A nice pub with a pretty adjoining restaurant, Hardys Public House is a slightly odd pub with plenty of things going for it – it’s worth checking out for yourself.

The Venue
This bizarre venue is split into two parallel rooms - one is the restaurant and the other is the pub; however, there’s no adjoining partition. Despite the bizarre architecture, the two areas share the same kitchen, staff, bar and even the food.

Hardys Public House is a long room with enough wall couches to comfortably seat groups of twenty. The walls are covered with photos and prints of olde day Greenwich and there are stained glass windows with marine themes.

The dining room, however, has a very homely ambience, furnished as it is with carpets, a fireplace, colorful abstract paintings, and books. There’s a very pretty lounge area with orange walls at the back, and plenty of sofas and armchairs of varying colours. This is definitely the prettiest place to sit and is ideal for chilling out in.

The Atmosphere
Hardys Public House is predictably quiet early in the week. Greenwich must be a receptacle for what was once the flower generation, since the place has a few specimens on display even on quiet nights. Do not be put off though, the main bulk of the pub crowd is made up of locals - mostly men - of all ages. Games are watched with quiet rapture and you could not imagine a more concentrated and well behaved crowd.

The pub is family run. As a consequence, the service is no-frills and friendly – adding heaps of character to the venue.

The Food
The kitchen is very proud of their food - and rightfully so. The menu is ever changing - they serve different lunch, dinner and brunch dishes, but the menu mainly consists of well prepared pub grub with a strong handmade skew. They pride themselves of cutting the fries by hand.

Pies are a house stronghold: choose between the homemade fish pie, shepherds pie, organic steak and Guinness pie, and several others. The food is always fresh, there are several organic dishes and the pies are generously stuffed. The vegetarian options are particularly mouthwatering and stray considerably from pub cuisine: take the aubergine moussaka or the mushroom and broccoli crepe as examples. Prices are reasonable with mains in the £5–£9 range.

The Drink
There’s not much to note as far as beers go - the most interesting are bottles of Holsten, Cobra and Corona. On draught, they serve American Budweiser alongside the usual suspects. Prices are nicely low, with nothing above £2.90 and draughts starting at a skimpy £2.30.

Wine is definitely not one of the house specialties, with only eight bottles of red, white and rose varieties. The prices, at least, are very affordable - small glasses are £2.50 (large ones cost an extra £1), baby bottles are £3.50 and full size ones are £12.

The Last Word
The food at Hardys Public House is popular enough, but for a nicer environment step into the restaurant rather than the pub. Either way, the welcome is guaranteed.

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