1 King William Walk, Greenwich Peninsula, London SE10 9JH
Greenwich Tavern Pub and Restaurant

The Greenwich Tavern is located at the lower entrance of Greenwich Park and as such is in the middle of the pricey tourist area of Greenwich and so expect high drinks prices. With Amstel larger (the Dutch equivalent of Carling Black Label) priced at £6.10 you grit your teeth when ordering.
The food although still slightly high in price is good and the beer selection is also good, so remember with plenty of other places nearby you go into this place because it is popular and convenient when leaving the park and not because you are affluent.
In the hot summer days this place will be overflowing with parched tourists and locals using the park, so don’t expect anywhere to sit inside and often there is an overspill into the street.

Greenwich Market, Greenwich Peninsula, London SE10 9HZ
The Coach & Horses | Pub and Restaurant in Greenwich (the-coach-and-horses.co.uk)

The Coach and Horses is a Youngs chain pub located Inside the Greenwich Market and when the actual market is not in session it uses a small plot of land just outside with heaters to give more room to the patrons.
It has a great selection of beers with the usual house beers and also a good selection of external beers as guest ales.
The place has a relaxed atmosphere especially when the market has closed and you can just sit outside with friends and watch the world go by around you. With decent pub food and prices that are not too high considering the tourist area that it is in the middle of.
Highly recommended if you are in the area and want somewhere to chill.

Park Row, Greenwich Peninsula, London SE10 9NW
Trafalgar Tavern – The Trafalgar Tavern

Built-in 1837 this pub is steeped in history, from the being the setting of the wedding banquet in the Charles Dickens novel ‘Our Mutual Friend’ to being up until 1883 a regular venue for whitebait dinners held by liberal party MP’s who would travel downriver from Westminster to Greenwich on barges.
It later became in 1915 a home for elderly retired seamen and then between the first and second world wars became a working mens club before reopening again as a pub in 1965.
It’s very much a tourist pub now due to its location overlooking the River Thames giving fantastic views. As such it means the prices are a bit high but that is what you would expect in a place like this.
In the summer this place is in its element, where throngs of locals and tourists alike part take in alfresco eating and drinking.
They have a very good range of beers and the food is excellent as it should be at these prices, and they have a very good but also expensive wine selection.
The catering seems to be on a double tier system. Normal pub dining in one room or fine dining with a different upgraded menu in another.
Another attraction especially for the younger clientele is the live music and comedy gigs or the frequent club nights as well as jazz nights and art exhibitions.
Regardless of the prices, we are still drawn back to this place especially when the sun comes out.

Enderby House
23 Telegraph Avenue, Greenwich, London SE10 0TH
https://www.enderbyhousepub.co.uk/
This bank holiday Monday was a hot sunny day and we could not have picked a better day to try out the food and drink offered at the Enderby House, a Young’s brewery pub along the Thames river bank along the west side of the Greenwich Peninsular.
The Enderby House is a new pub, brought into fruition along with the construction of the new developments that surround it. Unfortunately due to the Covid-19 restrictions it has spent quite a lot of it’s short existence between 2020 – 2021 closed, but I think it’s going to be a stayer.
On a hot sunny day in a pub on the river this place should have been packed to the rafters but we are still adhering to Covid-19 rules, and we are still not totally free of lockdown restrictions yet. This limit on the number of people allowed in the venue made for a rather more pleasant experience, although I suspect the owners would prefer to have the pub packed on such a beautiful day.
After been shown to our table which was outside on the veranda as we requested, we were asked if we had the Young’s App, as they would rather you use the app to order and pay at your table with the app and the waiters would simply bring your drinks and food to your table.
Luckily, I had already downloaded the app and used it to book the table in advance with it, so using it to order drinks and food was no problem. If you do not want to use the app, or perhaps you are of the older generation that is fervently anti smartphones then that is no problem as a waiter will take your order the old fashioned way. You just have to get their attention.
Personally, I found the experience of ordering and paying as you go, easy and actually preferred it as a way of doing things, especially as there was none of the trying to get the waiters attention and waiting ages for the bill and then waiting to pay it.
Whichever way you order, via the app or via the waiter you still have the obligatory 12.5% service charge added to the payment in order to pay for the waiter service. I can’t wait for the restrictions to lift so I can walk up to the bar order my drink, take it back to my table myself and save myself a few quid each round.
We ordered the chilli squid for starters and then the lobster and crab burger and it was delicious. The food was fantastic all round, although a bit expensive as was the prices of the beers, but being in a highly desired location along the river and surrounded by expensive property developments they will have no problem getting customers.
The pub premises have extensive inside seating and dining as well as a river facing veranda and rooftop dining area for those sunny days. It also has a few rooms for private hire or dining in the basement, so it is quite a substantial pub.
All in all, it was a thoroughly pleasant experience, great food great selection of beers and wines and great service, although a tad expensive. I personally will be returning to this establishment very soon.

