, London SE3 7AA)
The building previously housed a Barclays Bank until that closed in 2021.  Stephen and Maryann O’Connor, previously cuckoo brewers, put in an application to turn this into a bar and microbrewery, which subsequently opened in 2022.  The green goddess name is a reference to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer and - sadly - nothing to do with exercising in front of breakfast telly in the late 80s.

Inside it was bright and airy, just a couple of other afternoon customers, XTC's 'The Mayor of Simpleton' playing in the background, with a beer list which was going to be difficult to narrow down to one pick.
I stuck with the cask - three available: Lost & Grounded 'Bitter', Elusive 'Transit Stout', plus Tartarus 'Thriae'.
The Elusive for me, being as they're ever-reliable and I fancied something dark.

Music-wise, we got The Pretenders, A Flock of Seagulls, and Echo & the Bunnymen.  The Cure's 'Fascination Street' sounded great.  Even Bananarama had me nodding my head in appreciation and I thought I only liked 'Robert DeNiro's Waiting'.

With a comfy seat, some good music, and a tempting beer list, I stuck around for a second.  Delving into the keg choices, I avoided the strongest stuff, although a 7% IPA wasn't entirely sensible.  This was 'Coastal Highway' a collaboration between Burnt Mill and US brewer Jeff Bagby.  A delicious hoppy, sticky, resinous beast of a beer.

Before I was completely derailed by an imperial stout, I bade farewell to the Green Dragon and headed west from the pub, crossing the bridge over the A2.
The pub in this neck-of-the-woods was the 2026 Good Beer Guide entry The British Oak.
And it looks great!

British Oak (109 Old Dover Road, Blackheath Standard, Blackheath, SE3 8SU)
It's a Victoria-era building with a distinctive veranda on the front of it.
Two different ways in which - a rarity - does cause a jeopardy, each leading to a different room with no route between them.  I went right to the saloon and never did see the front bar.

Cask ales came from Suffolk - Adnam's 'Ghost Ship'; Sussex - Harveys Best; and County Durham:  Maxim 'All English' making the longest journey of all.

A Harvey's 'Sussex Best' for me - on good form here.
This was enjoyed sat at the side of the saloon - a space which seems to have had a recent makeover with some modern pub furniture, but retains wood panels part-way up the walls and old Courage Brewery signs.

Harvey's finished, I retraced my steps to get back to Blackheath village and the underground station.  Fifteen minutes until the next train, you say?

The Railway (16 Blackheath Village, Blackheath, SE3 9LE)
I'm lovin' the pub name emblazoned across the frontage - much more so than the 'Pub and Dining' lettering on olive green on the ground floor level.  The Railway dates back to the 1800's, has had several identities over the years, including spending some time as the Fairway & Firkin.
What could they offer someone who's missing the on-site Firkin beers and fancies a Dogbolter?
Ah, that'll do! 😋🔺

The Railway features a roof terrace, but I plonked myself down on a table in the main bar so missed the much-celebrated outdoor areas.  It also features cheery customers, a modern pop soundtrack, wooden floors, more shades of green paint, and the opportunity to "dance til you drop" with DJ Scooby on Friday evening.

I actually only wanted a half of the Bass based on the timings of the train but was misheard or not listened to properly at the bar.
I'm sure that won't be a problem...

 

I reckon my first foray into Blackheath had been a successful one.  There are good pubs to be found, especially if you're prepared to walk a bit.  The heath itself is a huge expanse of green (probably more straw-yellow after recent weather) whilst the centre has an historic charm.
Bass was an added bonus...I really should have caught a later train and sought out that roof terrace.