Hermits Cave, Camberwell, SE5

The Hermits Cave is a nice looking pub with a curved frontage,the pub is situated on a very busy road. Once inside there is a single room with the bar facing,there is comfy leather bench seating in two bays to the right plus a couple of pew type seats,there is some more bench seating to the left,the room is bare boarded. There were three real ales on the bar plus a real cider,i had a drink of East London Pale Ale which went down very well,the other beers were Gravesend Shrimpers Ale and Adnams Ghost Ship. There was a TV on showing cycle racing,they do not show football games here. I quite liked this proper pub,one i could stay in for a while. Pub visited 13/9/2014

Ugly corner pub and quite dark and cave like inside but 6 handpumps all in use makes it worth a visit.Lodden -Gravesend Shrimper and 3 London Fields beers.Love not War was in excellent condition.Glad I didn't walk past.

An attractive curved corner building, Edwardian in age I am given to understand with some nice etched glasswork. The interior is, unfortunately, a bit less interesting than the exterior might suggest having been opened out and is all rather plain, the dark-wood dreadnaughtesque bar (with plenty of brewerania above) and nice fireplaces with pretty inlaid tiling excepted. Seven pumps were dispensing four ales and two proper ciders on my visit. A couple of interesting guest ales were on and my Salopian Darwin was a good drop, if a little cold. No music, just a TV showing the football results. I must admit I found the atmosphere slightly odd, not much talking going on amongst the patrons and the place emptied out once all the scores were in and the tables were flashed up. Nonetheless it's a solid local and the ale gets it an extra point from me.

A stone plaque on the side of the pub declares it to have been built in 1902 – thus probably Edwardian. The interior is very basic, having been largely opened up over the years. Flooring is the well worn floorboards seen in traditional pubs, rather than the modern varnished flooring seen in gastropubs. Furnishings are well worn banquettes, and standard issue tables and chairs. A gas coal effect fire was on the go in the fireplace to the left of the room – not really needed on a mild February day, but it looked good. Other items of note were the second fireplace on the right of the room (which would originally have been the Saloon Bar) with a marble surround and carved wooden toppiece, the large stuffed animal head on the wall, and the array of models, jugs, bottles and suchlike on top of the bar gantry. There was also the inevitable large TV screen on the wall, plus a pull down screen attached to the ceiling, no doubt deployed for major sporting events. The two ales on were Deuchars IPA and Gravesend Shrimpers Ale (£3.40 a pint or thereabouts), plus three ciders also on draught. A wine list was displayed on a chalkboard on one of the walls, but I’m afraid that I neglected to note the available wines or prices. There were no menus in evidence when I was in at around 5.0 PM during the week, but I could smell something cooking somewhere. But it could have been from a local kebab shop I suppose. This is not a destination pub by any means, but is a decent enough little no-nonsense boozer. It’s OK for a swift one.