The Bankers Draft, Eltham, SE9

Visited as a JDW on 15/07/2019 in my previous hoover of SE9 venues that saw me visit all the central Eltham venues. Added to my unvisited SE9 venues again after disposed of by JDW. The venue is well described below in terms of its spatial size. Actually not that small as a high street pub when you place outside the context of a JDW modern pub. In the v early days of JDW I would not have thought about this venue as being so small, it’s just (and it is only a central London experience) they quickly moved to big locations such as the (then) magnificent big abandoned bank conversions such as the Hamilton Hall. JDW historians will correct me there in the wider geographic context. There is nothing about this place on my mid evening visit that would see me running for the doors after (re)ticking it off as a visited venue. It was nicely busy, and a very enjoyable venue to spend some time. On hand pump were out of the 7 hand pumps, Hophead, Cornish from St Austells, GK abbot, Boon Doggle from Ringwood, Ruddles And Wainwright Gold. My pint of Hophead, which not the most exciting option : choice, was perfectly kept and £2 a pint. Even the large leg range was’t bad, if again not exciting, including something I have never seen on tap, namely Tetley’s smooth. ok not listing that key example as to how good the keg range is but keg is so much not in play if you love cask like me and there are ample such to choose from. I think this place deserves a chance irrespective of its history. It has a very reasonable cask offering and was really pleasant to attend. It would have been a really easy 6 but I am going to elevate to a 7 here to make a point.

This is now not the smallest Wetherspoons in the country due to the fact that it was put up for sale by JDW in Sept 2022, and came under new ownership in the summer of 2023 by someone called SJ Leisure London Ltd. Not that you can tell that when you walk in because none of the décor or set up has been changed and it still looks and feels exactly like a ‘spoons, even all the way to the undesirable customers, which unfortunately are difficult to avoid in a space this small. Frankly I couldn’t wait to get out of this one into the micropub virtually next door and I sunk my half in record time and exited via the fire door, which is also still an unofficial entrance and exit. For the record four of the seven ale handpumps were in operation and alongside the still present Ruddles were Dark Star Hop Head and Brill Gold and Wychert Bitter from the Buckinghamshire Vale Brewery.

Wetherspoons regularly refer to this as the smallest pub by floor area in their entire estate, yet even forewarned with this information, I was amazed at exactly how small this bank conversion actually is. Located on a busy crossroads in the centre of Eltham, this place has been a Wetherspoons for over 20 years now and perhaps reflects the company’s more modest ambitions back in the early 90’s. The single room interior is carpeted throughout and has a servery down the left hand side and two rows of standard tables and chairs to the right. A group of tables to the front left, prior to the emergence of the bar, were positioned under a TV screen showing live horse racing and the local betting community seemed to have converged here, with runners nipping out to a nearby bookies between each race. A couple of padded bench booths stand on the rear wall and the room extends marginally to the left rear where there is a particularly gloomy corner that is large enough to accommodate one standard and one high table. A TV to the rear was showing the Cup Final with the sound muted. The room has a lot of dark wood panelling throughout, which gives the place more of a pub feel than you get from other bank conversions. The usual Spoons information boards were present along with a charity board and some old black and white portraits along the bar canopy. The limited capacity of the pub was reflected in the limited ale range, with three guest ales, two Spoons regulars and one real cider still providing more choice than some of the chain’s far bigger venues. I opted for a pint of something called The Herbalist – a collaborative brew between Adnams and Magic Rock – which was in excellent condition but not really my cup of tea. The barmaid was seemingly running the place on her own and was very friendly, stopping to chat to all customers and enjoying some good banter with a group of elderly regulars. This place is a bit of a curio for Wetherspoons fans as it is the sort of pub the chain would almost certainly never consider opening nowadays. I quite liked the fact that it was a bit more intimate than their other venues and I found the beer and service to be spot on, but I imagine it can easily become busy and uncomfortable in here.