Ye Olde Black Horse, Sidcup

Official site of Ye Olde Black Horse - www.greeneking.co.uk

Official site of Ye Olde Black Horse - www.greeneking.co.uk

Large Greene King tied house with an island bar and several different sections.The front with it's high tables and darts board seemed more of a public bar,flat screens to boot . To the right side is a seating area with dining style tables while to the rear there is a large inglenook,some old looking doors and carved wood oak beams amongst some obvious brewers mock tudor. Here there are more high tables in front of a Sky Sports flatscreen while to the right is a raised area with more numbered dining tables and another flatscreen. On all tables there is a corporate pub grub menu,offering changing daily cheap deals and for £6 I had a large volume of undistinguised food. Just GK IPA and Abbot (faint tang,NBSS 2) were the only real ale options,and having had a squint this visit is unlikely to be repeated ,it's all just a bit too corporate and souless.

Visited 12/08 Nice big traditional pub with a car park at the side and large beer garden out the back including partially covered. Large island bar in centre of pub with dark wood and places to be served all the way round. Side that faces out onto busy road outside had tall tables and chairs and a small darts area. Pretty same story other side of bar with tall tables in front of the area housing a large screen on the back wall of the pub, leading off to a small "dining area" with another big screen on the wall looking out onto the rear beer garden. Had a bit of a Tudor feel with the dark beams and white walls / ceiling. Advertise live music / karaoke etc and show live sports. Cask was rather predictably GK IPA & Abbot. Pint of the former and OK but selected as no better alternative. Keg choices could certainly be described as lager leaning with Peroni, Moretti, San Miguel, Fosters, Carlsberg, Cruz, Madri & Coors. Also, their own Ice Breaker Pale Ale, Guinness and Strongbow (original and dark fruits). Again, felt like a pretty formulaic pub, clearly catered and business seemingly dependent on weekend trade with families. Can’t say anything here to draw me back. Early days for me checking out Sidcup and environs pubs so would be disappointed if didn’t find a few better than this in this postcode area.

This is a John Barras branded pub, so that means that it's Greene King, with GK IPA on as well as another GK thing called Something Borrowed Something Brewed, which was a Harry and Meghan themed beer. Being a John Barras pub it still gives a 10% CAMRA discount on real ale. It's very food orientated, with massive glossy menus on all the tables offering the usual chain pubco pub grub. The layout is pretty much the same as that encountered by the previous reviewer. The central island bar has the same area at the front, with a larger area down at the back. There's masses of black painted posts and beams around the place, giving it the classic "brewers' rustic" look, although much of it looks contrived. It's a typical pubco pub inside, although from the outside it looks as if it could be something special. It fits neatly into the "OK" category, without being anything out of the ordinary.