The Green Goddess

43a Vanbrugh Park, London SE3 7AA

http://thegreengoddess.pub/

Reviewed 18 March 2023.
I for one will recommend a real ale pub over a bog-standard pub selling the usual merchandise any day. Being a member of CAMRA I seek out a different beer wherever I go just to say I have tried it.
I gave a glowing review of the River Ale House, a real ale pub on Woolwich road, but there are never enough real ale houses as far as I am concerned.
During the lockdown restrictions easing one Plumstead-based microbrewery ‘Common Rioters’ opened up a temporary mobile bar in the gardens of Charlton house and hinted that they had acquired the disused Barclays bank premises at the Blackheath Standard and hoped to be brewing and selling real ale from there.
Being the complete saddo that I am I listened online to their licence application on the Greenwich Council YouTube channel and really wanted them to succeed, and they did.
They opened in July 2022 and I first went there a few weeks before the official opening and was highly impressed with the wide selection of real ales and stouts from other breweries as well as their own products.
Comparing the selection with the River Ale House nearby, the Green Goddess wins on variety but loses on price. The River Ale House prices are lower Ale, and when ordering at the Green Goddess bar I highly suggest looking at the prices first before ordering as the prices are not always for a half pint and a pint. The more expensive priced ales tend to be served in three-quarters of a pint. When I was there just over a week ago ordered a pint of Stoutzilla at 10% ABV for £12 a pint. It was a fantastic stout and I ordered it even though I knew the price. I think I was a bit drunk at the time as now when I look back, I wonder, what the hell was I thinking?
The clientele in the Green Goddess gave me the impression that they are locals that appreciated the real ale culture.
One of the things that struck me when I visited after work, was the number of babies and prams in the place giving me the impression that the place is very family-friendly and also the number of people that bring their dogs to the place as well.
Despite the higher prices than the River Ale House, and the place being filled with babies, toddlers and prams and dogs, this is a place that I would recommend, if only for the fantastic variety of beers and stouts.
One thing that did rather annoy me about the place is they have adopted this trendy practice of booking tables for their patrons at certain times. If you haven’t drunk your drinks at the table by a certain time and have not booked you have to give up your table to the reservee at a specific point in time. I can understand reserving tables for large parties, or food to be consumed at a table rather than just drinking, or if someone is disabled.
This is a practice that the River Ale House has also started doing, and myself being old school do not agree with this practice. A pub is not a restaurant and as such tables should be first come first served, unless a special event is planned. When I was there one table never showed up, and one reserved table group stayed for one or two drinks then left.
Would I recommend this pub? Yes they have lovely beers and the place is popular with the real ale appreciating locals and if very family orientated and dog friendly, but I would like to see them put a stop to this table reservation policy.

