We set out on a Saturday morning to travel to the further reaches of South-West London to drink beer next to cricket fields and explore pubs in backstreets.
The initial excuse to travel out this way was to call into Bexley Beer Festival.
We were visiting on the third and final day of the festival, so there were plenty of empty spaces on the stillage where barrels had been drunk dry and removed. But being a fair way from home meant there were still lots of beers that were new to us.
The initial excuse to travel out this way was to call into Bexley Beer Festival.
We were visiting on the third and final day of the festival, so there were plenty of empty spaces on the stillage where barrels had been drunk dry and removed. But being a fair way from home meant there were still lots of beers that were new to us.
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| Obligatory beer festival barrel picture |
Beer festivals can be perilous to pub ticking plans. But our first pub had an old-school mid-afternoon closed period, so if we were gonna do it we needed to quit finding more mild on the beer list to try, and make a move.
We walked the 20-minutes northbound toward Bexleyheath, crossing the busy 6-lanes of the A2 on a pedestrian bridge, then wandering through the suburban streets.
All pubs named after Robin Hood are great!
Possibly. I accept that may be quite easily proved wrong.
But this was a good 'un.
Just look at the picture of the bar...
A proper pub carpet.
Well-worn bench seating.
Pewter tankards and pots hanging from the ceiling.
And pump clips stuck on the wall.
It's full of the kind of decoration and lived-in feel that you get with long-standing landlords - in this case the same couple have run the Robin Hood and Little John for forty years.
The pub dates back to the 1830's when it would have been a more rural location instead of being slap bang in the middle of a housing estate.
Ales on the bar were Fuller's Pride, Adnams, Harvey's 'Sussex Best', Rev James, St Austell 'Trelawny' (nice change from Tribute) and the local Bexley 'Bexley's Own Bitter'.
A good, easy-going bitter in good condition. I just hope it wasn't the sustainable recycled option.
Just look at the picture of the bar...
A proper pub carpet.
Well-worn bench seating.
Pewter tankards and pots hanging from the ceiling.
And pump clips stuck on the wall.
It's full of the kind of decoration and lived-in feel that you get with long-standing landlords - in this case the same couple have run the Robin Hood and Little John for forty years.
The pub dates back to the 1830's when it would have been a more rural location instead of being slap bang in the middle of a housing estate.
Ales on the bar were Fuller's Pride, Adnams, Harvey's 'Sussex Best', Rev James, St Austell 'Trelawny' (nice change from Tribute) and the local Bexley 'Bexley's Own Bitter'.
A good, easy-going bitter in good condition. I just hope it wasn't the sustainable recycled option.
It's not one of the chain's most appealing buildings.
And Surveyline chartered surveyors are totally dominating them in the signage contest...
In this case the 'wrong 'un' isn't reference to a 'person of bad character' - perish the thought that you'd ever find a wrong 'un in a Wetherspoon's.
It's another term for a 'googly', which'll make sense to folk who know about cricket and leave the rest of us baffled. Something to do with bowling.
The pub is one long room, relatively small for a Spoons, with the bar along the left side and seating booths along the right. It's just a bit...rectangular and dingy, with regimented rows of tables and no natural light beyond the entrance. Not my favourite Spoons.
That said, I did have a decent pint of Portobello 'Market Porter', so can't fault the beer quality.
Just a short way off the Broadway was the next of our Beer Guide entries...
Just a short way off the Broadway was the next of our Beer Guide entries...
This can be grouped in with a few of my other recent pub visits (the Wheatseaf, Thatcham and Gauntlet, Kenilworth) in the "are you sure this is in the Guide?" category.
It's a no-frills back-street local, with a decent mid-afternoon crowd in. Not many of them seemed to be partaking in the cask choice of Doom Bar or Old Speckled Hen, though.
The pub was set to close in 2018, at which point a community group gathered together to buy the lease for the next 6 years, then repair and redecorate the interior and rejuvenate the garden.
So it's nice to see people enjoying their local.
Can't say I enjoyed my Doom Bar very much though...
Moving on, we had another trudge through the housing estates to reach the Yacht.
The Yacht (167 Long Lane, Bexleyheath, DA7 5EA - web)
It didn't take us long to get told off - the first pub telling-off of 2022. I hoped those days were behind me, after the frequent 20/21 misdemeanors of haplessly failing to follow differing pandemic rules and regulations.
This time we'd apparently walked past an un-staffed 'please wait to be seated' station.
The very businesslike staff member blustering around the joint was keen to point this out - "you can stay where you are for an hour and 15 minutes - we normally do 2 hour slots", she told us.
Oh, that'll be more than enough.
Moving on, we had another trudge through the housing estates to reach the Yacht.
The Yacht (167 Long Lane, Bexleyheath, DA7 5EA - web)
It didn't take us long to get told off - the first pub telling-off of 2022. I hoped those days were behind me, after the frequent 20/21 misdemeanors of haplessly failing to follow differing pandemic rules and regulations.
This time we'd apparently walked past an un-staffed 'please wait to be seated' station.
The very businesslike staff member blustering around the joint was keen to point this out - "you can stay where you are for an hour and 15 minutes - we normally do 2 hour slots", she told us.
Oh, that'll be more than enough.
I was intrigued by the Ultimate Chip Butty, with a whole loaf of bread and two jugs of gravy.
I don't know much about calories, but I'm reliably informed 4,398 is quite a lot.
Nice to get away from the £15 burger.
The Yacht was your typical suburban Greene King family dining pub, with the TV screens, games machines and sports memorabilia suggesting it gives way to a livelier crowd in the evening.
In conclusion...
We enjoyed the beer festival. And the Robin Hood and Little John was a lovely pub.
The other three were an...acquired taste.
The next train happened to be taking the slightly longer loop around to Victoria Station. Which was within easy walking distance of Cask. Which had several stupidly strong beers from Texas on tap and may possibly have bankrupted me, but meant we finished the day on some cracking beer.
We enjoyed the beer festival. And the Robin Hood and Little John was a lovely pub.
The other three were an...acquired taste.
The next train happened to be taking the slightly longer loop around to Victoria Station. Which was within easy walking distance of Cask. Which had several stupidly strong beers from Texas on tap and may possibly have bankrupted me, but meant we finished the day on some cracking beer.
Can't believe you got the "wait to be seated" treatment in the Yacht. I have similar feelings on the others, that Spoons is grim and the Volunteer is the sort of local I like but the beer wasn't shifting.
ReplyDeleteYes, I don't think I would have been very popular if we'd traveled all that way for just the beer guide pubs.
DeleteI suspect one of Bexleyheath's micros will get into the '23 guide ahead of at least one of them.