Eltham GPO, Eltham, SE9

This is one of a tranche of pubs that the Portobello Brewery bought off Antic in 2020 and it was shut down for three months in the second half of last year whilst it underwent a complete makeover, therefore none of the previous reviews now really apply. What we have instead is a very smart pub, both inside and outside. You can still see traces of the former Antic pub in the ceiling and the bare boarded wooden floor, but the furniture and décor is now much more modern, with a lot of the space aligned to dining but still with enough sections more aligned to sitting with a beer. And in that respect, there are now three ale hand pumps on the bar alongside some keg dispensers for modern craft ales. Portobello Star Bitter and Stiff Lip IPA were on with FivePoints XPA on the third pump as a guest. There were some interesting craft options such as Brixton Atlantic APA on the taps. I have a very soft spot for former GPO buildings turned into pubs and I thought this is now a particularly good example.

Usual sort of Antic hipsterish take on a conversion, in this case a former post office, with random arty furnishings and décor. Something of a foody feel, including the mandatory clipboard menus, and mostly tabled, although plenty of room for drinkers also. On handpump were a couple of Volden beers - Session and a very drinkable Autumn - plus Ghost Ship and a Lilley's cider.

As with the Sylvan Post in Forest Hill, this is an Antic pub converted from a former post office, although in this instance the place was already a pub (trading as the unimaginatively titled Old Post Office) before Antic took over. The pub has quite a striking façade that makes a visit quite tempting, although I felt the interior didn't quite live up to the initial promise. You enter into a large main bar with a U-shaped servery to the rear of the bare boarded room. A battered dark wood counter and simple bar back might not be what you'd expect from a pub that only opened 18 months ago, but this place has been set up in the usual half-finished, Antic fashion. A purple and white paint scheme predominates, with a few bits of bare brick or wood panelling visible elsewhere. The right hand side is the main seating area with banquettes around the perimeter and the usual mad mix of tables and chairs, sourced from the skips and tips of Britain, filling out the rest of the space with each table sporting a wine bottle with flowers in it. A live music performance space was set up to the rear left and access can be found here to the rear smoking area cum beer garden. The window sills are stocked with various paperback books and the walls have been decorated with various bits of post office themed memorabilia. A curtain on the left hand wall screens a restaurant area which seems to have very similar décor and includes a couple of collages and a model of the pub. The room was being set up for a wedding reception when I arrived, so I didn't get to look around properly. There is a gloomy area at the rear of the pub with some more eclectic bits and bobs on show, but it was so dark on a bright day that only one bloke had ventured within. Just the three ales on the bar - Sharps Doom Bar, Robinsons Dizzy Blonde and Volden Vim - the latter being an Antic house beer which was in decent enough shape. Four handpulls sadly remained unclipped and one more was dispensing a real cider. This seemed like a pretty poor selection from an Antic pub on a Saturday afternoon and this was seemingly reflected by the fact that this was by far the quietest pub of all those I visited in Eltham that day. This is actually quite a decent pub and despite being very quiet and feeling a little impersonal, I found the place very comfortable and easy to settle down in over a decent pint. Like most Antic pubs, the place offers contemporary style without alienating fans of traditional pubs and had the ale range been a little wider I might have been tempted to suggest that this is a must-do pub when in the area. As it stands, I'll go so far as to say this is a good pub to include on a crawland has the potential to be even better.

There were a couple of King Beer ales on - Northern Lights (£1.90 a half) and Brighton Blonde; two Adnam's ales - Broadside and Lighthouse; with Doom Bar representing the usual suspects. Clipboard menus were on all the tables, with "craft beer battered hake and double cooked chips with pea puree" rocking in at tenner. But it's probably worth a tenner to get the batter on your fish made from craft beer rather than just any old beer. The enhancement in flavour must be considerable. The "Cumberland sausages, mashed potato and rich onion gravy" seems a reasonable bet at £7. Although this pub's name has been changed to Eltham GPO, it still retains its "Old Post Office" signage on the exterior. Inside it's largely separated into three rooms, and it's also apparent from the photographs that it's inevitably a large establishment. Being an Antic conversion you know what to expect - cheap looking mismatched house clearance style furnishings, a re-decoration job that looks half finished, and odd things around the place such as an old Singer sewing machine getting in the way in front of the handpumps. Of course there's other Post Office related stuff on the walls such as a framed montage of stamps, postal orders, official letters and the like. I didn't care much for the music blaring out louder than was really necessary, but I guess I must be in a minority as most places insist on having it. But, having had that little moan, I really didn't mind the place at all. There's always something to look at or interest you in an Antic pub and this one's no different. The beer range is good, and the "shabby chic" style doesn't faze me. This is definitely somewhere worth stopping off for a pint if you're in Eltham.

Official site of Eltham GPO - elthamgpo.com