The Red Lion, Bromley

A traditional back street pub, that is well supported by the locals, it certainly was on our Thursday night visit. The Manager and his wife were old style publicans, who were very smart in appearance and greeted you on arrival and wished you well on leaving. The décor consisted of a patterned red and gold wallpaper and oddly enough green painted ceilings. The bar area looked original and had a pot shelf running along the full length of the counter. Five pumps serving Boondoggle, GK IPA, Abbot, Harveys Sussex and Hogsback Tea.

Again the previous reviewers leave little for me to add. This is the sort of backstreet local that I really like. The ale selection was very good for a Greene King pub, and I thought that the pint of Box Brewery Piston Broke was an excellent drop. The food was exceptionally reasonably priced, with what sounded like down-to-earth sandwiches (ham and cheese mainly) at just under £3 a pop. The Brewer's Tudor frontage suggests an inter-war pub, and the emerald green painted guttering, drainpipes, and ceiling inside the pub suggests an Irish themed pub - but it isn't. Anyway, it was comfortable enough inside with a carpeted floor in the room at the front and normal tables and chairs throughout. The clock set in a wood surround above the entrance to the back room on the right might just belong to the pub (although I doubt it), but the "Bottles & Jugs" framed glazed panel displayed on one of the walls can't have belonged to this pub. But they are delightful features nonetheless.

Official site of The Red Lion - redlionbromley.co.uk

Official site of The Red Lion - redlionbromley.co.uk

Tucked away down the back street to the North of Bromley town centre, this is a very pleasant Greene King pub with a nice community feel to it. You enter by passing through a well appointed front patio seating area with a good deal of seating under bright flower boxes and into a carpeted front bar with standard tables and chairs around the perimeter and the servery to the rear. A nice fireplace stands on the left hand wall with a spectacular etched glass mirror above, sadly obscured by various A4 flyers stuck to it. A grand row of bookshelves cover much of the right hand wall and they are packed full of various well thumbed paperbacks. The bar follows the room as it extends rearwards down the right hand side, broken midway by a pillar with a board details the regular ales. The servery has a dark wood counter and mirrored bar back topped with panels that read “Beards of Sussex, Established 1797”. The canopy is topped with hundreds of pump clips and the walls have been decorated with some tired looking, peeling patterned wallpaper. A door leads through to a tile floored rear room with a rather spartan feel to it. The minimal decor includes tankards and pots on a shelf above a doorway, old black and white photos here and there, a juke box to the right and a dartboard to the left. Music played quietly, except for when the bar staff cranked up ‘Happy Birthday’ by Stevie Wonder for the benefit of a group celebrating someone’s birthday in the rear room, and TV screens were showing muted cricket. There was a decent selection of mainstream ales on the bar, comprising Greene King IPA and Abbot Ale, Harvey’s Sussex Best and Wadworth 6X and Farmer’s Glory. I was served by a very pleasant barmaid who said “enjoy your pint” when she handed over my change and I’m pleased to report that I did enjoy a very nice pint of the Harvey’s. This is a very nice little local’s pub with well kept ale and a friendly welcome and I thought it was well worth the short detour from the town centre to check it out. The pub seemed to be doing a good trade on a Thursday night and I can certainly see the appeal. I’m sure I’ll be back to this one in due course.

The Red Lion is a decent looking pub that is a very short walk from the Freelands Tavern. Once inside there is a single oblong shaped room which runs to the rear,the front area is larger and square shaped,there are normal tables and chairs here,the bar is to the mid left,there are normal tables and chairs facing the bar,the rear area is down 1 step this area has a tiled floor and a darts board to the left. The pub is a Greene King tied house,there were five real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Harveys Bitter which went down very well,the other beers were St Austell Tribute,Brains Reverend James,GK IPA and Abbot. Food is available and was very cheap for London with the most expensive meal being £5.95 and the cheapest at £2.00. I quite took to this pub despite the lack of bench seating and background music. Pub visited 14/2/2015