The Florence

The Florence was the highlight of my pub experience in London. Leah (the coolest bartender ever!) was kind enough to give me a beer tasting of their delicious draft beers until I opted for a full glass of their Hawaiian IPA, which was pretty tasty. I also had a glass of their native Paxton Pale Ale and their Urban House cider. I ordered a few bar bites, a pretty tangy butternut squash feta salad, and a delicious almond tart. The Florence is large and rustic; they have a very inviting space with fresh flowers on each table. The sun trickles in through the windowpanes of an adjacent glasshouse. Weather permitting you can hang out in the spacious outdoor patio, which is full of picnic tables and also has an outdoor bar. I visited a few times and the place was always packed with locals, definitely a go-​to pub in the neighborhood. And I can see why, the staff is absolutely amazing at The Florence, they provided me with pamphlets to nearby events and recommended places I should check out in the neighborhood.

In all, should be a really lovely local. Great selection of beers and generally very decent food.
Unfortunately the two big downsides (SO many kids and sometimes pretty pricey) make it much less visited than a good local should be! It turns into more of a kids-​club with overpriced food/​booze for the above-​averagely wealthy mums and dads.

The menu has a great selection of dishes, I ordered the Welsh rarebit, which was lovely! The desert was a bit of a fiasco as I was given the vanilla crème brûlée instead of the coffee crème brûlée, but when I pointed this out I was given the option of choosing another desert, which was delicious! I would definitely eat here again!

Great place for social drinks and nibbles. Can be quite pricey tho. Atmosphere laid back and relax. Nice outdoorspace, nice space inside, seated tables and then more relaxed drinks tables. Service was a bit laid back for me as we had to wait quite a while but worth it as the food was pretty decent, so couldn’t complain.

So. Food and atmosphere 5* service and cleanliness 1*
The menu… Sunday the pork belly was nice. A little more fatty than I’d like. In fact my friends roast beef was juicy rare long thin so slices. The veg was a. It cold. Veg compote was warm not hot and the greens were hot and crisp. Generous portions I could not finish.
Fodmap free roast… No unlikely. The gravy had onion and garlic and everything was cooked in it. It didnt look an easy ask… So I didn’t ask.
The Drinks well… Good selection but the tea was served on in a latte mug… Immediately got cold. And the spirits in glasses I needed two hands hold.
The service was great to a point. They were all so laid back I felt like they didn’t mind if we paid. We waited 15minutes at an empty bar to pay… As we didn’t feel like thieving. Service was added to the bill. At that point I didn’t want to pay. The staff were far too slow (definitely in a calm way not a lazy way) the laid back became apparent as you looked a little more. Lots of tables uncleared. And the ladies toilet had been forgotten it seemed l.
That said the place was full of people who liked laid back. Gastropub with the back full of young families seemingly out for their weekly roast. Large building lots of tables. And pretty trendy.
Laid back trendy gastropub… Could use some energy.

Beautiful pub, but come here for a drink, not food. I’ve given several of their menu items a try (even their Sunday roast), but all were disappointing/​overpriced. Great atmosphere and beer selection though! Highly recommend for a pint.

Wonderful food and drink… don’t miss the Sunday roasts.
Perfect for a lazy lunch after a stroll round the park.
Really great microbrewery and attentive bar staff.
Cons: FULL of children on the weekend, particularly Sundays. Also, absolutely packed on bonfire night (but this is to be expected!!)

Great pub. Extremely child friendly and with a nice selection of fruit beers.
Gets rammed on summer days but still worth a look. Had crèche at the back

This is a nice dark pub with a relaxed vibe to it and possibly the nicest smelling kitchen ever. Their own beer Florence — Dam Tasty Beaver beer was very cloudy, but actually tasted good as promised.
The music was high quality too.
They have a nice looking outside area, with an outside bar. They must be doing a roaring trade.

Be very careful with the food here. I’ve just come from the hospital where I took my fiancé to find out why she’s had awful abdominal pain, swollen tummy and not been able to eat for the last few days. The doc said food poisoning and it came from the mussels she ate at this place. We have both eaten the same thing all week apart from that night where I didn’t like the smell of the mussels and chose not to eat them. Very bad form and I shall now be contacting them direct to complain.

I tend to pop in here once or twice a month for a catch up beer.
Food is generally quite good and they also serve some pretty nice beers.
Free wifi which is always a winner as well!
The décor is really nice inside, with lots of nice seating near the bar but also a more formal sitting area at the rear which forms the restaurant.
Definitely one to check out if you’re in the area and also very closely situated to the station and brockwell park!

