Herne Tavern play area to be demolished

[*Bob*]

LondonMix Wrote:

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> I have friends without kids and they don't mind

> kids in pubs if the balance is right. The Great

> Exhibition seems to have found that balance.

True, but it's so much smaller - which means less potential for running amok and more obviously annoying if they do.

> Redressing the balance though is risky. They

> might not appeal to either demographic anymore

> which is a real gamble.

Agree too.

[Girl82]

So the people behind The Palmerston (who I believe previously owned The Herne) own the Begging Bowl? I didn't know that!

Jeremy Wrote:

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> People have previously said that it's so they can

> raise the cash for another restaurant, possibly

> another Begging Bowl branch.

[reeko]

I never thought the Herne got it right.

A) It smells of farts

B) The floor / bar top / table are always sticky like they are never cleaned properly

c) Thier lager is crap and the white wine even worse

D) It is expensive

E) The food is average at best

F) Instead of catering well for families and children it simply gave the place over to them. The Herne is the go to place for parents wanting a day on the booze without having to pay too much attention to their children. On many an occassion I have seen little Johnny / Millie / Jack / Ruby been pretty much left to run riot whilst ma, pa and friends get sozzled. and once or twice i have even seen Johnny / Millie / Jack / Ruby left behind by pissed parents. There is a balance and the Herne has it wrong. I hope the new owners can make it more hospitable for all - it is a pub afterall, not a creche or playground.

[StraferJack]

I don?t think they ?own? the Begging Bowl but provided some funding to the owners ? which is what I think they are trying to expand on now?

Anyone know who the new owners are? Pubco? Free House?

Leaving aside the kids thing for a moment, I think the pub has some problems anyway.

It?s cold ? in the winter I never liked going there

The food ? never tried to be Palmerston level (correctly IMO) but still fell far short of what it should have been.

The layout ? no corner of the place feels ?right?

The location ? most people need a reason to GO there, being off the beaten track relatively speaking

Would I be bold enough to remove the bar from the middle and refub completely? I?d suggest it should be an option

[Pickle]

The Herne is our local, we've got 3 kids, and never go there during the day. Main reason being that so many of the kids in the play area are allowed to run riot by their parents who sit enjoying their drinks and leaving others to sort out darling little Nescaf? (insert other relevant beverage based name as appropriate). Not fun at all.

We go in the evenings once the kids are gone and it's ok for a drink, not so flash for food in recent years.

[Girl82]

Excellent post! :D

reeko Wrote:

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> I never thought the Herne got it right.

> A) It smells of farts

> B) The floor / bar top / table are always sticky

> like they are never cleaned properly

> c) Thier lager is crap and the white wine even

> worse

> D) It is expensive

> E) The food is average at best

> F) Instead of catering well for families and

> children it simply gave the place over to them.

> The Herne is the go to place for parents wanting a

> day on the booze without having to pay too much

> attention to their children. On many an occassion

> I have seen little Johnny / Millie / Jack / Ruby

> been pretty much left to run riot whilst ma, pa

> and friends get sozzled. and once or twice i have

> even seen Johnny / Millie / Jack / Ruby left

> behind by pissed parents. There is a balance and

> the Herne has it wrong. I hope the new owners can

> make it more hospitable for all - it is a pub

> afterall, not a creche or playground.

[*Bob*]

Will be interesting to see what happens.

It's an odd notion that pubs which are packing 'em in ought to be more like this or more like that for one reason or another. They're not a public service - their business is in packing 'em in - and trying not to go under.

The food started out rather well - but went downhill very fast - within a year. Which was a long time ago. Personally I think they started-out with higher aspirations but (as mentioned above) gave the place over to the boozing parent crowd who will forgive almost anything for a climbing frame and a few pints. This seems to have been a successful formula.

[El Pibe]

The GE made us feel pretty unwelcome as regards kids (and ours are pretty well behaved) and haven't been back since.

I'm not a fan of the Herne, I can see it serves a need, though in my experience it just meant I had to stand by the play area, as demanded by piblet, the entire time, which isn't fun. I'd rather kick a football down the park and then go to a normal foodie pub afterwards where tired piblet will just want to tuck in to some nosh.

[*Bob*]

You're only in Herne Phase One (HP1) though, Pibe.

Herne Phase Two (HP2) is coming: Phase two is 'not' standing by the climbing frame, but instead spending most of your time at the table - with intermittent trips required only to ask them to come down from the aircon ducting. The is The Golden Time.

Herne Phase Three (HP3) is the one we're about to enter: where you don't have to go any more - thank god.

[El Pibe]

Aah, it's all academic.

Gastro pubs, kids in pubs, all will be a pipe dream soon enough, here's my future local

http://www.ratemypub.ie/pub.php?county=Wexford&pub=The-Parish-Pump

[*Bob*]

"You will always find 4 fools at the door. Tom, Matty, Ludder and jim. Freindly crowd around dart board. BEWARE dont sit in peggys chair on a saturday night."

