The Oast House, London Bridge Station

I agree wholeheartedly with Nats 39. The Oast House at London Bridge is an ideal venue for people who want to meet en route, or in the evening after work for a swift few before catching their train or bus home. As a regular for the past 20 years, I have made so may long and lasting friendships with others who have used this bar/waiting room and have stuck with it despite the ups and downs of good and bad management. The Oast is presently much improved by friendly staff who put the punters first and by ditching the jukebox in favour of a backdrop of contemporary music not so loud as to impinge upon conversation, vastly improving the atmosphere of the bar (although it might be said that true atmosphere is what you make it). And since the new management have taken over, to my knowledge the beer has never run out. After all these years, still no toilet - an unfortunate fact which has no doubt played a significant part in the perception of persons who, for perhaps that reason above all others, may not have found The Oast as welcoming as they might otherwise have. Nevertheless, the importance of The Oast to the 'locals' who use it, sometimes daily, should not be understated and, on their behalf, I will state our sincere wish that when London Bridge renovations are completed there should be an equivalent 'watering hole' to The Oast House for all travellers to enjoy and in which we can all continue to meet.

16 Aug 2010 15:19