The Commercial, Herne Hill, SE24

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Pub SignMan left this review about The Commercial

This is a good-sized pub with a very convenient location directly opposite Herne Hill station. A choice of entrances will take you into one of the two front bars, with the left door leading into the main bar which sees the servery run down the right-hand side of the room and plenty of seating over to the left. Long padded banquettes down the side wall have chairs and low stools in support and provide the majority of the room’s seating options. A nice fireplace stands to the front and this was lit on a chilly November evening, with a fairy-light lined mirror above and a TV showing muted Sky Sports News to one side. Moving further back, you reach a rear seating area with near full-height white wall panels, another fireplace, this time not lit, and a mix of pew and chair seating. A couple of old skylights act as an interesting feature for this part of the pub, whilst an old hatch through to the servery has been screened off and the walls are decorated with lots of old photos and retro advertisements. A door back here leads out to a beer garden, which I didn’t bother to explore on a cold and dark evening. The servery has a nice dark wood counter with rounded ends, a matching canopy and a windowed bar back that looks through to the other front room on the right-hand side of the pub. This is a smaller lounge-style space with high tables and stools under the bar back windows, benches to the front and tables and chairs elsewhere. Another lit fireplace on the right-hand wall had a plain mirror above and there was a second TV screen showing the same channel, whilst the rest of the wall space was decorated with mirrors, old photos and some advert prints.
There were three cask ales on the bar, giving a choice of Sharps Doom Bar, Titanic Plum Porter and Taylors landlord. I opted for a pint of the latter, which was in good condition, befitting the pub’s inclusion in the Good Beer Guide, and served to me by an indifferent barmaid.
This is a nice enough pub that has a few decent seating areas and interesting features to explore. The beer, whilst well-kept, is perhaps a little too pedestrian in its selection to merit repeat visits and the begrudging service and dubious station-side pub customers didn’t help matters either. Worth a look in passing but not one I’ll deliberately seek out in the future.

On 17^th January 2022 - rating: 6
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