Barrel and Horn BR1

London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Southeast London: Bromley

Barrel and Horn, Bromley BR1 (London)

Contemporary pub (Fuller’s)
206 High Street, Bromley BR1 1PW
T 020 8290 2039 w www.barrelandhorn.com f BarrelAndHorn tw BarrelAndHorn
Open 1200-2300 (2330 FS, 2230 Sn). Children very welcome until 1900.
Cask beer 3 (guests, sometimes local/unusual), Other beer 7-12 keg, 18+ bottles, Also 1 real cider, Bourbons and a few other whiskies, quality tea and coffee.
Food Imaginative pub grub, Outdoor Small rear yard, Wifi. Disabled toilet.
Mon quiz, Thu open mic, Fri-Sat folk and acoustic music.

It’s a Fuller’s pub, but not as we know it. Formerly saddled with the rather naff name Tom Foolery, this shop front site reopened in November 2011 as a venue capable of attracting a younger and less traditional, but still discerning, audience while still satisfying real ale drinkers. Fuller’s beers are by no means a fixture – casks might come from Adnams, By the Horns, London Fields, Skinners, Thornbridge or Windsor & Eton, while besides Honeydew the kegs include Budweiser Budvar, Innis & Gunn and Meantime Stout. Most of the bottles are better known craft brands – Anchor, Goose Island, Little Creatures, Meantime – but there’s no doubting manager Mike’s passion for beer.

The deliberately quirky décor is accomplished well enough to be endearing, with a retro feel that extends to a whole alcove furnished like something out of a 1950s Ideal Home exhibition, ukuleles on the wall and pots of basil on the tables. Delightful hand drawn cartoon menus list intriguing delights, while big picture windows open in good weather onto the High Street. If the council proceeds with its ‘Bromley Boulevard’ plans, the environment will improve still further. A more traditional Fuller’s pub with an excellent cellar, the Partridge, is only a few doors down in an impressive converted bank (194 High Street BR1 1HE).

National Rail Bromley North, Bromley South Cycling LCN+ 22 27 75