I arrived at The Princess of Wales pub at noon on a Tuesday and there was plenty of room. The friendly barman Ben, who is an actor when not serving beer,  allowed me to try several of the beers on offer. This pub always has a good range of beers including the ubiquitous Sharp’s Doom Bar.  I plumped for a pint of Roosters Yankee Pale Ale.  I was impressed with the flavour and had several more during the afternoon.

As time progressed a few more punters arrived including a few mothers with noisy children in push chairs.  We decided to have lunch before the beer filled us up and picked Ox Cheek Pie and Mash.  This was really good and the flavour  of the vegetables was far superior to any pub food I have tasted.  They were also cooked to absolute perfection. The pie had sufficient filling which was tender and tasty.  The attentive barmaid enquired about our level of satisfaction on the food front and our reply was positive.  We finished with a salted caramel tart which was also good.

The Princess of Wales is just outside the main part of Blackheath Village and has a nice view over the heath.  There is seating inside and outside and on hot days people sit on the heath opposite the pub.  It hasn’t changed much in the thirty or so years that I have frequented it and it maintains a good pub atmosphere.  I would recommend a visit.  The website is: http://www.princessofwalespub.co.uk/

Harvey’s beers are, in my opinion, amongst the finest beers brewed in this country. Harvey’s brewery has two pubs in London; and the Royal Oak in Tabard Street near London Bridge is one of them.  I have visited this pub on several occasions during the last twenty years.  It has hardly changed in this time and maintains the Victorian style that its earlier renovation captured so superbly well.  No SKY Sports or loud music here- a great haven for those, like me, who have no interest in football when a major soccer competition is running.

Despite being near London Bridge I have always managed to find a seat on a Friday night. The Harvey’s beer selection is good and includes seasonal ales as well as the regular beers.

I visited last Friday evening with some work chums and was very impressed with the Sussex Pale Ale.  It actually trumped the Best Bitter which is my normal favourite here.  A tradition with the group I visit this pub with is to have salt beef sandwiches with a gherkin. This night was no exception.  The salt beef sandwiches are fantastic and provide sufficient bulk for an evening as well as being made with tasty tender beef and delicious crusty white bread.

To find the Royal Oak visit this website.  It is really worth a visit.  http://www.harveys.org.uk/pubs-tenancies/find-our-beer/the-royal-oak-london

After last week’s pub crawl around Greenwich I found myself spending two evenings doing a similar crawl with care taken not to drink to excess.  It was a good opportunity to explore the consistency of the beer quality in different pubs.

First stop on Friday evening was the Pelton Arms with a very good pint of Red Dawn Mild from Red Squirrel Brewing Co.  This pub is superb and I tried the pub again on Sunday and had an excellent pint of Gunners Gold from The Loose Cannon Brewery.  With prices at around £3.40 a pint and a great atmosphere it is a really special local pub without the throngs of tourists that are found just a few minutes walk away in Greenwich.

Visited the Cutty Sark Pub as I haven’t been here for a while.  I am not keen on Young’s Beer but they had a good selection for those who are.  I was boring and drank Meantime Pale Ale.  This is a nice pub with a great seating area at the side of the Thames.

Moved on to the Old Brewery and had another pint of Meantime Pale Ale.  I know it is expensive but it is worth it to drink in the fantastic surroundings of the Royal Naval College.

Next was the Gipsy Moth, another pub that I visited last week.  I bought two pints of Fullers London Pride for myself and my cousin, who was with me on this pub crawl.  After a few sips we both could tell from each other’s grimaces that this was not a drink that we could stomach any longer, so we left the beer and moved on.  A pity because London Pride is normally a reasonable pint.  It just wasn’t up to scratch at the Gipsy Moth on this occasion.

My last pub visit on Friday was to the Old Loyal Britons.  I visited this last week and was impressed.  This week I was equally impressed with an extremely welcoming and friendly clientele who were very good company and knowledgeable about the beer.  One was a senior member of South East London CAMRA.  I drunk a pint of Hop Stuff A.P.A.  It tasted great but was very cloudy a feature which I commented on to the barmaid.  A punter overheard me and explained that this is how it is brewed.  It is specially brewed unfined to improve the flavour.  It certainly worked for me.  To find out more about unfined beer look on the web.  For example:  http://moorbeer.co.uk/brewers-united-for-unfined-beer/
NOTE: IN OCTOBER 2014 THIS PUB SUDDENLY CLOSED

On Saturday I found myself in Petts Wood near Bromley.  There is a micropub here called One Inn the Wood.  The pub is small as the name suggests and fits cosily into a space as big as a small shop.  I arrived at about 6.00 and managed to get a seat inside easily but after 6.30 the place became full.  It seems to attract all ages and is family friendly.  The beer selection is excellent and I had a couple of pints of Gadds’ No 7 which was good and an excellent pint of Tonbridge Brewery Rustic.  I really like this micropub and look forward to trying others as they open in the future.

