Hare and Billet – photos for refurbishment

The Hare & Billet pub is closing for refurbishment from 6th January until 12th February. I’ve been contacted by someone working on the pub’s interior design. If anyone has any historical photos of the pub, or information about the origin of the name, please send it over to me and I will forward it on – ideally I’d like to post them here too if that’s ok with you. Thanks! I’ve asked Neil Rhind to contact them. In his book (p186) it mentions that a horse bus route used to run from nearby the pub in the 1840s? Perhaps the name stems from this business?

There’s always the ghost story I suppose…

Pubs in Blackheath on New Year’s Eve 2011

Here’s a list of the various opening times in Blackheath.

All the info below is from me phoning the pubs today, so may not be perfect.

If you’re going to try and watch fireworks over London (where the Thai hot air balloon shown above lifted up from a couple of years back), try the junction of Cade Road and General Wolfe Road, shown below – nearest Blackheath pub is the Hare & Billet. (see map at the bottom of this post).

Hare & Billet
No tickets required – open from 11am until 1am on New Year’s Day.

Cave Austin
Open from 8.30pm – with an extended license (guy on the phone wasn’t sure until when – possibly 3am or 4am?) Tickets are £12 in advance, or £15 on the door.

The Crown
No ticket required
Open until 1am

The Railway
No ticket required
Open until 2am

O’Neill’s
Tickets are £5 on the door,
Open until 1.30am

Prince of Wales
No ticket required
Open until 1am (he thinks but not sure)

Zero Degrees
As with last year, they’re not answering the phone – I’ve dropped them an email, and I’ll update the blog if they reply.

Good spot for watching fireworks over London: