The Old Loyal Britons, Greenwich, SE10

The Old Loyal Britons spent some time as a Chinese restaurant before being closed down by health and safety. After spending some time closed it was reopened in its current form which is a basic backstreet boozer. The interior consists of some seating by the front window and then the bar area that leads to a large seating area at the rear. I found the two owners to be very friendly as were the handful of locals who quickly involved me in their conversation. Next to a limited draught range are four hand pumps, two of which were unused leaving Windsor and Eton Brewery’s Guardsman and Maracana as the ale options. I was informed that no big brewery beers are served here and that a mini brewery was being set up on site. There are no televisions and there is no background music to detract from the banter between locals. I found this pub to be the best of my crawl of the area and would love it to be my local. Thoroughly recommended.

This is an unusual looking building, since my visit I have discovered it is a converted fire station, hence the two large arched openings to the front elevation. It was fairly quiet on my Saturday afternoon visit with just a chap sat on a barstool and a couple sitting towards the rear of the pub but the lady serving and the chap at the bar were both friendly and I was soon drawn into conversation. There were no signs of any East Wickham beers, I'm unsure whether the on-site brewing operation is up and running or not. Beers on were ELB Nightwatchman and Jamboree, Windsor and Eton Red Rye and XTπ. I tried the Jamboree and the Red Rye which were both excellent. There was also a plastic polypin of cider on the far end of the bar, unfortunately I failed to record which but it was a more unusual variety than the usual suspects. The pub itself is rather basic with little in the way of décor apart from a few framed beer quotations, brewery flyers and Whatpub leaflets. Interesting looking electrics too with surface mounted trunking at jaunty angles. The pub goes back a fair way, boarded flooring, mostly regular if mismatched seating, not in that intentionally trendy way, just randomly selected. No music or a TV, I believe there is occasional live music. There are speakers on the walls. I didn't see any food or menus apart from a board advertising cheese boards but I believe food is served at certain times. Certainly a no frills basic boozer but with a very good well kept range and friendly service. I enjoyed it here, worth seeking out.

Official site of East Wickham Brewery - www.ewbrewery.com

Official site of East Wickham Brewery - www.ewbrewery.com