The Florence, Herne Hill, London

The Florence is a great pub with friendly staff and lots of space BUT I had a dreadful meal there on Sunday. I had veggie meatloaf that was incredibly over salted, tepid potatoes and leeks, cold broccoli and a cold, hard, horrible Yorkie. What a disappointment.

22/9/11 – another update, went for a mid week meal with V, she and i had tasty beers, lovely food, great service so i’m putting it up another star. Thanks The FLorence, keep up the good work.

18/3/11 UPDATE – I had a very decent email from the mgt and consequently believe our roasts were a minor blip, as i’ve said in the long review – good pub & lovely staff, we go alot and have had good food on many other occasions.

I am a regular at this pub, generally it’s decent but…

On Sunday the missus and i had their Sunday roast, me pork belly, her chicken. It was dire. Both came with yorkshire pudding. I have seen people in the Florence leaving their y puds before, i was confused, how can anyone leave y puds?! Now i know, they were cold, cooked an hour or so b4 hitting our plates and basically like a weird bad tasty doughy bready thing, yuck.

Then the roast potatoes, undercooked and not really roast. Yes boiled but not really roasted, there was next to no colour on them, poor effort. My pork belly was tasty and they did give me masses of extra cracking after I asked, this was good service. My missus’s’s’s chicken was undercooked and smelt a dash funny, it was bloody too.

I’ll admit we’re idiots though, when asked ‘how was it?’ we were both so underwhelmed without yet being angry for wasting £30+ that we said it was fine… I did have a v slight hangover but i am now ashamed to have kept me mush shut as the staff are generally great and they might have helped manage my dissapointment.

OK, upsides, food came very quickly, the atmosphere was good, kids play area is great but needs more toys that aren’t broken. My boy (2 yrs) picks up things that are broken and says ‘broken’, he said that alot. Staff are keen, fun and helpful but that meal sucked the big one…

How a modern pub should be. Lots of customer generated atomphere and a great buzz from the loyal and local crowd. Great beers from local brewers like Meantime as well as brilliantly hoppy ales from the on site microbrewery.

This pub has a really good atmosphere and is just perfect for whiling away a Sunday afternoon with newspapers and a big roast dinner. And the roast dinners are huge by the way.

There's a simple system for tabs and the staff are friendly and competent. It's also a lot bigger than it looks from the outside. There is a big conservatory area and garden which is great in the summer. It's usually very busy on a Sunday so claim your spot early to get a good table.

Looking through the list of Herne Hill places on Qype, I was surprised to find I hadn't reviewed The Florence yet. After all, this has been not only one of my favourite pubs in the area for over three years, but also in the whole of London.

I can't say a bad thing about The Florence. Well, maybe one - there's often too many children and prams - but that's hardly their fault, and now that the superb children's play area is out the back, they don't fill the inside up as much as they used to.

I try and get to The Florence as often as possible, and living in spitting distance of it it's fairly easy. The food is amazing (great for veggies/pescestarians - the beetroot, chickpea and goat's cheese burger is to die for), the selection of drinks vast, and the service is mostly very good. Sometimes on extremely busy Sundays you can tell the staff is stretched thin, but again, it's not much of a problem.

And did I mention the roasts? You've never seen roasts like you have at The Florence. I get the veggie one, and even that is always eyed up enviously by those who chose a burger/fish and chips.

Keep on impressing, Florence!

Great gastro pub which has an in-house micro brewery. Nice airy pub, chilled out music.

This is the ultimate child friendly pub. There is a unit dedicated to the kids, filled with toys, a flat screen tv showing children films and appropriate toilet facilities.

This pub was built for lazy days indeed! I highly recommend going for the full sunday roast menu and a couple of pints of Weasel to wash it down with!

I'm new to Herne Hill but loved this place. Friend remarked it was like a pub in Sydney - huge, open, busy. Lots of interesting people there, very mixed crowd which is always nice.

Got the pork belly and the chicken and leek pie - both very good but you have to order sides separately. Lovely red wine too.

What made it for me was the service - really friendly and helpful. South London definitely needs this sort of big old boozer. Will definitely be going back!

Any microbrewery deserves the utmost respect at all times and for all time, but the Florence demands special attention for its Dam Tasty Beaver Beer, the finest London-made ale I've tasted, so far, in the Twenty-Tens. Go here!

I know a lot of people will groan at yet another gentrified gastropub, but if you live in the Herne Hill/Brixton area it is well-welcome.

The Florence has an excellent section of ales and beers, I am particularly fond of the Budvar dark draught. It is difficult to fine in London, but it is available at The Florence.

The food is so-so. The Sunday roasts are tasty but definitely nothing special. But then again, given the area is a gastro desert, the opportunity to eat out and have a decent meal is very welcome.

The Florence’s strength comes in its size - it is huge. Just when you think you are at the back of the pub you come to an enormous glass-roofed annex with an equally large garden bar backing on to it. I have noticed that families and their numerous 4WD prams/buggies tend to congregate back there so it is noisy with children. Those with sprogs tend to sit around the bar.

I wish they would open a bit earlier on the weekend for breakfast, but then again, I tend to get up earlier than most people.

Well, it’s nice when something takes you pleasantly by surprise!

When a couple of friends suggested meeting at The Florence I was a bit baffled - Herne Hill being an old haunt of mine - I couldn’t make out where on earth it was from their over-the-phone directions…. it couldn’t surely have been where the seriously awful Irish pub used to be… could it!?

Yes, the seriously minging Irish pub has now been replaced by a styling pub with plenty fantastic open space - it’s roomy and light… and cheerful. And despite it being fairly busy for a Tuesday night it was never crowded. There is also a huge conservatory and an outside area for when the weather warms up. This place has serious summer piss-up-potential! - in the meantime there are a number of fire places to cosy up to. Aside from these plus points the bar girls are all super friendly and the food, reasonable priced, is fantastic. The pub serves good lagers and ales - they’ve got the micro brewery thing going on…

Did I hear someone say, “not another gentrified gastropub”? I’m sure there are a couple of seriously dismal pubs in the neighborhood that would appeal to your suitably dismal outlook on life… try the Half Moon on football night… a barrel of glass that is!

Check out The Florence website for more details…