Catford Bridge Tavern

🚇 Catford Bridge 🍺 £5.40 Notting Helles This pub is located in Catford, in southeast London. The nearest station is Catford Bridge, which is literally right next door. Built in the 1930s in “Brewers’ Tudor” style by Courage, the Catford Bridge Tavern began as the Railway Tavern above Catford Bridge station. Later renamed the Copperfield, it declined in the 2000s, plagued by drugs, violence, and poor management. After losing its license and narrowly avoiding conversion into a Tesco, it also survived a major fire. In 2023, @portobellopubco took over and brought it back to life. This is a large and spacious one-bar pub with a centrally located island servery. The décor is traditional in nature, with a few contemporary touches. It features a boarded floor with chequered tiles around the servery, neo-Georgian wall panels, some original interwar fireplaces, and plenty of comfortable seating, including booths and banquettes. There is an outdoor space to the side of the pub, and at the back, there is a lovely terrace that is partially covered. The beer lineup included a selection of familiar favourites, some of Portobello’s in-house brews, and two cask ales. I decided to try the Notting Helles; my pint was very agreeable, and the price point was below average. The food menu offers a choice of small plates, sharers, traditional mains, and a range of burgers. We were feeling peckish, so we decided to order the fish and chips. The batter on the fish was crispy, though it could have come with a few more chips, and the peas were overcooked. Still, it hit the spot. The cost was £16.50. We arrived around 6.30pm on a sunny early Saturday evening in May. The pub was fairly busy with a 30 something crowd and the atmosphere was upbeat and buzzy. The service was great, the team on duty were welcoming and friendly. This pub has survived legal threats, redevelopment plans, neglect, and even a fire, so it’s great to see it now flourishing. We enjoyed our visit here — definitely worth a look if you’re in the area. Follow @catfordbridgetavern for info and updates. 📅 10th May 2025 If you want to see all my pub reviews in one place, head to @londonpubmap on Instagram. 🍻

Update 03/09/2025: GOOD NEWS I talked to the manager, and there's still lunchtime deals (£12.50 now but still reasonable) and Hepcat is <£5 before 7PM which seems way better. Update 01/09/2025: They seem to have got rid of half price food Mondays, and replaced it with a 2-for-1 burgers. However, this seems like a stupid plan because it means that workers on their own, couples where one has with dietary requirements, now can't take advantage of the blanket deal :( One of the best roasts in south east by a mile. Regular DJ nights and with fantastic house and techno, staff are great and friendly, and there’s a genuinely good drink selection where there’s almost always at least one cask on tap by usually three. Vibe can be a mixture of a cozy living room on some days, family friendly on weekend afternoons, and more lively the evenings depending on the night. Two beer gardens, one heated. Little on the pricier side now but still reasonable and far better than north London. Overall a very well managed pub compared to what it used to be. To improve: get a lock on the toilet door, have gravy on the pies during the week - the kitchen is otherwise top notch

Review of Catford Bridge Tavern Roast I love Catford Bridge Tavern as a local spot. The atmosphere is cozy, and the staff are always friendly and professional, which adds to the welcoming vibe of the place. Recently, we went for a roast and had a mixed experience. The pork was a bit of a letdown—the crackling wasn't crackling at all, and the skin was unfortunately soggy. The chicken was fine, but nothing special. The gravy was quite watery and lacked flavor, and the roast potatoes were dry and hard, which made them difficult to enjoy. On the positive side, the cauliflower cheese was fantastic—creamy, cheesy, and perfectly cooked. We also really enjoyed the wine, which complemented the meal nicely. Overall, the venue itself is great and worth a visit, though the roast could use a few tweaks to live up to the rest of the experience.

Went there to unwind after a bike ride and deal with the possibility that I might be pregnant but my husband was there when he was supposed to be in the office. The pub owners did kick me out but after I spend money to get drunk. It’s not a family friendly place also not my fault I embarrassed him in front of his friends. I’ll be back to apologise.

We had the festive menu with bottomless roast potatoes and veg. Half the party were vegan, the other half not so had turkey, but all finished the meal stuffed to the brim. The vegan wellington was lovely (as apparently was the turkey with stuffing and pigs in blankets) and instead of having a portion of veg and roasties on the plate these came on sharing bowls, and there was more than enough for us all (still stuffed hours after the meal!). Great value, great food and great service. If you're able to get to CBT before the end of the festive meal, would 100% recommend. Thanks to team for a wonderful evening.......we would have taken photos of the food, but we were too focused on eating it!

We love the CBT as a local - it’s lovely inside, the staff are always super friendly, the food is cracking and there’s a brilliant beer selection. What prompted this review though is that we have a friends’ Christmas dinner every year for 15-20 people and this year we did it at the CBT. The whole experience was great from start to finish: the table was really nice, the food was excellent, the atmosphere was perfect, and the vibe was spot on. This was the 5th time we’ve done this annual Christmas lunch in a pub rather than at home and the unanimous verdict was that it was the best of the lot! Huge shoutout to the fab team who are always lovely but did everything to make yesterday a prefect Christmas lunch. We’re lucky to have such a great local in Catford and we’ll happily keep coming back!

Friendly helpful staff lovely spacious bar area lots of outdoor seating beer festival was great lots of choice and something for everyone.

Literally just had my first meal in London. No clue where I am, no idea where stuff is. But a nice pint and the idea of a steak and fries felt comforting. The boys behind the bar were super nice, very accommodating - shoutouts to Gabriel for treating me very well. If I lived here, I’d probably be here most of the week.