The Herne Tavern, East Dulwich, SE22

Another huge, handsome pub - inside and out - with a good beer garden. This was the only place after freedom day that I found were still insisting on app ordering only. It was efficient and the Harveys Sussex Best was in fine condition.

If I'd been on me own I'd have spun on my heel & done one, but the chaps had suggested an off-map visit so into the creche we went. Seriously, kids-o-clock, rammed with ‘em in rt-hand bar and playground garden. I wonder about a pub's target market when 70% of the clientele aren't even old enough to have pocket money, and their related 29% make a drink last & last until, at some invisible signal, they all disappeared at once, much like one-drink rags after a sky-match! At least the ale choice for our 1% minority included TT Landlord & Summer Lightning and the left hand bar area was (relatively) kid-free. The 3-pint round, though, was £9.80, ouch!

Nice food led pub with 4 handpumps.Large rambling beer garden to the rear.Friendly barstaff.Very good pint of Brockley -golden.May be a heritage pub but a very dull exterior to my mind.

Official site of the Herne Tavern, contains menus - www.theherne.net

Official site of the Herne Tavern, contains menus - www.theherne.net

This pub is on the CAMRA Inventory of Heritage pubs with interiors deemed worthy of preservation, and it’s not difficult to see why. The exterior retains its attractive original tiling, which can be seen from the photographs. Inside, the original wall panelling, bar back, and general structure of the pub remains in place. The leaded windows still denote the original separate rooms of this pub, with the public bar on the left, the saloon bar on the right leading to an offshoot on the far right that would have been a lounge bar. The old public bar, which is reached via an archway from the saloon bar, seems to be mainly intended as a restaurant, with all the tables set for diners. Furnishings are all normal tables and chairs, but with just one tall table with tall stools looking a bit out of place. For some reason I didn’t make a note of all the ales on (there were three or four as I recall) but I do recall there being Purity Mad Goose, and Westgate (i.e. Greene King) Sun Dance. I was there at mid afternoon on a midweek day, and didn’t notice any food being served, or any menus around the place, but it is clear that at other times food must pay an important part of their business if they are content to set aside a room for diners. I wouldn’t regard this as a destination pub, but I enjoyed my brief visit, and wouldn’t mind visiting again.

Randomness Guide to London - Herne Tavern entry

Randomness Guide to London - Herne Tavern entry