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Detail Pages
Rusty Bucket, Eltham, SE9
SE9
SE9 5PR
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Rusty Bucket
Well positioned in the centre of Eltham, this is a decent craft beer bar that is probably about the same size as the famously small Wetherspoons a few doors down. The pub has a single rectangular room with modern floorboards, low tongue and groove wall panels with plain painted uppers and a short bar counter to the rear left under some helpful beer boards. The bar has a very basic painted counter and a white tile bar back with various taps mounted on it and the temperature-controlled taproom visible through a window to one side. Good table and chair seating fills most of the room with some high stools along ledges to the rear right. The large front windows in pleasing irregular shaped frames allow plenty of light in and the light-coloured walls contrast well with the mainly dark wood furniture. The walls have been decorated with a mix of modern art, photo collages and promotional material and there are some shelves to the rear right stacked with books and board games, whilst a jar is full of dog treats although there were no canine customers in sight on a Saturday evening visit. I’d only been sat down for a couple of minutes when I was joined by a very friendly young Geordie couple who I ended up chatting to for the rest of my time here and I generally got the impression that the pub has that ‘micropub’ feel where it’s easy to strike up a conversation.
There were three cask ales available when I arrived – Moor Stout, Northern Monk Eternal and a Best Bitter from an unknown brewery – but the pub’s speciality seems to be craft keg beer, with no less than 18 on tap covering a wide range of styles and strengths. My pint of the Moor Stout was a reasonable £4.00 and in very good shape.
I really liked this place which I had expected to be a micropub, so it came as a nice surprise to find something a bit more substantial. The welcoming, inclusive atmosphere, well kept ale and pleasant décor all worked well for me and this would probably be my pub of choice the next time I’m in Eltham.
On 14th May 2020
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about Rusty Bucket
Still much as in the previous review, this feels like a fairly average micropub-style shop conversion with no signs of being a former pub, and still with music playing and a dead TV screen. The one room has a bar in the corner and some board games for amusement. Four ales and a cider were on cask, plus a fair selection of craft and foreign keg and bottled stuff.
On 5th October 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3339 recommendations about 3276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about Rusty Bucket
This place would appear to have chaanged considerably since 2012. It's now owned by an individual and is run largely along the lines of a micropub but as the external signage calls it a bar then it's obviously not a micropub. It does have music playing and a TV screen (turned off).
It's a rectangular room with a small bar counter at the rear left. There is a cool cellar from where the three cask ales were served. They also do a range of craft keg, various ciders and a large selection of bottles and cans. There are no fruit machines but given that the tiny JDW a few doors away has around five of them there is probably no demand.
The three cask ales were Brockley Pale, Wylam Galatia and Tiny Rebel Cwtch. I went for the Brockley Pale (£3.80) which was in good nick. The other two were both over £4.00.
I quite liked it here and would have given it an extra point if it had been a bit cheaper. It's well worth a look.
On 3rd September 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Crown
The current Crown pub dates from 1930 although there was a previous pub on site.
It is safe to say that the Crown has never enjoyed a glowing reputation even among Eltham’s poor selection of boozers and for many years the pub has been linked with the more undesirable element of Eltham’s drinking fraternity.
A hefty makeover 2 or 3 years ago has made the pub a little more presentable has not shaken off the pub’s overall poor reputation and my latest visit found the usual predictable shirtless f-worders hanging around the pool table which itself has been moved to a central position in the middle of the main bar making it the dominating feature. The general décor and furnishings are tidy enough although the section of high padded seating opposite the bar has had its tables removed to accommodate the pool table rendering them rather impractical unless you want to permanently clutch your drink. There is a small patio at the rear which doesn’t really offer much respite from the Jeremy Kyleness that permeates the building.
Needless to say, there are no surprises on the drink front and the 2 modern hand pumps I have yet to see in operation but then, as it is actually a Greene King pub, that’s hardly a great loss. Expect the usual run of standard lagers and kegs.
At a push I would say that there could be some potential for the place if it could attract a different standard of customer but trying to undo the years of tarnished reputation may be too much of big ask.
On 20th August 2012
- rating: 3
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]