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Detail Pages
The British Oak, Blackheath, SE3
SE3
SE3 8SU
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
David Walton left this review about The British Oak
Final pub of the evening for me. Penultimate pub for me in SE3 and so here sitting with a pint of Guinness not fancying trekking to the last one near Kidbrooke station tonight. One for another day along with another venue not currently recorded in same postcode area! This is a pretty enjoyable pub with plenty of beers on tap. On my visit had Harvey’s Best and Hancocks HB on hand pump plus most / all of those Blue Scrumpy lists on his latest visit from a few months back on tap. Got an Uber here as being a bit lazy this time of the night.
On 5th April 2024
- rating: 6
[User has posted 108 recommendations about 108 pubs]
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The British Oak
The British Oak has now managed to make the latest Good Beer Guide. It's quite an impressive looking pub from the outside with an attractive veranda to the front.
Inside, there are a couple of rooms. The public bar to the front left was empty apart from one solitary bloke sat at the end of the bar. Instead, I chose the saloon bar, which has a separate entrance. This was much busier and is quite spacious. There was a reasonable crowd of locals in. A few more were sat in the garden to the rear, despite it being cold and dark.
The beer range was not up to much. Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter is the regular beer. The guest was Butcombe Best. Keg options included Adnams Mosaic, Jubel Beer Cut With Peach & Greene King Level Head. Fizzy ciders were Adnams Wild Wave & Sandford Orchards Devon Red. Having never tried it before, I went for the Jubel. Probably quite a refreshing drink to have during the summer, but I'm not convinced of its merits on a cold autumn night.
On 27th November 2023
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2452 recommendations about 2451 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The British Oak
I don't think that this pub has changed a great deal since Roger's visit over eight years ago. There are still two separate rooms; the room on the left is possibly a bit more "upmarket" than it was. It's dominated by a single, and enormous 12-seater tall table with tall stools, and one other slightly smaller normal table and normal chairs on one side and a backless bench on the other. For some reason irregular shaped bits of exposed brickwork has been revealed by removing some plaster from a couple of the walls. Obviously someone thought that that improved the look of the place. Also, the bar counter's painted royal blue, but on the plus side it does boast a fine Courage mirror. The larger room on the right which must be regarded as the saloon bar is still as described by Roger. The fielded panelling on the walls looks to be inter-war; the floor's carpeted and apart from a couple of tall tables/tall stools the furnishings are all traditional. it also has some interesting decor, such as a framed displays of clay pipes, miniature fishing and rugby memorabilia. There are no TVs in this room, although there is one in the public bar. There's a garden at the back.
The pub's dog friendly, has a quiz night as well as a folk night. There were also a couple of ales on - Harvey's Best and Purity Mad Goose, both of which were in good nick. There were several unclipped pumps. Food seems to be mainly Pieminister pies, with pie, mash and gravy at £9. We didn't eat there, but I guess the food must be fairly popular as when we were there a Deliveroo driver turned up to collect food from the pub.
I liked this pub, mainly for the comfortable saloon bar. It's obviously another locals' pub and certainly worth the effort of dropping into if you're in the area.
On 23rd October 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The British Oak
This back street local’s pub is just off the Sun In The Sands road junction but isn’t the sort of place you would accidently stumble upon. The Victorian building would appear a bit faceless were it not for the added balcony frontage that gives it the appearance of an old wild west saloon.
Internally the pub is divided into 2 bars. To the left is a plain and fancy free L-shaped public bar with bare floors, dart board and TV. There were once some historic Charlton Athletic snippets on the walls but the current regime are apparently Millwall fans so hardly surprising that they have now gone. The carpeted main bar is a bit more spacious with half paneled walls and a few high backed pews creating some divides. There was once a bar billiards table but this has sadly now gone. At the rear is an attractive beer garden although there isn’t much in the way of seating so you need to get in early on a sunny day.
On the beer front, Courage Best and Directors are regular ales supplemented by 2 or 3 guests although they are usually quite mainstream along the lines of Doom Bar, TEA, Harveys etc. Quality is very good and the staff are generally very welcoming and efficient. The customer base is quite mature and non troublesome even when it is busy on Saturday evenings when it hosts a good standard of live music that sometimes includes well known local musicians. There is also a folk club that meets every Wednesday and Blackheath Rugby Club is a few minutes walk away when the pub can also be quite busy.
To be honest, the British Oak doesn’t have a great deal of local competition so if you are in the area it is certainly the place to head for.
On 21st April 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]