The Lost Hour, Greenwich, SE10

Official site of The Lost Hour - www.crafted-social.co.uk

Official site of The Lost Hour - www.crafted-social.co.uk

A student/sports bar with a lot of dark trimmings and all a bit tatty round the edges, dominated by a large screen TV. From the noise there is also a pool room upstairs. Draught ales were Doom Bar and an indifferent TT Landlord, with a pile of boxed ciders. Pretty avoidable unless you are a student or going to watch the sport.

A bit of a mix this one; looking a bit like a sports pub when viewed through the extensive front windows (indeed, there is one big screen and a number of smaller ones too, all showing silent football when I stopped by). However, it also offers a reasonable-looking menu plus cocktails and '7 deadly gins', and the basic, traditional furniture also contrasts with the relatively light, semi-modern decor. Three of five handpumps in use, offering Hobgoblin, Cronx Chilli Porter (£3.80) and Lilley's Colider (a cola cider). Having got a friendly welcome and a nice pint, I found this place rather better than I initially expected.

The Lost Hour is an open plan pub with a bar along the left hand wall where standard and premium draught products can be purchased. The bar also supports five hand pumps that were drawing Clarence and Fredericks Golden Ale, Brakspear’s Oxford Gold, Ringwood’s Filly Drift and Adnam’s Ghost Ship. The final hand pump was badged up with By the Horn’s Stiff Upper Lip and a coming soon label. Food is available all day and a quick glance at a menu revealed that the fare is cheap pub grub. My visit was on Wednesday afternoon the day before the World Cup finals started so it was unsurprising to see the football heavily advertised. During my stay the two plasma screens were showing muted Sky Sports News and the background music was of the likes of Madness etc. Out the back is a small seating area for the use of smokers and there is an advertised function room upstairs that I did not visit. There is a quiz every Thursday from 19:00 and drink deals are available throughout the week. I found the service to be friendly and I would have no problem returning to this pub to watch some sport.

The Lost Hour used to be a Scream pub called the Auctioneer, but has now been tidied up a fair bit and rebranded as part of the Stonegate group. The pub, an open plan single room affair, still has some of that student friendly drinking barn vibe that its predecessor specialised in. The interior is fairly modern looking with wooden floor, smart sofa and banquette seating and posters of London in years gone by decorating the walls. The walls in some places have been covered by wallpaper which has an old map of London on it. The servery runs along the left hand wall and there are plenty of TV screens dotted around the place catering for all your sports viewing needs. There isn’t a great deal of charm about the overall look, but I still warmed to the place more than I expected to. Matters were helped by a tidy line up at the bar, with O’Hanlon’s Yellowhammer and Flagship, Adnams Ghost Ship and Sharp’s Doom Bar available on the hand pumps whilst the likes of Meantime and Krombacher complimented the usual keg options. The barman was exceptionally friendly and helpful, going so far as to bring our drinks over to our table once he’d finished pouring them all. The Ghost Ship was spot on and slipped down very easily. There are some nice historic pubs in Greenwich of which this is most certainly not one of them, but putting aside any lack of character, this is still a pleasant place for a pint and makes a good stop off on your way to or from the train station.