The Blythe Hill Tavern, Catford, SE23

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Rex Rattus left this review about The Blythe Hill Tavern

This is one of the better London pubs that I have encountered. JohnBonser said I would like it, and he was right. It’s still a three-room pub, each with their own door to the outside, although they are now interconnected. As others have said, this pub has thankfully remained a traditional style boozer. There’s the Public Bar on the left; what must be the Saloon Bar on the right, with another comfortable connected room at the back that I guess would be the Lounge Bar. There are mock beams on the ceiling, which seems to be a feature of inter-war pubs. I sat in the Saloon Bar, where there was a flatscreen TV on the wall showing the racing. I also spotted a couple of one-armed bandits, but the one in the Saloon Bar was thankfully switched off, or possibly broken.
This is another of those special unpretentious pubs that seem to be getting rarer by the year, whose attraction is the feel of their very ordinariness – although I realise that that is something of a contradiction. It seems to be something of an “Irish” pub – the barman and the clientele when I was in were clearly from the Emerald Isle. Plus there was a superb Guinness mirror in the Lounge, as well as the iconic Guinness toucan poster above the TV in the Saloon Bar. Nothing wrong with any of that of course.
There were six real ales on when I was in recently, including General Wolfe 1759, from Westerham Brewery. Unfortunately I didn’t spot the General Wolfe until I’d ordered a pint of Dark Star Hophead – but it was a good pint nonetheless, and for under the £3 mark. The General Wolfe clip was there for all to see – but I missed it somehow! They don’t do food, at least not on a weekday lunchtime, but the barman was quite happy for me to pop to the caff a couple of doors down the road to bring a sarny back to the pub. This is a pub worth going out of your way to find, as long as you are someone who appreciates the traditional pub.

On 8^th February 2010 - rating: 10
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