176 Trafalgar Rd, London SE10 9TZ
https://frontierpubs.co.uk/pub/the-crown/

The Crown is unmistakably a local’s pub but not the sort of local’s pub that you would feel uncomfortable entering if you were a stranger. When you walk in the pub it doesn’t suddenly go silent and everybody looks at you like you’ve just come from outer space. The bar staff have been friendly and welcoming when I have visited it on a number of occasions.
Prior to an external paint job in 2020 the entire frontage of the building was covered in huge giant letters spelling out the word ‘CROWN’, so you had no doubt it was The Crown. Today you just have a sign high up the outside of the frontage of the building that can be easily missed.
One of the reasons that I love this pub is that it is what a pubs basic function should be, a hub of the local community that sells great beer, and The Crown is good at both. The Crown sells real ale and has a weekly rotating guest craft beer and ale selection as well as the usual mainstay selection which is also good.
The Crown is also known locally for its onsite produced Flatboys Pizzas that can also be delivered as well as consumed on site. Beer and Pizza, a marriage made in heaven.
On most Fridays it also has a DJ playing vinyl old school Rock and Roll and Soul music as well as a regular Sunday evening pub quiz.
In the summer when the weather is nice you should try out their pub garden at the rear of the pub.
It’s far enough up the Trafalgar Road to not be caught in the tourist area so the place is more relaxed and less pricey. Still London prices but not as pricey as the area around the Cutty Sark.
I would highly recommend this place for a visit for its great beer and ale selection, it’s atmosphere and its great Pizzas.

The Rusty Bucket
11 Court Yard, London SE9 5PR
Tel: 02088595500
The Rusty Bucket Pub – Craft Beer in Eltham, London

Reviewed 11/11/23
The pub used to be called The Crown, but it closed shop, remained closed, and boarded up for about four years before reopening as The Rusty Bucket.
It has a fantastic large selection of constantly rotating ales stouts and craft beers on tap.
Apart from the draught beer selection, there are also many bottled and canned beers to choose from in the large chiller cabinet to the side of the bar.
Tea and coffee are also available and a good selection of wines for the non-craft beer enthusiast
There is bunting all over the ceiling in rainbow colours, so it would appear to be LGBT-friendly.
If you are sitting there on your own with a pint, but still bored with fiddling with your phone, there is a bookshelf filled with various books for you to enjoy. Make sure you don’t leave with the books though as it is a pub not a library.
The decor is rustic but functional and plenty of tables and seating although some of the tables had reservation tags on them for later in the evening. It does get a lot busier during the evening.
No Sunday roast on a Sunday but every Sunday seems to be ‘Cheese Toastie Sunday’. I don’t think there is enough room for a kitchen but there is always room for a Breville toasted sandwich maker.
If you are into your real ales and craft beers, this is a place I would highly recommend trying out.

Bankers Draft
80 Eltham High St, London SE9 1BW
Tel: 02082942578
Facebook Bankers Draft

Reviewed 11/11/23
Wetherspoons spent a long time trying to off load this pub and for some reason they struggled to find a buyer, but eventually they did, and surprisingly the new owners have kept most of the things that made the pub a typical Wetherspoons. A fantastic range of beers to select from, a mainly working class and retired clientele and the typical Wetherspoons thing of needing a long route march to get to the toilets, up steep steps and along long corridors. (Why Wetherspoons? Why?)
Externally the pub looks the same as it did when it was a Wetherspoons, but with all Wetherspoons naming and signage removed.

The demographic of the pub is old, very old. When I was in there on a Saturday afternoon I felt like I was one of the youngest in the place and I’ve just turned sixty. And the bar staff looked like they have just left school.
Besides it not being a Wetherspoons pub anymore the beer and ale variety was impressive with 19 beers and ales on selection including Fosters lager. which personally I would have banned from every pub in the country years ago, but some of my friends like it and I suppose it still sells for some reason.
On there Facebook page they say that they have reopened the kitchens but when I was there on a Saturday lunch time, I could not see a single person eating any sort of meal.

Eltham GPO
4 Passey Pl, London SE9 5DQ
Tel: 02088509685
Eltham GPO – Formerly a post office, The Eltham GPO is a gem of a pub, nestled in the heart of Eltham
Reviewed 11/11/23
Once the Eltham General Post Office, hence the name the Eltham GPO.
This place is definitely a family pub. young kids, toddlers and babies all over the place.
They serve food which is cooked in an open kitchen area at the back of the pub, which is always a good thing in my eyes, when you can always keep an eye on the staff cooking your food in a professional manner.
There is an impressive courtyard area running the length of the side of the pub opening out to the main entrance. Great for those sunny days.

There is a large selection of 11 London or locally brewed beers on tap to choose from as well as a selection of canned and bottled beers.

