The Commercial, Herne Hill, SE24

This was my start point on the evening crawl around HH and TH. Can’t miss this one as directly opposite as you exit HH station. It is a pretty big venue, quite quiet on arrival but punter occupation built steadily during my 30 mins or so here. They have multiple screens showing live footy, the were hand written directives dotted around the venue instructing where to sit depending on which game you wanted to watch tonight. So made sense of strategic viewing tables loading up to catch multiple screens. Felt like a pub viewing version of three dimensional chess. Surprised I wasn’t trampled on when I gave up my innocently chosen table that happened to have a charging socket that I realised was the place to be to watch the unfolding action a couple of hours hence. Quite a lot of keg options - only cask option was Wainwrights Gold which was a nice drink (I am absolutely in love and in awe of Alan’s use of that word). I think this place should be a really decent “station pub” if it had the beer options more balanced but at the moment it is only average in my eyes.

An old pub outside the station which has been tarted up in a modern style, mainly by painting the wood panelling in bright reds and blues, presumably to fit in with the local streetscape. The right hand side has pretensions to be more of a restaurant: look on the floor and you can see where the bar counter area has been halved to make more space. There are a few tables on the pavement outside. On handpump were TT Landlord, Dark Star Skylab and a cider. Tolerable, if you are waiting for a train.

This is a good-sized pub with a very convenient location directly opposite Herne Hill station. A choice of entrances will take you into one of the two front bars, with the left door leading into the main bar which sees the servery run down the right-hand side of the room and plenty of seating over to the left. Long padded banquettes down the side wall have chairs and low stools in support and provide the majority of the room’s seating options. A nice fireplace stands to the front and this was lit on a chilly November evening, with a fairy-light lined mirror above and a TV showing muted Sky Sports News to one side. Moving further back, you reach a rear seating area with near full-height white wall panels, another fireplace, this time not lit, and a mix of pew and chair seating. A couple of old skylights act as an interesting feature for this part of the pub, whilst an old hatch through to the servery has been screened off and the walls are decorated with lots of old photos and retro advertisements. A door back here leads out to a beer garden, which I didn’t bother to explore on a cold and dark evening. The servery has a nice dark wood counter with rounded ends, a matching canopy and a windowed bar back that looks through to the other front room on the right-hand side of the pub. This is a smaller lounge-style space with high tables and stools under the bar back windows, benches to the front and tables and chairs elsewhere. Another lit fireplace on the right-hand wall had a plain mirror above and there was a second TV screen showing the same channel, whilst the rest of the wall space was decorated with mirrors, old photos and some advert prints. There were three cask ales on the bar, giving a choice of Sharps Doom Bar, Titanic Plum Porter and Taylors landlord. I opted for a pint of the latter, which was in good condition, befitting the pub’s inclusion in the Good Beer Guide, and served to me by an indifferent barmaid. This is a nice enough pub that has a few decent seating areas and interesting features to explore. The beer, whilst well-kept, is perhaps a little too pedestrian in its selection to merit repeat visits and the begrudging service and dubious station-side pub customers didn’t help matters either. Worth a look in passing but not one I’ll deliberately seek out in the future.

Located directly opposite the railway station, with quite an attractive façade featuring a striking decorative band along the frontage. Retains two rooms, both rather dark, and one more of a lounge, but the bar on the other side has been extended to create a lighter dining area. Four handpumps on the counter, with Doom Bar, Ghost Ship and Proper Job (£4.55) available when I called in.

Good busy community pub with decent beers on.Quite foodie based but felt comfortable.Trumans -zephyr,(good)Sharps -atlantic,Longman -apa and Doom.

Nice enough place. can get very busy. For a large pub, it has a small gents toilet. 2 standing, 1 seated. Powerful hand dryer is over the sink, proximity activated so it the tap is running and the dryer comes on, it splashed the water everywhere. Had a Fullers ale on, can't remember the name, but it was only 4.0 and costs £4.55 a pint. The choice of food is good, but the type is very small, take a magnifying glass is you want to eat there.

An open two bar place with a modern feel, some contemporary and cool music was playing in the background,the decor being a mix of white painted wood panel and exposed brick. Four hand pumps with three on, T.T Landlord ,Adnams Ghostship and Purity Mad Goose which was ok. Not a bad pub of its type.