I don’t know the area but my son suggested meeting here as it was convenient for both of us, being near the station. It is large and a bit bare inside with some seating outside. The staff were friendly and efficient. I ordered a vegetarian burger (courgette and chick pea, I think). It was very stodgy and stuck to the teeth. There was very little sign of any courgette. My fries were fine, it came with a small pot of a vegetable dish which was nice but tepid which always worries me because cold food should be kept chilled. Quite tasty, though not worth £10. My son had fish and chips and having eaten half of it, he offered me a taste and the fish was off! Well, the young are not fussy, but that is not acceptable. As he had been very il and was recuperatingl, I didn’t want to complain and cause him any stress but I would have sent it back. Very disappointing overall.

This could well be my favourite pub in the area, and I’m an ardent fan of the Prince Regent just down the road. What a find this place is!
Firstly, it’s HUGE. Spacious indoors, then a back section, then another canteen-​style back section, then a conservatory, then a huge garden… it just keeps going! And the bar is in the middle of the room too — service from all sides. Nice.
The big screen (and other plasma screens) are ideal for the football and the rugby. We watched the England football here recently — the number of people in here would have made a smaller place seem completely rammed, but we all had enough space to relax in this Tardis.
Big on food here too — open kitchen with an impressive menu.
They even have enough space within the bar area, not even in a basement, for their own brewery! It’s behind a glass door. And I can confirm that they produce some wonderful beers. I didn’t think I’d ever find myself saying that I enjoy drinking ‘Beaver’, but I do.

A great beer selection and delicious food. Kid friendly until 830pm. Beautiful beer garden with a kids play room adjoining it. Foosball table. Amazing chips.

With its quirky interior, varied choice of beer and large beer garden, I was already warming to the Florence. Then DJ Shadow’s ‘Building Steam With a Grain of Salt’ suddenly started playing and my respect for the pub immediately doubled.
Even without their adventurous taste in music, the Florence is a pleasant place for a drink or meal. There’s a good choice of slightly unusual European (including Erdinger Dunkel and Vettel Blonde) and American beers. The interior has a couple of eye-​catching features, such as an old iron stove and a microbrewery behind a perspex enclosure. And the food is decent enough. With a crèche too, the Florence is popular with thirty-​something couples with young kids.
Somewhere I’d happily go to if in the area.

This pub has a really good atmosphere and is just perfect for whiling away a Sunday afternoon with newspapers and a big roast dinner. And the roast dinners are huge by the way.
There’s a simple system for tabs and the staff are friendly and competent. It’s also a lot bigger than it looks from the outside. There is a big conservatory area and garden which is great in the summer. It’s usually very busy on a Sunday so claim your spot early to get a good table.

I used to cycle past here and always wanted to stop in. I finally did on a rainy night heading back north from Olly’s.
The crowds outside during the sunshine (it’s right across the street from Brockwell Park) and the words ‘A Brew Pub” had me excited and interested. I was left a little disappointed.
It’s not that it’s a bad place. It’s all dark tables and sleek and modern inside, with an excellent selection of beers, even a couple of unusual ales. It’s just a bit… underwhelming. Not bad for a local or if you’re in the hood.
On the up side, though, apparently they have a kid’s room in the back where you can go and deposit several playing four year olds and drink whilst watching them through the glass. So I suppose it fits in with Herne Hill well.
There’s nothing wrong, and a lot right, but it seems… a little sterile.

Looking through the list of Herne Hill places on Qype, I was surprised to find I hadn’t reviewed The Florence yet. After all, this has been not only one of my favourite pubs in the area for over three years, but also in the whole of London.
I can’t say a bad thing about The Florence. Well, maybe one — there’s often too many children and prams — but that’s hardly their fault, and now that the superb children’s play area is out the back, they don’t fill the inside up as much as they used to.
I try and get to The Florence as often as possible, and living in spitting distance of it it’s fairly easy. The food is amazing (great for veggies/​pescestarians — the beetroot, chickpea and goat’s cheese burger is to die for), the selection of drinks vast, and the service is mostly very good. Sometimes on extremely busy Sundays you can tell the staff is stretched thin, but again, it’s not much of a problem.
And did I mention the roasts? You’ve never seen roasts like you have at The Florence. I get the veggie one, and even that is always eyed up enviously by those who chose a burger/​fish and chips.
Keep on impressing, Florence!

Great gastro pub which has an in-​house micro brewery. Nice airy pub, chilled out music.
This is the ultimate child friendly pub. There is a unit dedicated to the kids, filled with toys, a flat screen tv showing children films and appropriate toilet facilities.
This pub was built for lazy days indeed! I highly recommend going for the full sunday roast menu and a couple of pints of Weasel to wash it down with!

I’m new to Herne Hill but loved this place. Friend remarked it was like a pub in Sydney — huge, open, busy. Lots of interesting people there, very mixed crowd which is always nice.
Got the pork belly and the chicken and leek pie — both very good but you have to order sides separately. Lovely red wine too.
What made it for me was the service — really friendly and helpful. South London definitely needs this sort of big old boozer. Will definitely be going back!