The pub gets very busy throughout the day and into the evening so don’t go here expecting to get a seat or a table unless you book a table for a group meal in advance.
The bar staff seemed friendly, fast and efficient. I suppose you would have to be in such a busy establishment. Many people these days work from home with flexible working and the GPO Eltham is cashing in on this trend. When most workers are at work and the place is a bit quieter from Monday to Friday they give you a deal, whereby for £15 you get unlimited Tea, Coffee or soft drinks and a Lunch, while you work. Sounds good to me. I wish I could work from home.
Their Sunday roast looks good and many of the reviews back up this claim. I didn’t get to try out the food at this place as the pub was just too packed to even entertain the possibility of getting a table, but I would like to try their Sunday roast sometime in the future.

The Duke
125 Creek Rd, London SE8 3BU
The Duke (thedukedeptford.co.uk)
Along Deptford creek Road and just with the boarders of the Royal Borough of Greenwich is The Duke.
This pub used to be one of my late dads frequently used pubs as he used to work in the now demolished Deptford Power station nearby and you would often see him in there having a pint and lunch. He would not recognise the place today,
When you walk through the door your eyes are immediately drawn to the flames emanating from the wood fire stone pizza oven at one end of the bar, The pizza company called the Yeast Brothers run an in house and take away service from Wednesday to Sunday.
The clientele is on the young side and gets younger as the day progresses. This is due to the McMillan and Greenwich University student digs just a few yards away.
Being frequented by mainly young students it would only be right to assume that this pub is a late opening establishment, and you would be right with Friday and Saturday opening time till 1am.
When I was there was a few families with very young kids and a few dogs were also inside, giving me the impression that this place is both kid and dog friendly.
The entertainment in the pub is varied with comedy nights every Tuesday, Jazz and Jam sessions every Thursday a DJ every Friday and Saturday and a Quiz night every Sunday.
If none of this entertains you then you can entertain yourself, games including pool, darts, Monopoly, Chess and Draughts and table football, as well as other board games. Theres also a bookshelf full of books if you are feeling in a solitary mode.
There is quite a good selection of beers and ales to choose from including real ales which makes it a great pub straight away in my eyes.
My wife and myself went there some years ago to celebrate new years eve and were very disappointed with how the night turned out, but that is not going to stop me recommending this pub. If you are of a more mature age, then you will feel more a home during the afternoon and early evening before the students converge on the place.
You never going to be short on entertainment even if you have to do it yourself, whether it be reading, playing games or stuffing yourself with pizza.

The Sail Loft
11 Victoria Parade, London SE10 9FR
Greenwich Pub | The Sail Loft | Riverside Pub & Restaurant in Greenwich (sailloftgreenwich.co.uk)

We’ve had a few birthday meals and drinks at this place over the years since it first opened. With a large drinking area and a small eating area and the kitchen downstairs, and the main restaurant area upstairs along with another bar. This place is quite big.
The clientele is a mixed batch during the day of locals, tourists, both old and young, and people celebrating in large family or friends groups. As the evening wears on it is often frequented by younger patrons in groups and stragglers from earlier parties.
As we have found out it is often better to book a table or two if you are in a group as most of the tables are either booked or occupied.
The pub is a Fullers chain pub and so can be a bit on the expensive side, especially as it is in a tourist area with the Cutty sark and Greenwich centre just a few minutes away. This does not stop it being popular though.
With seating inside and outside and situated along the River Thames, the views upstream and downstream are equally impressive, particularly in the summer, and especially at dusk.
There is live music and entertainment every other Friday, but even without the entertainment if you are in a group of friends the atmosphere is usually upbeat.
Another thing that impressed me was the accessibility factor, as someone with a disabled family member, it is always good to see an establishment that thinks of the less fortunate amongst us. As well a disabled toilet facilities it also has a lift to get people up to the first floor and the restaurant area.
I recommend this pub for it’s great food, it’s location, especially in the summer and good selection of beers. It’s also a great place for post party meet ups.
There is a similar pub called the Oyster Catcher virtually next door but although good, does not capture the atmosphere that the Sail Loft revels in.

The O2, Peninsula Square, London SE10 0DX

https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/all-pubs/england/london/the-stargazer

Although Wetherspoons are closing or selling off their pubs all over the country including the Edmund Halley in Lee, and the Bankers Draft in Eltham they have also opened a few new ones at the same time. One of the new venues that has opened is a new pub in the O2 called ‘The Stargazer’ which was opened last year.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about Wetherspoons pubs I love the variety of beers and the great low prices, but I cannot stand the founder and chairman Tim Martin or his exploitative labour practices.

