BV London Pub of the Year 2023-24 - part one

Unbelievable though it seems, the BV London Pub of the Year award has now been going for 12 years!

It seems to come around quicker every time, with the sort of overfamiliarity that can only breed the deepest of contempt, but I keep at it, and it's now time for the latest installment.

You probably know the drill: This time we revisit the Top Five from last year's competition, and next time there will be five 'new' contenders, then finally an overall winner will be announced.

Check out some previous years contests if you need to get a handle on the scoring system. Otherwise, let's crack the fuck on...

Last year's Winner: Hope, Carshalton

Everyone loves the Hope. People come from far and wide, especially for the monthly beer festivals. But is victory a foregone conclusion?

Range of draught beers: I could just copy and paste the content from a previous year, because it hasn't changed. There are two standard, vaguely localish cask ales that don't change, plus five that do. These always include one or two darker beers, and are pretty much always from smaller indie breweries. Thornbridge, Arbor, Marble and soforth. They also feature Surrey, Kent and Sussex beers fairly frequently, not to mention the better London-based brewers like Drop Project and Kernel. On keg there's house lager plus an almost 'anything goes' range of sours, stouts and hopmonsters. And then there's the festivals where the rules change completely... but in 'ordinary time' the Hope scores a solid 2. (Whisper it, but I think their trade could easily justify two or three extra handpulls which could take this to a 3!!!)

A nice outdoorsy pint at the Hope

Quality of real ale: Yep. It's good. Really good. Honestly, can't be faulted. Delicious, perfectly conditioned pints every time. They've been doing this for many years now and they know what they're doing. Staff tend to stay a long time and (presumably) get good training in all things cask. 3 points.

Bonus points: If we didn't mention the monthly (almost) beer festivals there would be a huge elephant in the room. These are superb and genuinely better than some actual 'proper' festivals where you have to pay admission and buy a glass you don't want to keep, for the privilege of supping indifferent samey beer in a village hall with nowhere to sit. I'm not having a dig at any particularly beerfest - just saying that the ones at the Hope are better! Their all-day food and snack offering is also well worth a bonus point - little pot of wasabi nuts, hunk of pie, maybe a bowl of stew with bread. It's often just what you want and good value too. The final bonus point is perhaps a combination of 'community' stuff - the place is dog friendly, there's a piano you can play, celebrities can integrate seamlessly with locals and beer tourists. 

It's just a great pub. London CAMRA continually rates it the best pub in the capital and so did I last time. Are we looking at a repeat triumph?!?

Last year's Runner-up: Kentish Belle, Bexleyheath

A former winner of the contest, the Belle is under new-ish management and quite a bit has changed. But has any of it been for the best? I personally don't like how the bench seating down the side walls has disappeared, and that the overall feel is now less micropub and more 'bistro', but your tastes may very well differ.

What's On, Sherlock?

Range of draught beers: When the Belle first opened, it was very proudly and deliberately 'all cask'.This didn't last long and a range of keg beers began to feature. Nowadays it seems that the emphasis has swung a tad further in favour of keg. More importantly, to me at least, the cask here is now less likely to be something out of the ordinary that one cannot possibly hope to sample elsewhere nearby. Tap takeovers don't happen as frequently as they once did, and my overall feeling is that this pub isn't what it used to be, sadly. There's still a decent mix of beer styles, but I'm probably being generous going with 2 points.

Quality of real ale: A reminder that this scale can run from -3 to +3, though there's not much likelihood that a pub serving cask so awful it merits a minus score ever making the competition. It was almost inevitable that the quality here would drop off a bit as it was truly stunning under Nick, the previous guvnor. It now scores 2 points, which is still very good; just not absolutely fucking sublime.

Bonus points: This is where, as Alan Sugar might say, 'I'm struggling'. Beer aside, what are the things that make the Kentish Belle stand out these days? They no longer do the best dry-roasted peanuts in the world, and while 'other drinks' - gin, cider etc. - are worth a point as is the range of canned/bottled beers, it's nothing to get particularly excited about. 2 bonus points, but again that feels a bit generous and really underlines the issue that this pub used to be exciting and now it isn't especially so.

Which makes me feel a little sad.

Last year's #3: Sultan, Colliers Wood

If Rishi Sunak surprised himself by calling a General Election, I perhaps did the same sort of thing in last year's competition. I've been going to the Sultan for the best part of 30 years but really wasn't expecting it to make the top three. But was it a Leicester-style fluke or can the Hopback brewery's London outpost perform well for a second year in a row? Like the Kentish Belle above, we also have new management in place here... 

Range of draught beers: This isn't somewhere you're going to visit to tick shitloads of new beers (unless it's during one of their beer festivals, which I'm sure we'll mention again under Bonus Points...) However, the core Hopback brewery range of cask (GFB, Summer Lightning, Entire Stout, Citra) is supplemented by their changing seasonal specials and a beer from the Downton brewery. Hopback haven't really got into doing keg, and the non-cask range is as standard and mainstream as you'll find anywhere. As was the case last year, 1.5 points. But let's not forget that this is an unlikely part of the world to find a Hopback pub.

There should be a door there, I know...

