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The Door Hinge, Welling
Welling
DA16 1TR
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Door Hinge
Apparently this was London's first micropub. It certainly seems much more worn compared with others, which is not such a bad thing.
There were quite a few characters in, many advancing in years (including ourselves!). Conversation is king.
Behind the front room is another tiny seating area, where there was complimentary food. Toilets are beyond this point along a corridor.
All ales and ciders were from Kent - Musket Flintlock & Trigger, Kent Cobnut & Dudda's Tun Disco, Greenhorn, Cheery Old Dudda, Bone Dry, Spiced & Original.
This is a compact place, albeit a good example of an early micropub.
On 25th September 2020
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2452 recommendations about 2451 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Door Hinge
What is now a 'traditional' micro-pub, with just four thin tables, bench seating around the periphery of the small, square room and a few plain chairs. Decor comprises pump clips on one side wall, local history photographs and a bit of breweriana on the other and a window through to the cool room beside the compact counter at the back. There also turns out to be a small domestic-looking lounge up a step off the corridor through to the toilets to the rear. With no room for handpumps, the real ales are served on gravity, and I found two Kent beers - Pale and Comet - plus Oscar Wilde dark Mild from Mighty Oaks (£3.30, and in fine form).
On 21st September 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Door Hinge
A truly good micro pub that ticked all the boxes. There were three ales on stillage in the cold room on our visit, which were Kent Mosaic, Wild Card Queen of Diamonds and Rockin Robin Redbreast. I went for the Kent Mosaic, which was right up my street as I am a big fan of Kent Brewery beers, plus I like Mosaic hops. This micro is also in a good position for getting off the 51 bus and for getting on the B16 bus to the Long Pond micro in Eltham, the bus stop is just across the road. The barman and fellow drinkers were friendly and all helped with directions for the bus.
On 18th January 2018
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about The Door Hinge
Having visited my first micropub just a couple of days previously I was eagerly anticipating my visit here and I wasn't disappointed. It opens at 12 on a Sunday, by 5 past it was packed with around 35 people filling the small space, there was no chance of a seat in the bar. The main bar is a squareish room with a serving table in the back corner, beers are kept in a temperature controlled area behind, visible through a window. Three are on at any one time, listed on a chalkboard and the protocol is to choose and the landlord pops in the back and pours from stillage into a lined glass. The walls are literally covered in beermats from previous ales, they change constantly and as soon as one goes another comes on.
Like Cobbetts in Dorking, being in such a small space with no distractions such as music or TV/gaming machines encourages conversation. We were in before a Sunday match at nearby Welling Utd FC so most punters were heading to the game; home and visiting fans were chatting away and enjoying very good beer.
There is another, rather strange room to the rear which has a pair of old sofas sharing a table and an old tiled fireplace. There is a quiet rule in here, I believe there is a tenants bedroom above. Beyond is the kitchen through which you walk to find the single WC. As the place was so busy this arrangement caused some queues but then that's how it is.
On our visit the beers were Elland Brewery Silver Streak, Jarrow Red Ellen, Bushy's Brewery Dalby Spook plus a cider from Kingstons. The Silver Streak went and was straightaway changed for Goody's Genesis. All the ales were at the very good price of £3.00.
The hours are a bit restrictive but it is clearly a family operation, closed Mondays and doesn't stay open late. 12 till 3 Sunday although yesterday the guv extended this until 4 due to the football being on.
Definitely a destination pub, the concept appeals to me greatly and hopefully this is the future.
On 9th March 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Door Hinge
The micropub explosion in Kent finally made its way into the Greater London area with the opening of this place back in early 2013. In a short space of time it has already been voted CAMRA's Greater London Pub of the Year for 2014, so hopes were high on my late November visit. As you would expect, it's a compact set up with the front door leading into a roughly square shaped room with laminate flooring, rigid bench seating around three sides and a tiny serving counter in the rear left corner. The front windows are frosted and have the pub's name picked out on them, along with the slogan 'Old Traditional Ale House', which may be pushing it given it's not even been open for two years. I suspect this was meant more to give a flavour of the style of pub than an accurate description. A door behind the serving counter leads into the taproom, from where the ales are poured, and there is a window on the rear wall that allows you a glimpse inside. This is flanked by boards listing available and future ale options as well as what I suspect will be a rapidly growing collection of awards. Elsewhere, décor includes the inevitable display of pump clips, bits of breweriana, pictures of local scenes and a framed door hinge. Some old mobile phones have been nailed to the wall, presumably to indicate an intolerance of loud phone conversations within the pub, although this didn't stop one chap receiving a couple of calls on a phone with a truly awful ringtone that sounded like someone screaming (to be fair, he did pop outside to take the calls). Hop lined walls and a stack of London Drinker magazines rounded out a pleasant interior and there is apparently a small overspill area behind the bar which I didn't realise at the time of my visit.
There were three ales and three real ciders available on this visit, which seems about right for a pub of this size. The ale options were Jarrow Venerable Bede, Young's Winter Warmer and Kent Pale. I tried a pint of the Jarrow for £3.20 and thought it was in great shape. The barman was friendly and chatty and the locals were a very welcoming bunch.
I really enjoyed visiting this place and I'm pleased to see such a venture clearly doing very well. The CAMRA award presumably reflects not just the excellent beer and friendly environment, but also what the pub represents for drinkers in London - the future. I for one, would fully welcome more pubs like this around the capital.