As an avid real ale drinker, I Welcome any new pub that opens in the borough as we have lost far too many over the years. Be it micropubs or regular pubs, all are welcome, but it takes one of the big boys of the beer industry to open up in the O2.

The O2 already has three other large chain pubs, one from the ‘Slug and Lettuce chain another is part of the ‘All Bar One’ chain and the other is part of the Nicholas pub chain, all of which tend to be much more expensive than any Wetherspoons so I think the Stargazer will do a booming trade here and the expensive pubs will see a drop in their profits.

When greedy corporations get too greedy and suffer the consequences it always puts an evil smile on my face. Sorry.

The interior is spacious and there is extra seating outside at both the front and back of the pub.

The external seating at the front is protected from the elements by the covering of the O2 but the back rear garden is only partially protected from the elements as the beer garden is actually outside the O2 but partially covered at one end by its overhang.

Being a Wetherspoons it has the obligatory security staff manning the door and wandering around the place, and the bar staff were frantically trying to keep up with the orders.

After finishing my first pint I ordered some food and another drink with the Wetherspoon app and was impressed with the speed at which my order came.

The food is the usual Wetherspoons fare, cheap but not too bad considering it’s all-reheated frozen food and there’s a good selection of beers as you would expect from a Wetherspoons pub.

One thing that you will notice if you are a regular Wetherspoons customer is the prices. When compared to other nearby Wetherspoons such as the Gate Clock in Greenwich Centre or the Great Harry in Woolrich or The Watch House in Lewisham is a   marked increase in the prices.

Even with the increase in the prices probably to cover the overheads of trading in the O2, the prices are still much cheaper than the other large chain pubs in there.

When I did a review of Eltham GPO in Eltham, I noticed a lot of online reviews for the Park Tavern just across from The Eltham GPO, saying that it was a much better pub, so I thought I needed to see it for myself.

I wouldn’t say that The Park Tavern is better than the Eltham GPO or worst, just different and more aligned to the older generation.

When I entered the pub, I was immediately met with the impression that this is not only very much a local’s local, but the demographics of the place more suited to the older and more mature generation.

The styling of the place is very much a no-nonsense old-style pub. That is not a slight on the décor in fact I am sure the older generation much prefer it that way, and when I say older generation, I think I am at that age when I can now include myself if that category.

The bar staff were very efficient and friendly and pleasant with the customers be they locals or not.

I could not see any children or dogs in the pub, so I cannot say if the pub is dog or family friendly or not, and they don’t even state on their website that they are a family or kid friendly pub. This could be why the Eltham GPO has plenty of families and young children frequenting it.

One thing that I liked very much was the way the background music level is deliberately kept at a pleasantly low volume. They even state in their website that the volume is kept to a quiet and relaxing level. A level that you can hold a decent conversation and not struggle to hear or must shout over the music. I could say that is because it is frequented by the older clientele, and it would probably be true as I have always hated going to youngsters overcrowded loud pubs that seem to think they are discos or nightclubs even when I was younger.

Although not lit at the time that I visited it, there is an old-style fireplace in the centre of the pub which I no doubt adds to the cosy ambience of the place in the winter.

In the summer there is external seating at the front of the pub and running to the side and to the back is a nice beer garden, which seemed to be very popular, even on the fairly overcast and fresh afternoon that I went there.

There is a large choice of beers and ales on offer, much more of a selection than your average old-style pub.

One thing that I did notice, and that was that although I would class this pub as an older generation pub, no one was paying with cash. Everyone was paying either with their cards or their phones. I don’t know if this pub has gone cashless like a lot have these days, but most old people that I know still want to pay with cash.

My local working man’s club now insists that any purchase that totals to under £5 must be paid with cash and not card. Let’s be honest that is in a social club and they specialise in cheap beer. It is very rare these days to find any beer in a normal pub, apart from say a Wetherspoons which is priced under a fiver, so going cashless for most pubs will not be to their detriment, unless there is a backlash from the older generation, and there doesn’t seem to be any problem going cashless in the Park Tavern