Quality of real ale: This is an area where the Sultan really excelled last time out, and one where I think it may have fallen back a bit. I've had pints here that have been just a bit warm and flabby for my liking, though others have been perfectly fine. 1.5 points.

Bonus points: There's no way the Sultan is going to score anything less than the maximum three points here. Lots of community activities going on, including quizzes and music nights and board games to play. They host regular beer festivals (in the garden in the Summer and inside in the Winter). The new management have started doing a bit of food appropriate for a wet-led pub - good quality pies and a range of tasty toasties - and the pork scratchings are still the good ones.

I'm aware that I often put a lot of emphasis on beer, especially cask beer, because that's what I'm into, but the Sultan is a pub that does 'other pubby shit' really quite well and that needs to be celebrated too. It got 3rd place for a reason last time.

Last year's #4: Harp, Covent Garden

The only pub North of the River to make the final last year, the Harp is an absolutely legendary boozer. And one that has long punched above its weight, given that its in Central London which, compared to other large cities in this country, does exactly the opposite. Almost always impossibly busy, the Asahi/Fuller's owned pub attracts a mix of tourists, suits and serious beer drinkers. Obviously it's the appeal to the latter group that matters here!

Umm, yeh, I got meself two...

Range of draught beers: About half of the 10 handpumps are devoted to products from the Fuller's family - London Pride, Dark Star Hophead etc. - and Harvey's Best seems to be a regular. On the remaining half anything goes, and high turnover ensures that nothing lasts long. Expect to find beers from the likes of Tiny Rebel, Rooster's, Mallinsons and other darlings of the industry. There's a reasonable mix of styles too, though not usually anything really strong or 'out there'. It's a similar story on the keg taps: half mainstream and half a bit more crafty. It's a range that keeps everyone happy and it's worth 2 points.

Quality of real ale: In short: It's good, but possibly not as good as it was a few years ago when the famous Binnie Walsh was in charge. I've had plenty of good pints of cask here, but despite racking my brains, I can't remember many that were truly superb. 1.5 points.

Bonus points: It's not with any pleasure that I'm going to start with a negative. On two separate occasions within a couple of weeks, I was substantially overcharged here - I suspect deliberately - and given that it's card only with no receipt given by default - it can be difficult to prove in a busy, noisy pub. It was only resolved to my satisfaction in one of the two instances, so I'm going to have to deduct a point and a half. As for positive points, well the intimate interior, with the bar area covered with pumpclips, is something that has to be experienced as an example of Central London pubbery and that's worth a point, and while the cider range isn't as broad as it once was, it's still worth a point. But that's about it, so only half a bonus point in total.

The Harp was the Runner-Up in my inaugural Pub of the Year 12 years ago. However, it's not faring quite as well these days and, I have to admit, it's become more of a pub I pop into on the way back from somewhere else before I catch the train than a destination in its own right. Room for improvement.

 

Last year's #5: Star & Garter, Bromley

A brand, spanking shiny new entry last year, the Star & Garter continues to impress. It's also going to be the only pub in this year's competition in a Conservative-held parliamentary seat!

An impressive stash

Range of draught beers: From outside appearances you wouldn't necessarily expect such an impressive selection, but the S&G takes you by surprise, whipping out a big beery cock boasting both length and girth. It's a bit more keg- than cask-oriented, but none of the many (18?) taps go to waste, whether you're looking for high quality lager, fruited sours, strong IPA or Impy stout. Rare and highly desireable stuff from Verdant, Kernel, Vault City and other darlings of the craft beer world make it a destination. But the cask isn't to be sniffed at either - there's half a dozen of those, all constantly changing, and they do a really good job of sourcing the seasonal specials, one-offs and what I'd call 'Serialised' ales (e.g. Siren 'Suspended in...'). A few more cask would be nice, but I've got to score them 2.5 really.

Quality of real ale: Cask quality here has markedly improved on my visits here since last year's competition where a bad pint dragged the score down. Indeed just last month, a pint of Ilkley 'Dad Jokes' served in here was quite possibly the best conditioned beer I've had all year. I'm giving it another 2.5. 

Bonus points: If the draught range isn't enough for you, there's an extravagent bottled and canned selection in its own dedicated area, and prices aren't terrible for London, so that's worth a point. And they've taken to sourcing some rather interesting snacks from the continent (Egg flavour crisps, anyone?) which are worth another. I also appreciate that they are Untappd verified, and (most of the time) this means that you can find out what beers are on before making the decision to venture out to Bromley. That's a maximum of three bonus points and a really, really strong showing.

Bromley isn't the most convient of destinations for me, but I find myself coming up with all manner of excuses to go there!

And so, that's how the first five pubs have fared - in a few days we'll run down the remaining five.

 

Where to find it...

The Hope
48 West Street,
Carshalton
SM5 2PR (map)
website / whatpub
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Kentish Belle
8 Pickford Lane,
Bexleyheath
DA7 4QW (map)
website / whatpub
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Sultan
78 Norman Road,
Colliers Wood

SW19 1BT (map)
website  / whatpub
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Harp
47 Chandos Place,

Charing Cross
WC2N 4HS (map)
website / whatpub
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Star & Garter 

227 High Street,

Bromley

BR1 1NZ (map)
website / whatpub
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