On 7th January 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Door Hinge
This micropub is CAMRA's 2014 Greater London Pub of the Year, which is a magnificent achievement for a bar that is less than a couple of years old. This is very much a no frills pub. There are no unnecessary distractions here from the likes of fruit machines, TV screens or blaring pop music. The ambience awaiting you inside is indicated by the board outside declaring "no lager, no alcopops", as real ale is king here, with a real cider available plus red or white wine. Being known as a micropub tells you it's really small, and this shop conversion lives up to that billing with just four very basic wooden tables, plus enough seating to support them, in the main bar. But there is a "quite room" at the back on the way to the toilet, with a couple of sofas in it as I recall.
There seems to be three ales on at one time, dispensed from a glass fronted cold room at the back. When I was in the ales on were Rockin' Robin (£3 a pint), Old Dairy Gold Top (£3 a pint), and Summer Lightning (£3.40 a pint). The Gold Top was in superb condition, and when it finished during my visit was replaced immediately by another ale. There are a couple of chalkboards on the wall - one giving details (name, brewery, ABV, price) of the ales and cider on, with the other advising the forthcoming ales. Food doesn't seem to be a major factor here, although there are a few odds and ends available. The haute cuisine option is homemade sausage roll for £2.50, backed up by table d'hote favourites such as crisps (£1), peanuts (70p), and pickled eggs (50p).
Because of the limited seating I opted to sit at the end of an already occupied table, and ended up chatting to the other occupant who put me on to another nearby micropub that wasn't (yet) on Pubs Galore. It was too late to visit said micropub on this visit, which will obviously necessitate another visit to this part of the world in the not too distant future. This is definitely a destination pub if you're in this area.
On 16th December 2014
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Door Hinge
Visit 26/07/2014
Following my visit over six months ago I returned to find this was the Bexley CAMRA pub of the year. I had already heard that it was going in the soon to be released 2015 GBG. After spending some time here the owner arrived for a brief visit and announced that it had been awarded the Greater London CAMRA Pub of the Year. This is an astonishing achievement for this tiny business that has been going less than 18 months.
I just hope it doesn't result in hordes of visitors as it only needs around a dozen or so punters to make it seem fairly busy.There is potentially some room for more seating behind the cellar, but it looks like this may be used for storing casks that won't fit in the cellar.
The beer operation is as before, just three beers on at a time and served in lined glasses straight from the cask. The beers on my latest visit were Oakleaf Nuptu' Ale (£3.00), Inveralmond Scotland Homecoming (£3.00) amd Adnam's Broadside (£3.30). I felt it was a shame about the Broadside as any other Adnam's beer I would have tried but having said that there were people drinking it. The Nuptu' Ale was a refreshing Pale Ale and the Inveralmond one a fairly unremarkable brew but as it was in such good nick it was very drinkable. Both were in immaculate condition.
There are at least two more micropubs due to open on this side of London (Crayford & Blackfen) but this place will always be the first micropub in Greater London and is an essential place to visit.
Visit 29/11/2013
For all those fans of having a drink in no-frills establishments this one is the place for you.
The bar and the opening hours don't seem to have changed much since the previous review other than the collection of pump clips now covers the length of the left hand wall. On my visit there were three beers on Hopstuff Pale, Nine Standards (Settle) Silver Standard and Fuller's HSB. The HSB was £3.40 and the others £3.00. I tried the Hopstuff (a new Woolwich based brewery) Pale and the Silver Standard, both of which were in good nick. The beers are served in lined straight glasses, a much better idea than those stupid dimple jugs that for no logical reason have become fashionable.
This is one well worth a return visit.
On 27th July 2014
- rating: 9
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Door Hinge
This new micropub opened its doors in March and fills a huge gap in the local Real Ale market that hitherto only the local Wetherpoons and Bexleyheath’s Robin Hood & Little John have dared to venture into.
The building was previously an electrical shop and comprises of a small, simply laid out single room with bench seating along 2 sides and a couple of pews on the third side. All the furnishings were hand made by the owner whose main profession is a carpenter who also just happens to have a vintage taxi for hire if you need one. There is no bar as such, just a small counter in one corner with the ales poured direct from the casks stacked in a small temperature controlled room behind the counter. A window to one side allows you to view the racked casks and a growing series of pump clips by the counter will offer clues to what has and what will be. The wall displays are restricted to a few old adverts and notices discouraging the use of mobile phones and don't expect games, TV’s, music or any other distractions other than beer and chat.
There are generally 4 or 5 ales available, my initial visit comprising of 2 from Marble (Bitter and Pint), Kent Maori, Canterbury Ales IPA and Indian Summer Hop & Soul. Magic Bus cider was spotted on the racks through the window but this had apparently finished. Prices were between £3 and £3.20, the quality was excellent and all pints are poured in oversized glasses. For non ale people, a basic red/white wine choice was advertised and as for lager drinkers, tough titty - nothing! Food consists of crisps, nuts or pickled eggs. This really is a re-creation of the kind of basic alehouse that would have once been commonplace and all the better for it.
It must be remembered that this is a one man band and still a work in progress with the main downside at the moment being that the opening hours are limited (currently Sunday 12-3, Tuesday to Thursday 3-9, Friday and Saturday 12-10 and Monday closed all day). It is also very small so gets packed easily although plans are afoot to open a small lounge area to the rear even if this probably won’t be sufficient to cater for much beyond its current capacity.
In an area devoid of good ale opportunities, this place should give the only two other aforementioned options a good run for their money when it comes to the local CAMRA Pub of the Year nominations. Oh, and the pub name has nothing to do with door hinges – you’ll have to ask Ray the boss!
On 2nd September 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]