The Hangar, Sidcup

We feared the worst when arriving at this Blackfen micropub, as all tables were taken inside, in addition to two outside. Luckily, there is a further outdoor space to the rear and the pub owns another table adjacent to the Indian restaurant nextdoor. Further tables could have been set up if necessary. We chose the table next to the curry house, which made us quite hungry! They won't serve you here until you've downloaded the NHS contract tracing app. Luckily, I was talked through this by the helpful waitress. All 3 staff members, including the owner were friendly. The app did prove to be quite useful later, as I tested its effectiveness in subsequent pubs. Real ales here were No Frills Joe Dreamland IPA, Oakham Would Be Kings, Elusive Mephisto & Kent KGB. There were further craft beers from New Bristol & Tiny Rebel. Real ciders were Tiny Rebel Protanopia, Nightingale Tenterden, Sandford Orchards Creedy Vintage & Snail's Bank Orchard Dry, Tumbledown Medium, Pig Squeal, Strawberry & Lime Cider, Pineapple & Grapefruit Cider, Raspberry Ripple, Black Forest, Rhubarb Cider & Mango Cider. Despite being a bit out on a limb next to the Indian restaurant, this seemed like another good South East London micropub, which is certainly very popular. I noticed a similar place with the same name and signage on the main drag in Welling, which is presumably a sister pub that is yet to open.

Hidden away in the depths of South East London’s suburban sprawl, this is yet another micro pub, located on an isolated crescent of shops in the middle of a large housing estate. The pub has the usual single rectangular room layout with some nice exposed floorboards, walls covered in tartan-patterned wallpaper, and an L-shaped bar counter in the rear left corner. High hard backed benches run down both sides of the room with metal-frame low stools in support. The bar has a panelled counter front and simple shelved bar back with a massive TV screen to one side displaying the various drink options. The left-hand wall is mostly taken up by blackboards which list the full gin and cocktail ranges and has a bottle display in a dark painted cage to the front, whilst the right-hand wall has been liberally covered by arty framed black and white photos. One amusing feature is a home-made blue plaque which has been mounted on the wall next to the bar and reads “The Hangar – Where everybody knows your name. Est. 2018”. There was a good crowd in on my early evening weekend visit, comprising quite a wide range of customers suggesting that the place is popular with the locals. There was an interesting selection of cask ales available on this visit, with a choice from Adnams Broadside, Northdown Papworth Victory, East London Pale Ale, Oakham Scarlet Macaw and Wansum UXB. I tried the Scarlet Macaw which was in excellent condition and a nice reminder of how good this beer can be. The bar team seemed to be a family unit and they were all very friendly, industrious and welcoming. This is not a part of the world I ever expected to find myself in, but it was worth traipsing through this estate to find this great little pub which is an excellent asset to the local community. I really enjoyed my time here, thought the staff were great hosts and the beer was top notch. Quite when I’ll next be out this way, I couldn’t say, but this place is definitely worth seeking out.

The Hangar is definitely up the sophisticated end of the micropub scale, and a world away from the simple one room with basic furniture set-up. As well as half-a-dozen cask ales, there's a few craft keg, as well as an extensive collection of gins and a fair few wines as well. The pub was rocking early on a Saturday evening with all seats taken and a few braving the chill outside as well. It's clearly established itself in the area and the locals were a friendly bunch. You could do as we did and add this one into a Sidcup-based micropub crawl. Well worth a visit

Yet another micropun in the Sidcup postal area, this one is only a couple of bus stops away from the Broken Drum but is in an area with no neighbouring pubs. It's a proper micropub with no electronic distractions although there is a TV displaying the beers on offer. I'm not sure why it's called the Hangar as I could find no evidence of an aerodrome in the area. It was once a carpet shop and is a typical rectangular room with a bar counter at the rear, benches along the walls and high tables and chairs. Their were a fair few in on a Saturday afternoon. The bar counter only has the keg options as all cask ales and ciders are served directly from the cooled cellar. There is a range of spirits that I didn't look into but suspect it's mostly speciality gins. The keg options were a lager, three Meantime brews and Wiper & True Stout. The five cask options were ELB Foundation & Wolf, Bad Seed Session IPA, 360 degrees APA and Adnam's Broadside. These were all priced at £3.60. I went for the 360 degrees APA and had another as it was in good nick. This is another micropub well worth visiting.

Official site of The Hangar - www.hangarmicropub.com

Official site of The Hangar - www.hangarmicropub.com