The Door Hinge, Welling

Apparently this was London's first micropub. It certainly seems much more worn compared with others, which is not such a bad thing. There were quite a few characters in, many advancing in years (including ourselves!). Conversation is king. Behind the front room is another tiny seating area, where there was complimentary food. Toilets are beyond this point along a corridor. All ales and ciders were from Kent - Musket Flintlock & Trigger, Kent Cobnut & Dudda's Tun Disco, Greenhorn, Cheery Old Dudda, Bone Dry, Spiced & Original. This is a compact place, albeit a good example of an early micropub.

What is now a 'traditional' micro-pub, with just four thin tables, bench seating around the periphery of the small, square room and a few plain chairs. Decor comprises pump clips on one side wall, local history photographs and a bit of breweriana on the other and a window through to the cool room beside the compact counter at the back. There also turns out to be a small domestic-looking lounge up a step off the corridor through to the toilets to the rear. With no room for handpumps, the real ales are served on gravity, and I found two Kent beers - Pale and Comet - plus Oscar Wilde dark Mild from Mighty Oaks (£3.30, and in fine form).

The micropub explosion in Kent finally made its way into the Greater London area with the opening of this place back in early 2013. In a short space of time it has already been voted CAMRA's Greater London Pub of the Year for 2014, so hopes were high on my late November visit. As you would expect, it's a compact set up with the front door leading into a roughly square shaped room with laminate flooring, rigid bench seating around three sides and a tiny serving counter in the rear left corner. The front windows are frosted and have the pub's name picked out on them, along with the slogan 'Old Traditional Ale House', which may be pushing it given it's not even been open for two years. I suspect this was meant more to give a flavour of the style of pub than an accurate description. A door behind the serving counter leads into the taproom, from where the ales are poured, and there is a window on the rear wall that allows you a glimpse inside. This is flanked by boards listing available and future ale options as well as what I suspect will be a rapidly growing collection of awards. Elsewhere, décor includes the inevitable display of pump clips, bits of breweriana, pictures of local scenes and a framed door hinge. Some old mobile phones have been nailed to the wall, presumably to indicate an intolerance of loud phone conversations within the pub, although this didn't stop one chap receiving a couple of calls on a phone with a truly awful ringtone that sounded like someone screaming (to be fair, he did pop outside to take the calls). Hop lined walls and a stack of London Drinker magazines rounded out a pleasant interior and there is apparently a small overspill area behind the bar which I didn't realise at the time of my visit. There were three ales and three real ciders available on this visit, which seems about right for a pub of this size. The ale options were Jarrow Venerable Bede, Young's Winter Warmer and Kent Pale. I tried a pint of the Jarrow for £3.20 and thought it was in great shape. The barman was friendly and chatty and the locals were a very welcoming bunch. I really enjoyed visiting this place and I'm pleased to see such a venture clearly doing very well. The CAMRA award presumably reflects not just the excellent beer and friendly environment, but also what the pub represents for drinkers in London - the future. I for one, would fully welcome more pubs like this around the capital.

This micropub is CAMRA's 2014 Greater London Pub of the Year, which is a magnificent achievement for a bar that is less than a couple of years old. This is very much a no frills pub. There are no unnecessary distractions here from the likes of fruit machines, TV screens or blaring pop music. The ambience awaiting you inside is indicated by the board outside declaring "no lager, no alcopops", as real ale is king here, with a real cider available plus red or white wine. Being known as a micropub tells you it's really small, and this shop conversion lives up to that billing with just four very basic wooden tables, plus enough seating to support them, in the main bar. But there is a "quite room" at the back on the way to the toilet, with a couple of sofas in it as I recall. There seems to be three ales on at one time, dispensed from a glass fronted cold room at the back. When I was in the ales on were Rockin' Robin (£3 a pint), Old Dairy Gold Top (£3 a pint), and Summer Lightning (£3.40 a pint). The Gold Top was in superb condition, and when it finished during my visit was replaced immediately by another ale. There are a couple of chalkboards on the wall - one giving details (name, brewery, ABV, price) of the ales and cider on, with the other advising the forthcoming ales. Food doesn't seem to be a major factor here, although there are a few odds and ends available. The haute cuisine option is homemade sausage roll for £2.50, backed up by table d'hote favourites such as crisps (£1), peanuts (70p), and pickled eggs (50p). Because of the limited seating I opted to sit at the end of an already occupied table, and ended up chatting to the other occupant who put me on to another nearby micropub that wasn't (yet) on Pubs Galore. It was too late to visit said micropub on this visit, which will obviously necessitate another visit to this part of the world in the not too distant future. This is definitely a destination pub if you're in this area.