The George Inn

Pubs in the city are best to visit in the week when the hard working citizens of London make their way out from the daily grind to enjoy a well earned break meeting friends and having fun.  

As a hard working citizen of London I like nothing better than to join the masses and have a pint after work.  The main night for pubs in the city is Thursdays and Fridays.  With this pub I had the luxury of visiting twice in a week.  I work near Borough Market so after work on Monday I met my friends Woody, Ed and my brother at the The George Inn on Borough High Street.  AND then I went there again on Friday night with Ben from work.  

The George Inn

The George Inn would fall into the category of good pubs that have a real character and history to them.  The pub follows on nicely from my visit to the Fleece Inn as the George Inn is also a National Trust owned pub.  The George occupies one side of a courtyard that you enter into from an alley way off Borough High Street.  It used to be a coach house and would have at one time been around all sides of the court yard.  Now it is the only galleried original coach house left in London.  This is another pub that mentions Dickens drank there, he seems to have been quite the drinker!  As I like a bit of the history it was cool to see the old rooms such as the first on the right as you come in the pub.  The court yard now no longer is filled with horses but instead filled with pub benches.  Much better in my opinion.  

George Inn Ale, London Glory, Sam and Woody looking happy

Going on a Monday allowed me to see the pub when it was not full of people and get a good look around the historical pub interior.  It’s a cool pub to go to in the summer as the benches outside make up way more space than is inside.  On the Monday there were still not many spaces left out there as it was the first warm evening of the year.  When I went on the Friday it was rammo.  I like pubs when they are busy though.  I enjoy the buzz of a busy pub full of happy people.  The pub has done a good job of making the most of its history along with its city location.  One weaker point however is the bar which is not as in keeping with the historic sections of the pub.  It would have been good if they had built it keeping with the historic interior.  I’m not sure why they didn’t do that.  The bar is also not that big but even when it was busy the bar staff were fast and most importantly knowledgeable. 

The beer on tap is all from the Green King Brewery.  The nice touches however are the specialist beers from Green King, the pub has its own brew. The George Inn ale is an IPA style hoppy pint with a good nose and citrus notes.  Also the London Glory is a darker beer with fruity notes and is very easy to drink.  Also on tap were the standard Green King beer like Old Speckled Hen, Abbot Ale and Green King IPA.  The guest beer was from Brew Dog and was eminently drinkable.  The usual other bar drinks were available too. 

With the court yard being so open to the street you may have a few encounters with the ‘street’ coming into the pub.  On Monday we had three people begging for money, which can be annoying and on Friday Ben was amused (secretly enjoyed) to find a copy of Mayfair in the gents open to the middle spread... 

Overall the George Inn is worth its place in the guide and from experience this pub is definitely best in the summer when you can stand outside.  

Friday Night at the George Inn

Galleries

Hare and Billet

For all two of my dedicated readers you may have been wondering what good pub guide pub I would visit this week.  You may have even had money on it.  But alas I was busy this weekend and as such this weeks review is a bit of a cop out.  I only managed to walk over Blackheath to have a decent pint of Moreland Original.  The beer hardly amazed my taste buds,  it was well kept but there is something about it which just didn’t excite.  Morland is owned by Green King and it is likely you will be more familiar with their other brew, Old Speckled Hen.

More about the beer later,  the pub itself is a well designed cozy pub with lots of nice wooden furniture and wooden flooring.  They allow dogs and I think there were three in there when I was there on Saturday night.  The pub has a warm friendly atmosphere.  It is a little outside the main heart of Blackheath and that lends to a nice crowd who are willing to go that little bit further to enjoy a nice location for the drinks and the atmosphere rather than just for getting drunk.  The O'neills down the hill has that covered on a Saturday night.  The crowd seemed a nice mix of people with some arty looking types in there.  One bloke was sporting a cracking multi coloured beret.  I was only in there for a cheeky pint so didn’t have any of the food but it looks like the standard fare and has had some good reviews on other blogs.  The Blackheath Bugle has a review of some of the food and seemed to think it was decent.  The pub has been refurbished since their review so don’t be misled.  The decor is now very tasteful .  The Greenwich Phantom has also made a trip there and they seem to be wine drinkers.  As mentioned I do not profess to know anything about wine so I will leave it to your own judgement on that one.  I believe that since that review the refurbishment has taken place and they have improved the wine list.

The pub has the usual mix of Green King beers, the IPA the Abbot, the Hen and a few lagers and wines to keep everyone happy.  I also had a bottle of Leffe which is a decent but not outstanding Belgium beer.  I think it is a shame when good beers get mass produced and lose some of their original quality.  I’m not against mass production of beer by any means as long as quality is kept.  Its a bit like how before InBev took over Hoegaarden  in 2005 it was a really good pint (or litre) but it seemed to lose some of its flavour and quality when taken over by a by a big company.   The best Hoegaarden in my opinion now is the Grand Cru.

Got a bit off topic there... The Hare and Billet is certainly worth a visit if you are looking for a nice friendly pub in the Blackheath area.  I can see why it is not in the good pub guide.  Being owned by Green King does seemed to have stifled it somewhat.  The generic template of Green King pubs is still too evident in this nice village style pub.