The Dartmouth Arms is a comfortable Forest Hill local, a short walk from the Horniman Museum and handy as a stop before or after a visit. It is a proper neighbourhood pub rather than a destination: a decent range of ales and wines, a kitchen doing pub food a notch above the average, and a back garden that fills up on warm afternoons.
The crowd is local — families at lunch, a more grown-up evening trade — and the welcome is easy. With the museum, the gardens, and the Overground station all close by, it rounds out a low-key afternoon in this quiet corner of southeast London.