Honor Oak Refurb 2017 - Opening Thurs 23rd Feb

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They’re also promoting a Restart Party on Tues 28th Feb:

“Restart” is a wider initiative that aims to get people fixing and recycling their old electrical items. It was popular where I used to live in NW London.

A green, eco-friendly theme in these updates from the Honor Oak Pub - good stuff.

While I do wish them well I find the living wall a bit of a gimmick - it is a bit dark in there at times and I wonder how well it will survive! Pop up kitchens sounds good though so hopefully we will end up with a decent pub that does good beer and decent food and doesn’t go bust in 6 months.

Persuading the quizmaster back would be good.

Put through the door today.

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I got one as well so as they made the effort I think I’ll pop down for a quick pint and see what changes have been made.

So… If we didn’t get an invite through the letter box, can we still pop down on Thurs eve?

I don’t think it is an invite as such - Yesterday they posted

https://twitter.com/TheHonorOak_Pub/status/834478327721291780

So to me it sounds like they are just drumming up interest by posting locally…

Popped into the opening tonight for a quick drink and I have to say - oh wow. The refurb is a brilliant job, everything we could have hoped for first time around. The decor is lovely, there’s a really good craft beer selection and wine, and it’s now a quirky and interesting place to hang out rather than a cookie cutter gastro pub. I really, really hope this place succeeds as it should, and will do my level best to help by coming and drinking some of their lovely selection! Between this and the Chandos do-up - in the last three years, we’ve gone from having two places on our doorstep that felt unwelcoming and not very nice, to two awesome pubs five minutes from the house. Very happy!

I too popped in for a quick drink last night.
While it is a vast improvement on what it was before I do have my reservations. I would preface this by saying that it seems aimed at a younger crowd so it may not really be for the likes of moderately grumpy middle aged fellas like myself.

So good things. It does feel welcoming and the new decor is all right (not really my bag). There is a decent selection of beer, mostly Laines but others are on tap - didn’t investigate bottles or wine as there were free cocktails at the bar which OH said were pretty good (they didn’t seem to last long!). There is a decent amount of tables and seats and we did get to sit down which was welcome after cycling around in the storm yesterday. The green wall is attractive but I wonder how well it will fare - the pub is very dark and that wall doesn’t get much light. I fear it will be a pain in the arse for them. The menu looked OK - proper nice pub food and a few people were eating what looked to be nice plates of nosh. Service was attentive and there were plenty of staff who seemed to know what they were doing.

Not so good things. It’s dark and noisy! The modern allergy to lighting in pubs annoys me. It’s fine to try to create a cozy atmosphere it was too dark for me so much so that I had to get my phone out to read the menu. The HO has always had an issue with acoustics - it is still basically a huge box and sound seems to reverb in there making everyday conversation seem loud. There was music playing, it wasn’t that loud but still I found it difficult to carry on a conversation in normal volume. Also not so cheap - £5.40 a pint

There was a little booklet outlining the entertainment for the week - this includes. Jazz Sunday lunches, Live music on a Thursday, DJs on Friday and Saturday, Bingo on Saturday afternoons and Tuesday night hots a Restart Party… This is great for those of you who like that sort of thing and good luck to all of you but it’s not for me. I really just want a local pub where you can drink and chat and possibly have a decent meal.

I’ll give it another go but the Chandos or All inn One are better options for me and OH.

I popped down too. On the whole I was impressed, but was a bit dissappointed by how many of the taps were occupied by Laines beers considering the amazing draft selction at the Watsons General Telegraph. Also a Laines pub. The Laines beers I tried were both so-so and expensive. Band were good, DJ was great, but the sound system was a bit screechy and definitely needs upgrading if they are going to turning it into a music centric venue. Interior decor and atmosphere is much improved from what was there before. Need to get down again and try the food. Great to see regular live music on the menu.

I went in for lunch today and thought it was great. A huge improvement on the previous set up. The food was really good, service was very friendly, a few delays on the tills but that’s to be expected while the staff are settling in and I really liked the décor. Will definitely be going back.

Excited to pop in and see the new look. I badly want to love the Honor Oak as it’s so close to us but have always found the main part of the bar to be too chilly and too noisy (due to the echoey acoustics mentioned above). Fingers crossed these have improved!

Part of the reason for the living wall was to help with the reverberating sound. Shame that there is still a problem. It certainly should be better than it would be without it. Foresthillnick, yes I think the pub aimed at 20-45 yr olds mainly so perhaps you’re just over the forest hill for this venue ;-).
Living wall should be ok for light, its actually quite a light pub, big windows. Plus the living wall is lit with plant friendly lamps that are left on all day plus all plants are shade tolerant. However, it will be a constant job maintaining such a wall and I can’t guarantee that it won’t turn into a pain in future. So many things can go wrong! The plan will be to replace any varieties that do not thrive with repeats of varieties that are doing the best, so it’s quite likely that over the years the pattern will be lost. I don’t think this will matter and at very least it is helping with the sound.
I hope the pub does well, it certainly was void of any atmosphere before.