The Volunteer, Bexleyheath

This is a tidy, street corner, local's boozer with a well-kept, former multiple room interior, although now configured to give a clean run through from front to back. You enter through an unusual, full height frosted glass door, with all other doors throughout the pub designed this way too, including one with a "Volunteer Enlist Today" image. The front bar is quite a nice space with banquette and chair seating, half height wood panelling and a large TV screen showing live football - a feature that recurs in each space through the pub. The bar is to the right and has a nice dark wood counter with sweeping curved ends and a modest bar back. Moving through to the rear bar area, high tables and chairs plus a few low stools provide alternative seating options, whilst beyond this is a rear right space with more high chairs and a nice banquette. There's also a dartboard back here, but you'd need to shift some furniture to have a game. Out the back, there's a pleasant garden with a decked area, small lawn and plenty of seating. Just two of thee four handpulls were operational when I arrived, with Sharps Doom Bar (£4.30 a pint) and Morland Old Speckled Hen alongside two unclipped pumps. A very cheery barmaid served up a decent pint of Doom Bar and then proceeded to startle the entire pub by screaming loudly from the kitchen, which a robin had apparently found its way into! This felt like a decent local's back street pub and I was very happy sat here with a pint listening to the story of the robin's ejection from the kitchen. The beer range perhaps doesn't lend itself to much of a session, but I liked the friendly service and lack of pretensions in this place and would happily return. Date of visit - 25th November 2023

Backstreet local that is clearly a community favourite and has been added to the 2022 Good Beer Guide. The interior is divided into two distinct sections. The area near the door was quietest, with just one other guy tucking into his Sunday lunch. This area of the bar also has the handpulls. I was greeted with Morland Original & Old Speckled Hen. Beyond that is another room where people were watching the last Formula 1 race of the season. As such, this part was much busier. So, I elected to stay with the diner. The landlord came over and switched a TV on in our area enabling us to view the Grand Prix too. The friendly barmaid also came over, which was a nice touch. Unfortunately my Morland Original was well past its best and could have been likened more to vinegar than a real ale. Nevertheless, it is creditable that this pub has survived with its community ownership.

This is a pub that I must have walked past before as I have photographed it, but for some reason didn't venture inside on that occasion. But I put that omission right on my most recent visit to Bexleyheath. According to What Pub it was bought by a community group in 2018, and possibly this is why I don't think it now had quite so much of the old school feel that the previous reviewer describes. It was a cold and miserable January evening when I was in here, and the violet lighting behind the servery didn't make it seem any warmer. The furnishings were fairly traditional; the floor was bare - boarded and old-style illuminated Truman's signage was displayed on the upper parts of the bar back. There were odd prints on the wall - a bear on a bike and a sign proclaiming that the Volley Wants You, in classic Lord Kitchener style. The beer choice was uninspiring, being Doom Bar and London Pride. But on another day it might well have seemed a more welcoming place. At least the well-behaved mutt lying on the floor, as well as his owner and othe apparent regulars, seemed to like the place and good luck to them I say. The big plus is that this a local pub saved by and for the local comminity. I'm glad it's a survivor.

Official site of The Volunteer - thevolunteerpub.co.uk

Official site of The Volunteer - thevolunteerpub.co.uk

I found this to be a very pleasant and friendly little pub with a definite old school feel. A little off the beaten track so without much passing trade, the customers on Saturday lunchtime appeared to be regulars but this didn't hinder as I ended up in conversation with some old boy perched on a stool almost straightaway. There is a J shaped carpeted room with a dartboard at the far end where there are also various bits about the pub's golf society. Piano and TV on the end wall, a fireplace has a bookcase in front so presumably the fire is not in use. Daily papers sat on the hearth top. Beamed ceiling, hunting horn, the 60s/70s bar back has once illuminated "Truman" and "Volunteer" lettering. Framed bits and bobs included a picture of the pub, some sports teams and a map of North Kent. No foibles here, standard red banquettes, stools and farmhouse style chairs, windows are in small panes, Georgian style and obscured. Four handpumps, three in use with one reversed (looked like Pride), leaving GK IPA and pleasingly St Austell Proper Job, in great nick and only £3.30. They do basic pub food and sandwiches at very reasonable prices, one note, they don't take cards and I'm all in favour of that in a back street boozer. Well worth taking the long way round to the main drag from Bexleyheath station for.