Sounds too good to be true!

[StraferJack]

Having a look at the Parish Pump on google streetview doesn't improve things either..

http://goo.gl/maps/3BQpD

[El Pibe]

yeah, we've gone past it about 50 times, always saying how we must check it out, in a tone one might use when saying how nice it would be to pay the Radleys a visit.

[neilson99]

I've been going in the Herne for about 5 years now - which I know makes me a bit of a newbie by some standards - and while I want to love the place, it always just seems to miss something. Having said that, the Sunday night quiz has been electric on accassion and the staff always freindly and good in my experience so I hope they stick around, but to be honest living within a stones throw I'm looking forward to someone coming in with some imagination and a new approach.

[bil]

The play area at the Herne Tavern was one of several local attractions which brought us to ED and our road (dunstans). We dont have kids yet so we haven't personally used the kids area; but like the pub garden and have never been bothered by the children playing. I often take my friends who have kids and we enjoy a great afternoon in the sun eating and having a few drinks. I will be sad to see this go. I dont know of any other family friendly pub gardens closeby particularly ones that catch the sun all day. The Florence has a room for kids but their beer garden is much smaller.

[DulwichFox]

It would seem that not much will change. People will still be able to enjoy a Drink/Meal with their Children.

Except the children will not be able to tear around and will need to be more closely monitored.

Take the kids to the park first so that they can expend all their energy, work up an appitite and enjoy

a quite relaxed meal/ drink afterwards.

Cannot see the problem.

I suppose there may be an element of Pubs worrying about being Sued by parents when one of their little

darlings falls over and grazes their knee.

Fox

[ryedalema]

I'll be sad to see it go too...

I agree that the food was 'patchy' (well actually pretty rubbish) and we haven't had spectacular grown-up-only evenings there. But as a place where parents can have a relatively trouble free conversation with each other while the kids play safely, it was/is wonderful!

But I also agree that the kids should be watched a little more - the number of times ours have been bitten/scratched/pushed off the slide etc...grrrrr. And that wasn't by Dad in this instance :))

[Jah Lush]

It's a pub not a fecking creche. I've not gone there on weekends for years specifically because of the little Tarquins and Abigails running amok while their parents get pissed. The garden resembles something out of the Teletubbies. It must be a nightmare for the neighbours with the constant noise of the kids out back playing in that area. It needs to change. I'm sure you'll still be able to take your children there but the garden will look like a proper pub garden and not a kids playground and thankfully will be all the better for it. If you want your kids to play in the fresh air take them to the park.

[*Bob*]

Have we exhausted all of the hilarious made-up ironic middle class children's names yet?

Please say there are loads more to come because the ones we've had so far have been hilarious.. Not to mention it being a completely original and imaginative way of making your point.

[Ukjoncollins]

Pfft!! If anyone thinks any of the pubs in Dulwich (inc The GE) have got the balance with kids right they are quite clearly delusional. The last thing I want to see when I'm tucking into twelve quid burger is your screaming little brat banging on the back of my seat. When I was that age, it was socially unacceptable to go into pubs (unless you had fake ID). Show some proper parenting and take them to the park.

[Jah Lush]

*Bob* Wrote:

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> Have we exhausted all of the hilarious made-up

> ironic middle class children's names yet?

>

> Please say there are loads more to come because

> the ones we've had so far have been hilarious..

> Not to mention it being a completely original and

> imaginative way of making your point.

Rita and Terry then. Is that working class enough for you? (That's your cue Louisa).

[*Bob*]

Much better, thank you, Mr Lush.

I used to get taken to equivalent places when I was a kid, usually on a Sunday. They had their credentials - 'fun pub' or 'family pub' plastered an giants signs outside. The parents got pissed and let off some steam. The kids ran amok, sensing a loosening of the leash. Nobody died. Everyone else avoided these places like the plague. There were plenty of other places to go.. Why should they care? Why would anyone care now?

Hardly a modern phenomenon..

[Jah Lush]

I don't care. I, like everyone else can choose to go somewhere else. It's no skin off my hooter. I wouldn't want things to go back to when I was a kid and we weren't allowed in pubs at all. I'd have to sit in the car with a lemonade and a packet of crisps until my dad was pissed enough to drive home.

[*Bob*]

Jah Lush Wrote:

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.. until my dad was pissed enough to

> drive home.

Sober enough, or pissed enough? Either way it's a good anecdote!

One thing is definitely clear.. If The Herne wants to ditch the playground.. The jewel in its otherwise shabby crown - and stay busy - then it's going to have to get a whole lot better at everything else.

[Otta]

I've not been in there for years because I just never really liked the pub. It had an outdoor play area even when I was a kid though.