Website for One Inn the Wood is:  https://www.facebook.com/Oneinnthewoodmicropub

We started in The Old Loyal Britons Pub. The outside is almost unrecognisable as a pub at first sight and the interior lacks refinement but is comfortable. There was plenty of room inside even though it was a Friday night. We all tried a pint of the Hop Stuff Beer and it was very refreshing and very drinkable even though it was a little cloudy. Rather stupidly I didn’t find out what particular beer we were drinking. Hop Stuff beer is brewed locally in Woolwich. I would encourage a visit to this pub. It is at the end of a row of local authority flats that run parallel to the Thames starting near to the Cutty Sark ship. The prices are reasonable.
Website: http://www.ewbrewery.com/
NOTE: IN OCTOBER 2014 THIS PUB SUDDENLY CLOSED

The next pub visited was The Gipsy Moth which is next to the Cutty Sark ship. It’s a bit of a Tardis like pub with plenty of seating inside and outside. They serve a good range of beers including London Pride, Sambrook’s Junction and Hop Dog. I went for Sharp’s Doom Bar because the others were a bit too strong for a pub crawl. Doom Bar is drinkable but a little boring. The Gipsy Moth is worth a visit and the bar staff are efficient and friendly.
Website: http://www.thegipsymothgreenwich.co.uk/

Next stop was The Old Brewery in The Old Royal Naval College. It is run by the Meantime Brewery who produce some delicious beers. I had Yakima Red because the taste is good and it is one of the weakest beers in the range at 4.1% ABV. The London Pale Ale is one of my favourite beers here. The range of beers available is mostly keg and they are all very pleasant to drink. Some cask beers are always available including those from the Dark Star Brewery. My only criticism of this bar is the price £5 a pint in 2014 is a bit over the top.
Website: http://www.oldbrewerygreenwich.com/

A short walk from the Old Brewery through The Old Royal Naval College brought us to the Trafalgar Tavern Pub. The Old Royal Naval College was a fantastic sight and the magnificent buildings looked really good when lit up at night. The whole area was almost empty as the tourists had gone. The Trafalgar Tavern has a fantastic vantage point over the Thames and there are seats outside if you cannot get a seat near the bay windows that overlook the river from inside. The view of canary Wharf and the O2 Dome is always a talking point. The tavern itself is a rather impressive looking building. The regular beers here are Adnams and Sharp’s. Doom Bar is nearly always available (boring) but tonight they had Sharp’s Cornish Coaster Beer which was very drinkable with good flavour and refreshing.
Website: http://www.trafalgartavern.co.uk/

The next pub on the list was the Pelton Arms. However, we were running short of time and a friend of mine had told me that the beer was a bit vinegary so we made a decision to play-it-safe with the Plume of Feathers Pub. Just as we were discussing this a punter from the Trafalgar overheard and suggested that we give the Pelton a try. So we changed our minds again and walked along the Thames path past the Yacht Pub and turned inland at the Cutty Sark pub to find the Pelton Arms in Pelton Road.
My first impression of the Pelton Arms was good because of the well-kept hanging baskets full of flowers adorning the building. This is in my opinion a sign of a publican who cares. As we entered the pub the loudness of the music hit us. It was loud but really good and fun. The group played Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love amongst other songs. I was apprehensive about the beer after the comment my friend had made. So I chose Harvey’s Best Bitter from the large range that was available. It was brilliant and one of the finest Harvey’s Bests that I have drunk. The interior of the pub had character and comfy seats. The bar staff were friendly and chatty. A look at the website shows that they do reasonable priced food and this contrasts greatly with the rip-off prices of the other pubs in central Greenwich. I shall certainly be visiting this pub again and would highly recommend it.
Website: http://www.peltonarms.com/