The William Camden, Bexleyheath

This is a large 20th Century suburban pub of the sort that seems to be common in these parts of outer SE London. It's a huge U shaped room with the entrance in the middle and the bar facing you. There are areas to the right and left with a "public" area to the left and "lounge" to the right although the entrance end of the righr area seemed much the same as the left. There are three pool tables and a dart board at the far end of the left area and a juke box that attracted a strange man who appeared to be talking to it. On a Thursday afternoon there didn't seem to be many in apart from me and juke box man. Needless to say there were TV screens everywhere which all seemed to be showing a cricket match with nobody watching. Each side of the bar has three hand pumps whic both had one unused and GK IPA & Abbot. I went for the Abbot (£3.51) which was served in a hideous IPA glass with expanses of white, eggshell blue and orange. I guess that's one way to stop people nicking your glasses. The beer itself was reasonably OK. This place had no appeal to me whatsoever and I won't be back.

There were two ales on in here - Old Speckled Hen and GK IPA (£1.55 a half). Interestingly there were two GK IPA pumps, one of the traditional sort, and the other one of those tall illuminated ones with a shiny pipe to the side of it. My half came from the traditional pump, and the barman said that the other one was never used. I speculated that it came into being as a result of some designer's idea of a flashy gimmick, and the barman didn't demur. The usual Greene King glossy pubco menu was available with plenty of colour photos for those who don't know what things like fish & chips look like. This pub has two separate rooms, connected by a short corridor just inside the main entrance. The room on the left has a mix of carpeted and bare-boarded flooring, is furnished mainly with tall tables/tall stools with a few normal tables and chairs tucked away at the back. The room on the right has a little bit of banquette seating, but I guess is there for the pool tables dominating the room. I obviously spent my visit in the room on the left, where there were one or two prints on the walls, but otherwise not much decor worth mentioning. There's a garden at the back, and a bit of parking space at the front. I thought that this was a fairly characterless pub, but nevertheless really handily placed near Bexleyheath Station, especially for someone about to commence a cross-London journey.