Blythe Hill Tavern — Restaurant in London

🚇 Catford 🍺 £5.80 Guinness

One of the Best Pubs in London.

The Blythe Hill Tavern is located in South East London on the border between Catford and Forest Hill. The nearest station is Catford, it’s a ten minute walk to get here.

The pub was built in the mid 19th century and started life as The Blythe Hill Hotel.

This is three room pub with a public bar on the corner, a saloon to the left and a large room running across the back of the pub. The decor here is outstanding, so much so that it has been Grade II listed by Historic England. The walls are clad in dark wood panelling which originate from the 1920’s. Around the walls are a treasure trove of old signs, posters and mirrors relating to Irish writers, Irish brews and sporting pursuits. Other features include exposed beams, fireplaces that roar in winter, traditional seating and to top in off, a proper pub carpet. At the rear of the pub is a large beer garden that blooms in the summer.

The beer lineup was great, there was a decent selection of four revolving cask ales, familiar favourites and of course Guinness. I ordered a pint of St Jame’s Gates finest, my pint was excellent and pleasingly cost less than six quid. There is food available here by way of @vandough pizzas. They serve up 10” pizzas which all cost in and around a tenner. Check their socials for timings.

My brother and I arrived bang on opening at met Con the Guv’nor who was warm and welcoming. After ordering our pints we ended up having a great chat with Con about Ireland and London pubs in the 70’s and 80’s and the many characters that ran them. We were also chatting about The Arsenal as we are both fans and visiting Highbury and the pubs around there back in the day, what a lovely fella.

The pub hosts Quiz Nights, Live Music, Live Premier League and Rugby.

The @blythehilltavern is a Multi award winning pub which is traditional, welcoming, quirky and authentic. This is one of the best pubs I’ve visited, I loved everything about this place and Con the Guv’nor is an absolute diamond. If you have London pub to visit list, put this one at the top.

ℹ️ Info...

By far the best pub for miles around - if not in all of London.

Con the governor is a true gent and his staff are all excellent at their job. There is a wide selection of real ales & ciders, but wine drinkers are not forgotten, with a fine selection of fermented grape juice on offer.

I'm involved with the Irish traditional music session on Thursday nights (though, sadly, I can't make it down every Thursday.) In fact it was me who got it going as a regular seisiún almost every Thursday since September 2003. There had been music sessions there for some years before, but on a sporadic irregular basis. But as I say it became a regular weekly fixture some 14 years ago. Gordon with the Bodhrán has now taken up the task of keeping the session organised. We've had visiting musicians from USA, France, Australia, South Africa, Scotland, Germany, Wales, other areas of England and, of course, Ireland. The music is in general of a very high standard, as is just about everything else associated with the pub. There are also poetry nights on occasion (approximately monthly) as well as carol singing nearer the festive season.

Some nights, mostly weekends, Con allows food vendors to park up outside and sell their wares. I've had gorgeous pizza from Van Dough (though neither of the guys are called Vincent) and tonight a lovely Thai curry.

What more can I say? The Blythe truly is THE "Go-To" pub if you want to spend time in a decent, cosy but well run Irish pub...

The Blythe Hill Tavern sits on the border between Catford and Forest Hill. It serves around 16 real ciders and five real ales at any one time. It doesn’t serve food but does do street food with selected vendors on some days. It is about as traditional a pub as you will find and has not been tampered with by the winds of gentrification. It is an Irish pub in the traditional sense; the landlord is Irish, he sells Taytos and there is Irish music on some nights. It is not one of those manufactured fiddley-diddley-dee Irish pubs. It has three rooms with a cosy snug, including gas fire. The toilets aren’t in the best of condition, food isn’t always available, the interior could do with a lick of paint etc. but for all this the Blythe Hill Tavern is a great community pub with excellent beers and ciders and still makes it on to my list of ‘Inns of...