The Hercules, Lambeth, SE1

An early opening pub with an impressive nineteen craft taps and five handpumps, three beers, London Pride, Wiper & True Mild and Dark Star APA, two Ciders , Norcutts Rhubarb and Harrys Haymaker. Handily opposite North Lambeth tube station its a lively and quite decent pub.

Now listed in the latest Good Beer Guide, I'd noticed that this pub advertises as being open from 10am daily. I did double check with them before setting out and they'd confirmed they would be open. Sure enough, I arrived at 10:15 on a Sunday morning to find it open. There were plenty of young staff present, but just myself as a customer. It is presumably the range of beers that has earned the Hercules a place in the Good Beer Guide. The beer range was exactly as mentioned by Tris C below. I ordered a half of the Norcott's Rhubarb Cider and another half of a craft beer called Dark Harvest by BOXCAR, primarily to let it warm up a little before drinking. The two halves came to £7.50, which stunned me a little. Either the halves are severely inflated here or the craft beer was overpriced. A subsequent half of the Solar Eclipse seemed slightly more reasonable, but go here with a full wallet (or an expenses account). One of the young staff slapped some kind of menu onto the table. I believe it was for pizzas. The staff were keen and knowledgeable about the beers and the pub is well located, being just opposite Lambeth North tube. However, the steep prices will deter casual drinkers.

Well described below, this former restaurant/former pub is once again somewhere to come for a few beers, provided you can afford it. We were put off eating by the filthy chef sitting at the back door smoking and picking his nose. One barmaid was non-autochthonous and pretty clueless, while the other, more local, was quite helpful. It was all a bit too Hipster for me, with the beer menu, the gangs of bearded trolls and the over-familiar – not really sure what he did but he clearly worked there – person whose ‘buddy’ I now appear to be. On draft were Vibrant Forest Castanea, South Downs Strawberry Cider and Siren Craft Brew Suspended in Experiments American Pale Ale (wtf?). The beer was in good condition but over-priced even for London. I shan’t labour to come back.

This wedge-shaped cornersite pub has been completely revamped by Fuller's following its return to pub use after many years languishing as restarants. The centre of the main room is occupied by a couple of large six or eight seater tables accompanied by backless uphostered benches. There are a couple of tall tables/tall stools, with the remainder of the furnishings being dining room style tables with normal chairs. All of the tables had little sprigs of flowers on them. There's exposed brickwork between the windows on the Kennington Rd side, and modern replacement boards on the floor. A sign pointed to further seating upstairs, but not visited as I heard a member of staff say that it wasn't quite ready yet. There's a smaller room up a step and through an arch at the back, with a nice fireplace and more normal tables and chairs. I didn't see any TVs anywhere, although there was some music playing at background volumes. There are a few, mainly modern art, framed posters constituting decor but nothing really worth mentioning. There's a "terrace" outside providing more seating; nobody was using it on the cold and wet when I visited. A big plus is the fact that they had four real ales on plus Cornish Orchards Blush cider on handpump. The ales were: London Pride (obviously); Fuller's Swing Low; Darkstar American Pale Ale; and Mondo Parliament at £4.55 a pint. being a Fuller's pub they do food of course, with sandwiches from £8.50 to £9.50. It was the first time that I'd seen a cauliflower steak advertised on a menu, although I had heard of them. I didn't expect to see one on a Fuller's menu though. I wasn't sufficiently tempted to fork out £11 for one though. The nearest thing to pub grub was the "Frontier battered fish and chips" with "crushed peas" at £13. Desserts are £6. My pint of Mondo Parliament was in superb condition, and these days £4.55 for a decent pint is not unreasonable in London. It was comfortable enough in here if you can bag one of the normal ables, but I could have done without the ever present smell of fish and chips, but I guess the smell of decent food might induce some punters to buy something to eat. Overall, I think that this is a very welcome addition to the pub scene of north Lambeth.

Official site of The Hercules Tavern - www.thehercules.co.uk