The White Horse, Beckenham

Large open plan and characterless pub that was absoloutely rammed to the rafters with a wedding party on my brief visit, Doom Bar was the only beer I managed to spot plus normal keg, I didn't hang around too long but probably wouldn't have anyway if it were quieter. Awful.

Official site of The White Horse - www.whitehorsebeckenham.co.uk

Official site of The White Horse - www.whitehorsebeckenham.co.uk

The White Horse is a modern looking pub that is housed under a nice looking 60s office block,what more could you ask for. Once inside there is a very large oblong shaped room which runs to the rear,the room looks smart and is carpeted,the bar is on the left side,there is a small raised area on the right side,there is comfy bench seating and normal tables and chairs plus some tall tables and chairs. There were two real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Doom Bar,which was a decent drink,the other real ale was GK IPA. There were two pool tables to the rear and the TVs were showing the start of a rugby game,there were menus on the tables,but only drinkers in on my Saturday dinner visit. I enjoyed my short visit here watching the world go by outside. Pub visited 18/3/2017

The White Horse is a large, open plan drinking barn style pub, of the sort that grace most High Streets up and down the country. Previously known as the Goose, the pub is set in the ground floor of an ugly building that is out of keeping with Beckenham's otherwise rather pleasant High Street. You enter through double doors into a huge carpeted room with walls painted in plain colours or decorated with floral wallpaper. The servery runs down the left hand wall, with a typical dark wood counter and rather unattractive mirror and shelf bar back. There are a few bits of stained glasswork to the front of the pub, including in the entrance doors, but for the most part, the front of the pub comprises large, plain windows with a couple of basic seating areas beneath. Further into the room, there is a raised seating space to the right whilst opposite the bar, a row of high tables and stools have been set up. There is also a pool table here, partly screened from the front part of the pub by a pillar and bank of slot machines, whilst beyond the bar, another large pillar screens a second pool table. Seating throughout is a mix of standard tables and chairs, button backed banquettes and the aforementioned high stools. Music played quietly on a Thursday lunchtime and there were several TV screens throughout the room showing muted coverage of a darts tournament. The pub is so vast, that it's difficult to imagine any kind of atmosphere being generated unless the masses pack it out on a Friday night, in which case it's probably best avoided anyway. The pub doesn't strike you as the sort of place you're likely to find cask ale, but there were handpulls in action, offering a choice of Sharps Doom Bar, Greene King IPA (on three separate hand pumps!) and Shepherd Neame Rudolph's Reward. A barmaid who looked like she'd never learnt how to smile, served up a passable pint of the Rudolph's Reward - a malty, fairly uninspiring seasonal brew - at the wallet friendly price of £2.80. I didn't really think there was much to recommend about this place, which could quite as easily have been branded as a Yates or other such similar chain, without anyone batting an eyelid. There are only really three or four decent pubs in Beckenham, so if you're looking to pad out a crawl, I suppose this place has the advantage of offering some real ale, but I would say this one is otherwise best avoided.