The Maple Tree, Penge, SE20

I’d probably rate this place 5.5 if I could as it felt like a proper boozer driven by the economics of location and what sells to its catchment area. So still one hand pump dispensing Doom Bar but given JS was obviously available and spotting Alan was the last review of this pub I felt compelled to choose that as the final quaff (or in Alan’s language drink) as this as the final beer of the evening. The venue is hard to explain in terms of shape and layout but in the larger part of the foot print there was a pool table and a dart board, both being used on my arrival a bit before 8.45pm. As a postscript I am a recent discoverer of this fantastic site, populated by the reviews and opinions of fantastic reviewers. Have been using to record my visits and have almost caught up on that aspect but have an overwhelming backlog of (simplistic) reviews of venues compared to the mere recording of visit but will try an record my humble views of venues visited going forward. For example, in a quiet moment in my busy life today I searched what happened to Alan as I had noticed his reviews stopped 6 or so years ago. I was heartbroken to discover of his passing around then and whilst I know I should record stuff like this tribute on the Forum I wanted to acknowledge my gratitude for his immense contribution to our collective love of pubs / bars / anything on that spectrum on a venue that he was the previous reviewer of. RIP Alan and hope you continue to quaff in places greater than we can imagine on our 1-10 recording on this site.

The Maple Tree is now the last open pub on maple road when there were five in my last guide to pubs in South East London. Once inside there is an L shaped room which is carpeted and has the bar facing,the seating is comfy bench type and chairs. There were three real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Youngs Bitter bitter which went down well,the other beers were Youngs Special and Doom Bar. The pub was quite busy on my late Saturday afternoon visit. I quite liked this pub is had a good atmosphere. Pub visited 14/5/2016

There were two real ales on here – Young’s Special and Bitter, the latter at a very wallet friendly £2.70 a pint. This pub is handily open at 11.00 AM, which is jolly useful when one is in need of an early swift one. I didn’t see any menus about at 11.20 on Friday morning, but they were clearly gearing up for lunchtime judging by the jollity emanating from the kitchen. The furnishings are pretty standard – banquettes, standard chairs, small stools. They have a “swirly” patterned carped, minimalist white painted wall, and an open plan see through chimney in the centre of the room that would once have been in a wall diving it into two separate rooms. There’s a pool table at the back on the left. It all looks a bit 70s or 80s actually, which is no bad thing. It’s difficult to form an opinion based on a flying visit so early in the day, but even so early there were a handful of obvious regulars in, so I guess it must be busier at more traditional drinking times. But to be honest there is little competition nearby, as the Golden Lion over the road seems to be mainly a Caribbean restaurant. I’m unlikely to visit again as Penge is a bit out of the way for me, but I felt quite coimfortable for the half-hour or so that I spent in here. It has all the appearance of a decent locals’ pub.