Barrel & Horn, Bromley

Scruffy pub compared to Fullers usual standard but it is Craft so maybe that explains it.The beer does the talking.Rear beer garden.Two good cask beers from Siren and burntmill and about 10 kegs from Burnt mill so an excellent times was had .

As described in more detail below, this is Fullers' attempt to create a craft beer restaurant/bar and achieves limited success. It consists of an open plan room in pastel green, with a kitchen and dining area to the rear, but lacks much in the way of atmosphere. The front windows appear to open up in summer which might be nice, but the furnishings left a lot to be desired. A dozen or so keg taps offered a reasonable range of craft stuff, but just London Pride available on pump. Not really my sort of place.

Official site of Barrel & Horn - www.barrelandhorn.com

Official site of Barrel & Horn - www.barrelandhorn.com

This pub was one of a small number of Fullers houses revamped by Steve Keegan (now of Late Knights Brewery-fame), with the idea being to strip back on visible Fullers branding and products to create a feel akin to a freehouse, allowing for a wider range of beers to be sold and the chance to target a different sector of the pub market. As with one of his other high profile projects, the Union Tavern in Maida Hill, the interior has been refitted to make it less traditional in appearance. You enter into a spacious bare boarded area with the servery down the right hand wall and ample canteen style benches and tables filling the bulk of the room. The bar has a basic counter and a bar back with swan wallpaper, whilst the rest of the room was decked with Oktoberfest bunting and there was plenty of promotional material detailing the range of German lagers they had on offer over this period. Some standard tables and chairs can be found under the front windows, whilst the walls have been painted in pastel shades, with one wall covered in a large sheet with an interesting design on it. The room narrows further back and here you can find some high tables and stools, a few armchairs and plenty more standard seating, as the room gradually becomes darker and darker the further back you move. There is an open kitchen back here and the walls are wood panelled in part with some white tiles and butterfly wallpaper thrown in for effect. To the rear right there is a small raised room with limited seating of varying degrees of comfort and something of a 1950’s living room aesthetic. Music played quietly throughout our visit and live music was being promoted quite extensively. The decision to vary the ale range resulted in just the one Fullers Beer – Oliver’s Island – being available alongside guest options of Windsor and Eton Zinzan’s Drop and Tonbridge Blonde Ambition, with a real cider occupying an additional hand pump. I tried the Blonde Ambition, which I found in excellent condition and served by a chatty barman. As mentioned above, the pub was celebrating Oktoberfest and had put several German beers on keg, which supplemented a fairly interesting and diverse ‘craft’ range. I’m not sure what this pub was like in its previous incarnation, but I thought this was a decent attempt to create something a bit different out of a well established format. I was more than happy spending time in here and would liken the place to a less chaotic Antic venue. This is a decent option for a town centre pint and I’m sure I’ll be calling in again soon.

The Barrel & Horn is a unsigned Fullers tied house which is very close to Mascotts and the Partridge. Once inside there is a largish room with the bar to the front right,the front area has a tiled floor and tall tables and chairs plus a few normal tables and chairs,the rear area is bare boarded and has more normal tables and chairs,there is a small raised area to the rear right. There were three real ales on the bar that i noted,i had a drink from Tonbridge brewery which went down very well,the other beers were Gales Seafarers and London Pride. The pub was quite busy on my Saturday afternoon visit,i was happy enough having a drink in this pub. Pub visited 14/2/2015