Rusty Bucket, Eltham, SE9

Well positioned in the centre of Eltham, this is a decent craft beer bar that is probably about the same size as the famously small Wetherspoons a few doors down. The pub has a single rectangular room with modern floorboards, low tongue and groove wall panels with plain painted uppers and a short bar counter to the rear left under some helpful beer boards. The bar has a very basic painted counter and a white tile bar back with various taps mounted on it and the temperature-controlled taproom visible through a window to one side. Good table and chair seating fills most of the room with some high stools along ledges to the rear right. The large front windows in pleasing irregular shaped frames allow plenty of light in and the light-coloured walls contrast well with the mainly dark wood furniture. The walls have been decorated with a mix of modern art, photo collages and promotional material and there are some shelves to the rear right stacked with books and board games, whilst a jar is full of dog treats although there were no canine customers in sight on a Saturday evening visit. I’d only been sat down for a couple of minutes when I was joined by a very friendly young Geordie couple who I ended up chatting to for the rest of my time here and I generally got the impression that the pub has that ‘micropub’ feel where it’s easy to strike up a conversation. There were three cask ales available when I arrived – Moor Stout, Northern Monk Eternal and a Best Bitter from an unknown brewery – but the pub’s speciality seems to be craft keg beer, with no less than 18 on tap covering a wide range of styles and strengths. My pint of the Moor Stout was a reasonable £4.00 and in very good shape. I really liked this place which I had expected to be a micropub, so it came as a nice surprise to find something a bit more substantial. The welcoming, inclusive atmosphere, well kept ale and pleasant décor all worked well for me and this would probably be my pub of choice the next time I’m in Eltham.

Still much as in the previous review, this feels like a fairly average micropub-style shop conversion with no signs of being a former pub, and still with music playing and a dead TV screen. The one room has a bar in the corner and some board games for amusement. Four ales and a cider were on cask, plus a fair selection of craft and foreign keg and bottled stuff.

This place would appear to have chaanged considerably since 2012. It's now owned by an individual and is run largely along the lines of a micropub but as the external signage calls it a bar then it's obviously not a micropub. It does have music playing and a TV screen (turned off). It's a rectangular room with a small bar counter at the rear left. There is a cool cellar from where the three cask ales were served. They also do a range of craft keg, various ciders and a large selection of bottles and cans. There are no fruit machines but given that the tiny JDW a few doors away has around five of them there is probably no demand. The three cask ales were Brockley Pale, Wylam Galatia and Tiny Rebel Cwtch. I went for the Brockley Pale (£3.80) which was in good nick. The other two were both over £4.00. I quite liked it here and would have given it an extra point if it had been a bit cheaper. It's well worth a look.