I don't agree with other comments that the Honor Oak pub is not a good location. It is near to Honor Oak but also benefits from being near all the housing in the 'Perry Vale Triangle'. The only other decent pub near that area is the Blythe Hill Tavern which whilst great is very different and does not do food etc.

I have been going to the Honor Oak since it first opened when Jamie was manager so have seen all its various incarnations. I think the failure was not due to location or lack of clientele, but due to bad management, too many changes of hands, and a lack of understanding of the needs of local people. It started off as a gastropub with a community leaning -had a function room, was child friendly, held various classes, birthday parties, baby group, quiz nights, steak nights, cocktails etc etc. They seemed to understand that a pub needed to attract a wide variety of people.

Then the managers changed and they "got rid of all that awful kids stuff" to quote and stopped serving decent coffee, and the mums and families stopped going. Then they ran down the function room so no-one wanted to use it anymore. Then they ran down the food, so non-one wanted to eat there anymore. Then they ran down the beer and wine menus, so no-one wanted to drink there anymore. The young clubbers they seemed to want to attract didn't materialise (for obvious reasons), and the only people using it seemed to be rather shady characters. End of pub.

Like others I gave it many chances but gave up when it became farcical and took my custom elsewhere. I think the space would be perfect for a community pub.

This post was last modified: 07-10-2013 01:51 PM by Jane2.