The Danson Stables, Bexleyheath

The Danson Stables page on the Stonegate website - www.stonegatepubs.com

The Danson Stables page on the Stonegate website - www.stonegatepubs.com

There are a couple of banks of handpumps here - one facing you as you enter, and the other around at the left of the counter. The beers aren't necessarily repeated so it might pay to have a look at all the pumps before ordering. When I was in they had on Old Speckled Hen, London Pride, Doom Bar, Tribute, Hobgoblin, with Rockin' Rudolph "coming soon". There's a pubco style menu available, including a "2 meals for £11.45" deal. Cottage pie is £7.75, and "guest ale battered" fish and chips is £9.25. I expected the interior of this place to be a bit grander than it turned out to be. A walk through the park takes you past the manor house, the tennis courts, and then on the right (if coming from Danson Lane) to the old stables. Inside it's got lots of interconnected drinking areas, and is reasonably comfortable with mainly standard furnishings, plus flagstone floors. The prints on the walls are mainly, and unsurprisingly, horse related - some cartoon in style. But the character of the place doesn't seem to improved much since the previous reviewer's visit over 3 years ago. It's now a Stonegate pub, hence the somewhat mainstream beer selection, and has all the character we expect from this chain's pubs. To be honest I'm not sure if it's really worth the walk up from the main road to visit this one, if your sole purpose is to visit a pub. It's OK if you fancy a walk in the park and a beer or two to go along with it. But for me it's a bit too "pubco" and characterless for my taste, but it's obviously very useful as you don't often encounter pubs in the middle of a park - at least not in London anyway.

Currently part of the Vintage Inns chain, this pub/diner is situated in the heart of picturesque Danson Park and, as the name implies, was originally the stable block for Danson House. The house was originally built in the 1760’s but had both wings demolished in the early 1800’s, the stone from which was used to build the stable block. The pub consists of the central section and one of the wings with a free to hire function room also available. The conversion to a pub has been quite sympathetic and the building has retained plenty of character with a quite rambling interior that is divided into several sections although they were pretty much all taken up by diners on my vist leaving me with little choice to find a seat outside in the enclosed patio section. There are also seats out the front by the large car park. The basic furnishings complimented the stone and tiled floors and there are various old pictures representing past activities in the park. The pub certainly leans more towards family dining than quality drinking although it does have quite a poor local reputation for the quality of its food and the service although I found the barv staff very attentive and efficient for my brief non eating visit. Given its reputation I would be hesitant to commit myself to a meal here, especially if I were celebrating a special occasion although at the right time it can be a pleasant spot for a few beers. The ales can alo be a bit hit and miss regarding availability and of the 5 hand pumps, 2 were decorated with reversed London Pride clips, 2 with reversed Doom Bar clips and, mercifully, the one operational pump was the guest beer (Leeds Best) which was a decent enough pint and good value at £2.80. I would have expected the place to be a bit more on the ball given that this was a busy Saturday afternoon on a pleasant spring day. I would like to see what the ambience is like in an evening when hopefully the family dining element is much reduced. As it stands it really needs to address what should be simple management issues before its reputation improves. In the right hands this could really be a local treasure but sadly, at the moment, it is a bit of a wasted opportunity.