The Beehive, New Eltham, SE9

Situated just a short walk from New Eltham train station, this is an attractive modernized pub that retains a number of interesting historical features. The pub has a single, L shaped room with a servery which follows the shape of the room. The front part of the pub is carpeted, with some seating along the front wall and more at the right hand end, past the servery. The left hand side of the pub extends to the rear and has bare floorboards and a more comfortable selection of seating at the back. A decorative frieze runs around the room and there are a couple of smart fireplaces, but the real star of the show is the bar back which incorporates a lot of attractive glasswork. There are also two doors either side of the current entrance, each with their own etched glass windows which read ‘Private Bar’ and ‘Bottle and Jug’ and hint at the former layout of the pub. Down the left hand side of the pub there is a very narrow conservatory style extension which looks out over a side patio with a number of picnic benches. Our Friday night visit saw the pub half full with a DJ set-up in the front right corner. I’m assuming that the pub was only half full because the majority of New Eltham’s residents were able to enjoy the DJ’s set from the comfort of their own living rooms, so loud was the music he was playing. We could literally hear it a good minute before we even got sight of the pub. I wasn’t expecting much in the way of decent beer, but was encouraged to find three ales available – Fullers London Pride, St Austell Tribute and Sharp’s Doom Bar. I ended up with a half decent pint of the Tribute and was served by a fairly rude barman who seemed to be the only person in the whole pub actually enjoying the music. Clearly I didn’t catch this place at a good time, but there were still a few redeeming features and things were made a whole lot better by the presence of some decent beer. It’s probably worth a quick look if you’re in the area, although that’s as much to do with the fact that this is now the only pub in New Eltham as anything else.