The Pelton Arms, Greenwich - Bombardier's last post
How the demise of a much-loved beer is bad for community cohesion
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Disclaimer: this newsletter often mentions beer and pubs. You do not have to read this if your life has been affected by substance abuse.
I am a journalist who writes for BBC Culture, Pellicle and Vittles. I was named Beer Writer of the Year in 2023 by the British Guild of Beer Writers.
On a recent Wednesday, I visited the Pelton Arms in south London after a walk through nearby Greenwich park. I descended from the clouds high-up at General Wolfe's Luftwaffe-hit plinth and found my base down at sea-level (well, the south bank of the Thames).
In the pub, sun streamed through the windows, creating natural but irregular spot lights on the floors and the open fires - perhaps becoming more emblematic of a more care-free era - provided a natural warmth.
Among this fuzzy cosiness, many Christmas decorations were about to be put up. Open fires. Tinsel. Baubles. The Pelton.
This pub is rightly famed for its live music at weekends, pizzas and excellent service, but it should also be praised for its planning. And how everything I’ve mentioned has been curated at great expense to give the best drinking experience in the area. In fact, this is your only option in Greenwich - which you won’t begrudge when you visit.
Geoff Keane took over in 2008, and he’s also the custodian of the equally excellent Shortlands Tavern in Bromley. (A more village-y pub experience, certainly the most village-y pub you’d get in Zone 4 and next to a train station.)
When he gained the keys to the Pelton there was a lot of brainstorming on how to make it work and they hit upon the idea - not radical in theory, but difficult in practice - to transform this into a multipurpose venue for locals, while drawing in revellers from afar at peak hours.
“It’s a lot harder than it ever was,” admits owner Geoff Keane, who is joined with Elisabeth ‘Lilly’ Enriquez, bar manager, and Jake Greaves, Geoff’s “sidekick” and area manager - Geoff. I have to tread a bit carefully as Lilly and Jake are hanging from their staff Christmas do but the warmth between them seems to act as a good day-after cure.
Maybe, though, the subject we discuss is sobering enough in itself.
“We’re doing a lot more for a lot less money - the overheads are through the roof, but if you don’t spend it you’re not going to make it,” says Geoff. “We get the fires going, make it look pretty for Christmas and spend a fortune.
“It’s constantly putting money in but we retain the custom because if people go to the Pelton they know we make the effort and there will always be something on.”
I’m here to talk about Bombardier and how the beer being discontinued by brewing giant Carlsberg affects their fragile ecosystem but before I delve deeply into this pressing concern there’s a feeling that it’s a small part of a wider societal decay that’s rotting traditional drinking culture. This may be a community hub but it’s an outlier.
The Pelton feels resilient to me when I visit as it’s a pub that has weathered many changes with Geoff remembering how the light industry nearby used to provide a healthy afternoon trade especially on Fridays. “But that died off when the factories went and they built flats,” he says.
If I’m being honest then the main island site of Greenwich - including and surrounding the property owned by the Old Royal Naval college - is pretty dire for all types of drinkers. It’s expensive to the point of being exploitative and geared to overseas visitors.
“Greenwich is a tourist base,” agrees Geoff. “At weekends they come and go but here they stay - then they’ll come back the next day and then the next day. You don’t really get that in any of the other pubs around here.”
Well, there are some exceptions; there's the small - and equally well-run - Plume of Feathers overlooking Greenwich Park. And then there’s Hardy’s, but, Geoff tells me, that the Trafalgar Road wet-led pub will be dead soon, with another source telling me it’s that sad leitmotif of the area that turning it into a hotel is seen as more profitable.
“Early next year and then Hardy’s will be gone,” he admits. “There’s so many pubs closing in Greenwich but it’s worse in other towns and areas.”
Geoff and the staff have been so startled by the decline they sparked a publicity drive by shrouding the Pelton in black like a mini-coffin. This is a bold statement especially because Lilly, who has been at the pub since Geoff took over, is among the many who cherish the Pelton.
“I loved everything about it,” she says about her first moments behind the bar. “Even if you were to pop in when you’re not doing a shift there was always someone to talk to. It’s a comforting place and you feel safe here. I’m bringing up kids [in the area] and it’s an extension of my home.”
The locals start streaming in at 3pm. “There’s quite a few that've been here a long, long time,” Geoff says.
There’s a few behind the scenes decisions here that show how much affection Geoff has for his regulars. The Pelton isn’t ever hired out for weddings despite regular queries and it’s never shut for filming, although the Only Fools and Horses spin-off, Rock & Chips, used it as a location outside of licensing hours.
“It’s a locals’ pub. I can’t close the door,” he says. Geoff learnt how he wanted to run a pub after visiting the Gordon Arms in Chislehurst where the publican Richard treated everyone well using the one strike and out philosophy - once barred, you’re barred for life.
Misbehaviour, though, is never an issue here unless you include the conduct of the pub’s suppliers. As mentioned, 11 famous cask beers are being discontinued by Carlsberg and the fact that Bombardier is one of them hasn’t gone down well. (You can read more on this decision here by Pete Brown and how others say it perhaps doesn’t have the right to exist.)
“We’re not happy about it at all,” says Geoff. “Bombardier John - that’s what we’ve always called him - will come in at 3pm - and he’s been drinking here a very long time. He doesn’t order it. He just stands there.”
Geoff and Lilly then proceed to name the regulars who drink it - “Greg, Ben the Hat, Flamingo Dave, Wonky Pete..”
The answer is a bit of a nightmare for the Pelton, loads of different ales will have to be tried out on this band of cask drinkers, and I can’t help feel this is a very silly decision. “Your regular regulars - not your CAMRA drinkers or craft drinkers - they stick to the same thing,” says Geoff.
And here is the conundrum beer faces - the most loyal beer drinkers to a brand seem like the less well represented, most voiceless people in 2024. The real beer community. Here for the chat. Here for their seat. Here for their beer.
It’s three or four casks a week, which Geoff says isn’t loads, but these are the daytime drinkers, the people who keep the pub lights on. They phone Geoff if the beer isn’t right - “Greg’s the worst,” says Lilly, “he inspects it every time we serve him!”
I have a pint of Bombardier myself, which feels like being reacquainted with a distant relative. I served the bitter at the first pub I worked in - three cask pumps, always Pride, always Bombardier, the other rotated - and it wasn’t seen as fashionable even then in the late 90s.
Which is perhaps to do with its branding - St George’s Cross etc - but the drink is actually quite subtle with a soft finish with hints of toffee, fudge and fruity tones of raisin and sultana.
And this is the pint the locals go for here. Or went for, because of a decision made in a far off office they’re having it taken away just at a time when a pub needs to keep its drinkers - its regulars - who may think it’s not worth it after all and not make the trip to the pub.
Worst of all, the custodians of the Pelton invest so much in keeping their customers happy, it’s just a shame that the other people who profit from them can’t do the same.
There’s plenty of choice at the Pelton for drinkers like me - I also enjoyed a Black IPA from Sambrook’s Brewery - but if your whole life revolves around one pub, one drink and one seat then your world is being shrunk.
I worked at the Shirker’s Rest last night, a micropub in south-east London. (Which is why this post is late!) My first shift since those days where I served Bombardier. It was super fun and a lot has changed - apart from the collection and cleaning of glasses. To brew a beer (with St Austell) and then serve it was a true hop-to-pint experience. Beer is a gift. Let’s cherish it.