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The Star & Garter, Bromley
Bromley
BR1 1NZ
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about The Star & Garter
This is my sort of pub.Must have been impressive in its day but struggling on now.Some origonal features still left.Good range of cask and keg.Friendly staff and customers made my visit enjoyable.
On 19th November 2022
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Star & Garter
A rather-surprising beer exhibition pub. The splendid late Victorian frontage is impressive, but it took several looks to establish if the place was actually open, there being little sign of life at the front and entry being through a nondescript door in the middle rather than the grand entrances. Once inside, we discovered a large, empty feeling room - mainly due to plain furnishings and an expanse of light polished floorboards - with a nice solid bar in the centre but little else structural of note. The right hand side extends back further and opens to a large patio to the rear. The front of the bar counter carries a long bank of tall fonts serving various craft and European beers. To one side is a bank of handpumps, which had some interesting brews on, while a couple of antique pumps the other side appear to be for decoration only. In the front corner of the pub are a couple of racks full of bottles, again mostly craft and European. The ales on at time of visit were Signature Roadie All-Night IPA, Howling Hops We Buy Teeth, Rivington Clouded Eyes, New Bristol Cinder Toffee Stout, Bristol Beer Factory Neotropic and Arbor C Bomb. Overall, it might have been better if there were a few more customers in, but this feels like someone is concentrating entirely on the beers and overlooking the atmosphere of the place to consume them in. It could easily be an excellent pub but just the range of beers, and not stupidly priced at that, calls for a repeat visit.
On 9th December 2021
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3339 recommendations about 3276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Star & Garter
A Grade II listed pub which dates from the late 1800's. I can't think to imagine what this pub's interior was like back in its hay day as there's nothing much to see now internally, apart from a couple of fireplaces. The main feature here is the exterior front façade, along with two bow shaped etched glass porches either side, once separate entrances to the original saloon and lounge side. We called in on a Thursday at 4pm when the pub opens. Eight handpumps with five ales to choose from, so we went for the Fyne Brewery Jarl and Wylam Galatica. Both beers were in excellent condition and all their ales were priced at £3 a pint.
On 19th November 2019
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Star & Garter
This attractive Grade II listed pub on Bromley's High Street reopened in late 2016 following a couple of years closure and is now a craft beer bar run by the team behind Stormbird in Camberwell. The exterior is pretty remarkable and includes two etched glass porches, each with spectacular 'Star & Garter' panes, although both are sadly out of use, with a modern, centrally positioned door offering the only access into the pub now. Sadly, the interior can't really match up to the promise suggested from outside. The refurb has resulted in a huge open plan room with modern floorboards and bright cream paintwork which washes the room out and loses any sense of the traditional pub interior that the building deserves. There is a large staple shaped servery to the rear with IKEA style shelving units on the bar back flanked by modern craft beer brewery signs. Some nice tile fireplaces to either side of the room give you some sort of sense of how the pub might previously have been decorated, but it's nothing more than a brief glimpse, as the vast open spaces between bar and seating dominate the landscape now. The seating is restricted to the perimeter of the room and is a mix of standard tables and chairs, low stools, pews and a few high tables and stools further back. The room extends a fair way back down the right hand side, into a space with virtually no decor at all, making it an immersive 'cream paintwork' experience. Music was playing in the background but this was easily lost under the echo created by the voices of the small handful of customers in on a Thursday night - by far the quietest of the five pubs I visited in town this evening. A patio garden is available to the rear, but in the dying light of the day, I didn't bother going out to explore.
Just the two ales on the bar - Magic Rock Hat Trick and Thornbridge Peverel - with two more turned clips, a real cider and one unused pump. This was offset by 18 keg taps offering a wide range of craft keg and cider options from local and international brewers. My Peverel was perfectly drinkable and the barmaid seemed very friendly although she was pretty much tied to her phone whenever she wasn't serving, which was most of the time.
I had high hopes for this place but left feeling a little disappointed as the refit has robbed this place of any character and pretty much destroyed the ambience you would expect from such a pub. It's undoubtedly the place to go if you're into craft beer and makes a worthy stop for a pub crawl but I can't imagine ever wanting to settle down for a session here and would suggest a number of other High Street venues as more suitable alternatives.
On 24th September 2017
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]