The Honor Oak, Forest Hill, SE23

Large pub with plenty of inside and outside seating areas including a pleasant one out the front with lighting starting to come into its own as dusk grabbed hold of the evening. However way too cold to be outside quaffing this evening whilst dressed for a more pleasant spring day! Indeed the interior was very comfortable with a mixture of seating including the very comfortable leather armchair I sit in typing this short review! This whilst the layout is very well described by PSM below (as always), the venue was much less enjoyed by me from a beer choice perspective as no obvious cask here these days. The hand pumps remain but not looking used and the beer menus just had an array of keg choices. Some interesting ones, there was a selection from Laine, but not all were available during my visit. This venue has a lot on in terms of events to drag punters in (quiz, open mic, live music, a monthly drag event) and I would imagine that it does well for itself with the target audience, but i rather doubt I am part of their view of that. Nothing wrong with the place, just doesn’t tick enough of my boxes to merit a higher rating.

This is a fairly large, open-plan pub, just off the A205 between Forest Hill and Honor Oak Park, which has been given a gastro-style makeover similar to a lot of old boozers in this part of town. On your way in, you pass a pretty large patio garden to one side of the pub, which has a little greenery and plenty of picnic benches and other such seating options. You enter into a large main bar area with exposed floorboards, large windows along two sides of the room and a small pillar in the centre which fails to break the space up to any degree. The servery is to the left and has a grey painted angular counter and a modern timber-lined bar back. There’s a good mix of seating in the area opposite the bar, with some sofas in the centre, high-backed armchairs to the front, pews to the right and standard tables and chairs dotted around elsewhere. The rear wall has a very unusual feature, having been covered almost entirely by a wide range of plants which are potted in or else climbing up, a metal framework which is practically hidden by all the foliage. Two traffic lights hang from the ceiling and fairy lights have been strung around many of the windows, making it look quite nice on our evening-time visit. There seems to be some sort of dining room behind the bar, but I didn’t venture in to have a proper look, whilst signs pointed upstairs for The Loft Comedy Club, also unexplored. High-tempo dance music was annoyingly playing on our Saturday early-evening visit, although the volume was mercifully kept to a sensible level. I’d not expected much in the way of cask ale here, but as with many of these gentrified pubs around these parts, ale is being re-introduced and I found four handpulls offering Gun Best Bitter, Laine Robin Hood Best and Brockley Fresh Hop Pale, with the final pump unused. A decent keg selection included more beers from the three aforementioned breweries as well as one or two others. The Fresh Hop Pale didn’t seem particularly fresh to me, but the Robin Hood best was a big improvement. The staff were generally very friendly and patient and gave us good warning that we would have to leave by 19:00 due to us having a couple of young children in our group. I came here knowing nothing about this place but left feeling this was a pretty good pub with some good beer, friendly staff and a good mix of seating options to settle down in. The garden also looked like it could be a good bet in the summer months, and I would imagine the place gets packed out with young families much like in a number of other pubs nearby. Not for everyone I’m sure, but it certainly worked well for us.

A Saturday lunchtime visit and my first since its been redecorated (again), which seems to be a near yearly exercise, or maybe it's just I don't drink here very often. Still mainly set up for diners inside and has the long, thin separate dining area down one side of the pub. There's now an interesting plant wall at the far end of the pub, and yes the plants are real! 4 hand pumps with 3 ales on, 1 from Laines in Brighton and 2 from Brockley Brewery, the pint of their Spring Ale 17 @ 4.0% was well received and went down a treat sitting outside in the front beer garden on a wonderfully warm spring day. In addition to the cask ales there are 5 ales on keg, 3 of these from Laines. A few other punters sitting outside in the garden and a large and rowdy group of ladies in the dining area. On this visit coupled with the good ale selection and fresh decor I'd say this is the best the Honor Oak has looked since it opened its doors after many years as the rough house that was the St Germain's Tavern. Worth a trip, Friday and Saturday nights they have a DJ on.

As you approach this pub the signage gives you an idea of what to expect inside. There is some of the original tiling on the exterior, but other than that it looks like what it is – a pub that has been “made over” to such an extent that none of its original character remains. When I was in here on Friday lunchtime there was one largish party enjoying a Christmas dinner. All of the other free tables had “reserved” signs on them, and most of the others that were occupied seemed to be involved in children’s parties. But I got a seat at the bar, and had a decent drop of St Austell Tribute (at £3.20 a pint). There were two other ales on – Rosie Nosey and London Pride. As I recall, there were also a couple of sofas on the left as you go in. Judging from my one visit, it looks as if this place has re-branded itself as a restaurant. But I suppose it might be very if it wasn’t the run up to Christmas The pictures on the walls seem to be of children’s wooden toys, including one that looked a bit like a naked wooden Barbie. Quite bizarre. Pride of place however, was a photograph of what looked like a wheelchair bound hospital patient. Maybe there was more to it than met the eye, but I thought that it was in incredibly bad taste. The combination of the noise from the children and the unattractive surroundings made me finish my drink and leave as soon as possible. I doubt whether I’ll back.