A welcome surprise at The Abbey Arms

BY BILL LACY

With some time to kill before my train, I pop into the new-look Abbey Arms, next to Abbey Wood railway station.

Years ago this pub was a boundary between London and Kent.

Punters used to leave the nearby Harrow Inn at 10.30pm and rush to the Abbey Arms for last orders at 11.30pm, as London and Kent had different closing times.

The Harrow Inn is long gone, and the Abbey Arms is the only one for a couple of miles. I hadn’t been in here for years.

Back then, it was a fearsome pub, where you were more likely to find a fight than a good pint. But everything has changed in Abbey Wood.

A forgotten housing estate in South-east London, the whole area around the station has been redeveloped to serve the coming of Crossrail.

Soon, you will be in central London in 20 minutes. Abbey Wood is on the map.

The pub has changed too. In fact, I struggle to think of a pub I’ve been to that has undergone such a night-and-day transformation.

Out has gone the basic decor and menacing punters. Now it has fairy lights on the ceiling, craft beer and the garden has been transformed from an urban rubbish site to an outside film area, complete with giant TV.

I ordered a pint of Two Tribes Metroland, an unthinkable prospect in the old pub, and remark to the barman how much the pub has changed.

“Everybody says that” came the reply.

I struggled to find a seat it was so popular. I always thought this place was a potential gold-mine, right by a station that serves two towns – Abbey Wood and Thamesmead, but it never fulfilled its potential.

Now perhaps it has.

The Abbey Arms 31 Wilton Road, Abbey Wood SE2 9RH