The River Ale House, East Greenwich, SE10

This is a simple shop-converted micropub on the main road between Greenwich and Woolwich, about five or so minutes walking distance from Westcombe Park station. In keeping with such shop conversions, the pub comprises a compact bare boarded front room with some additional space along a passageway into a rear seating area. The front room has high bench seating down both side walls, serving quite long tables with high stools in support. The benches have high wooden backs which obscure about two-thirds of the walls behind them and are topped with floral displays that add a nice splash of colour to the room. The front wall almost entirely consists of a large shop window whilst what wall space can still be seen tends to be exposed brickwork. There is a short servery on the rear wall with a dark wood counter and gantry with the cask ales listed across the canopy on changeable mini-blackboards. Bigger blackboards to the side of the bar listed cider, wine and snack options and a shelf to the right of the bar was notably stocked with old copies of the Good Beer Guide, CAMRA magazines and other such beer related publications. The rear seating area seemed at first to be a tardis-like space judging by how many punters the landlord seemed to be directing down there under the recently introduced rules on households not mixing, but a trip to the toilets found a basic, quite plain spot with some comfier looking seating serving a handful of extra tables. I arrived here a few minutes before opening on a Saturday evening and found myself waiting outside with a decent number of other customers – a good sign as to the pub’s popularity. Once inside, I was faced with a good selection of cask ales comprising Weird Beard Mariana Trench and Bat Out of Hell, Goody Genesis, Canterbury Styrian Cardinal Pale, Kent Old Jamaica and Franklins Exit Through the Taproom. Should I want, there were also nine real ciders and nine flavoured ciders to choose from as well as classic bar snacks like sausage rolls, scotch eggs and filled rolls. I tried the Canterbury which was excellent and convinced me to stay and try the Bat Out of Hell as well, which a number of locals were singing the praises of. The staff were really nice and friendly and there was a great atmosphere right from the minute the doors opened. This is an excellent micropub which has been cleverly positioned in a bit of an under-pubbed area between Greenwich and Charlton, making it the default option if you’re passing through. However, I’d go so far to say that the excellent beer, top quality service and convivial atmosphere mark this place out as a destination pub and I’ll most definitely be breaking future train journeys out this way with a stop-off here.