The Florence, Herne Hill, SE24

Large open plan pub with a central bar area, It all seemed a little impersonal to me. The background music was of good quality,a mix of female soul singers with a little Bob Marley thrown in. Four pumps on the bar with three operational, a house beer Florence Brew, GK IPA and Sambrooks Pumphouse Pale, I took a keg option but paid for it at £3.00 a half of Gipsy Hill Hep Cat. It was ok here but could do better.

Official site of The Florence - www.florencehernehill.com

Official site of The Florence - www.florencehernehill.com

Principally a big square room with a large island bar, although a second room leads to an outside area, but the big windows looking out onto Dulwich Road let in a lot of light. The seating is all round the exterior, with a mixture of tables and raised banquette seating and I imagine they can pack in a fair few drinkers of an evening. On the bar, there's 4 handpumps, 2 of which serve up ales from the onsite brewery; on my visit the others offered Hackney Hopster and Hardy & Hansons Bitter. Keg taps far outnumber these; notable beers included a couple of Meantimes, a triple font for Budvar (Dark, Pilsner and a half & half mix) as well as a keg version of their own Beaver wheat beer. The staff were on good form when I visited, friendly, chatty and looking after both beer and customers. I liked it here and I'd quite happily return.

This large open plan pub opposite Brockwell Park has a nice tiled exterior hinting at the pub’s heritage, but the modern interior design means that any further signs of the past are hard to come by. The main area centres around an island servery and has bare floorboards and padded high benches around the edge of the room whilst low stools and tables take up the rest of the space. There is a mix of wallpapered walls and exposed brickwork, with some odd choices of decor, including a display case full of feathers which was positioned between two large front windows. There is also a huge Aga tucked away on the right hand side of the room, with a stack of board games perched on top, and a station style clock which hangs on the front wall opposite the bar. A second room of sorts can be found at the rear, although there is no partitioning from the main bar area. Here, some of the brewing vessels for the in-house Florence brewery can be seen, whilst more of those weird display cases were on show including one full of chicks. There is some standard seating in this space as well as table football and a TV screen suspended above a small stone fireplace. A partly covered outdoor patio area can be accessed from here as well. Just the one Florence beer was available on my visit – Weasel Beer – alongside H&H Olde Trip, Sharp’s Junipurus and Head in a Hat Tommy. I gave the latter a try and thought it was an excellent pint. Keg offerings included Florence Sparkling Beaver, Noble Lager and various beers from the Meantime brewery. There was also a strong bottled beer line up in the fridges, although I didn’t notice any beer menus to help with selection. We had food here and found the portion sizes good and value for money. I seem to have enjoyed this pub a lot more than some of the previous reviewers. Whilst I can appreciate that it has lost a lot of its traditional character and appeal, I thought it was doing a good job creating its own character without losing its sense of being a pub. An onsite brewery and well kept guest ales certainly helped and overall I really enjoyed our afternoon here and would certainly consider dropping in the next time I’m passing.

This pub has a cavernous interior, extending back quite some distance beyond the front island bar to the rear where there is a food servery and then a conservatory. Pretty much stripped out and minimalist inside, there are however some unusual features such as the Aga on a return wall (complete with board games and a flat iron on top), a station style clock suspended from the front wall and some chunky timber framed partitions towards the rear. A corner houses a bar football table and a sit down Pacman game from the early 80s I'd guess. As stated previously below, this is a brew pub, the copper vessels being visible behind a glass screen. The island bar has at some time had the back removed to be replaced by a couple of glass shelves on shiny metal poles. The floor is boarded, seating is mostly at high tables with worn leather benches, there is a fair bit of exposed brickwork yet the pub's previous guise is revealed by the external brown tiling and upper Charrington's banded windows. There is a foody feel with an upmarket menu, eg harissa lamb with bittersweet salad and mint yogurt, chargrilled chilli squid with chickpea salad. Kid's meals served too, seemingly a popular choice as the back of the pub was full of the "yummy mummy" set with their three wheeler buggies. Four handpumps, two pub brewed beers, Bonobo Beer, Dam Tasty Beaver Beer plus Truman's Swallow and Swift and Ruddles County. I opted for the Beaver Beer which with hindsight was a mistake being a wheat beer, I discovered this after asking the barman if it was going to clear.....oops! The pub is certainly never going to find itself on any listing of unspoilt pub interiors and it wasn't really to my taste being rather more wine bar than pub but it is worth a visit for the novelty value and the chance to try the brewery beers.

Randomness Guide to London - Florence entry

Randomness Guide to London - Florence entry

This pub houses a micro-brewery, and although they served a mainstream ale in Adnam's Broadside, they also had on a couple of ales that, not surprisingly, I had not encountered before – Weasel Beer and Dam Tasty Beaver Beer. I went with the Weasel Beer with some misgivings (being not sure about the advertised citrus finish) but actually I found that I liked it a lot. It's a good, refreshingly hoppy ale just right for sitting outside a pub on a warm sunny spring day.The inside of the pub is more like a wine bar than a pub, with an odd mix of distressed leather, and wooden seating. It's not really my kind of place, as I prefer the more traditional type of pub, but I would certainly pay a return visit for the ale.

Light interior with real ale on sale, though cant remember what they were. Was a busy Sunday, as they were behind with the washing up.