The Surprise, Shirley, Croydon

Official site of The Surprise - surpriseinnshirley.com

Official site of The Surprise - surpriseinnshirley.com

Concur with what PSM says below, again the same 13.5 years between our reviews but little changed here. Pleasant pub which I reached by Uber from the Apple Tree given the re weather this evening. The flat part of the U shaped bar greets you immediately on entering the pub and it was a bit of a struggle with some locals occupying the right hand part of that part to get to the expansive right hand side of the pub, which stretches out via a large eating area overlooked by a large fish tank (which has its own bar, eating area rather than fish tank) into the rear beer garden. The beer garden also had a large marquee and some covered seating but even that would not offer much protection this evening. The left hand side in the front of the pub had some tables and chairs but wasn’t as expansive as the long right hand side of the pub, but it had some nice leather sofas and it is a place to get away from the sport that is a big feature (based on the number of TV’s) of the other side of the pub. All of the previous good stuff is let down by poor beer options. I spotted 5 hand pulls but only one operational and offering only Doom Bar. As I have had my fill of that one based on previous venue I resorted to a pint of Guinness here (given that it was on - but only just about). Other alternatives to DB were Estrella, Moretti, Carling and the Reliance Pale Ale and Coldharbour lager from Brixton, plus Inch’s cider. This place had the feel of a sprawling country pub and indeed the rear beer garden looked nicely furnished with decent patio furniture, which would probably have more takers on a January afternoon than today. The lighting was pretty subdued that made for a nice ambiance on a dark early evening but being forced to listen to the overload Wimbledon commentary detracted from the experience here for me. God knows how they are playing in SW19 given the weather here in CR0 at the moment!

Located on the Upper Shirley Road, a short walk from Shirley windmill, this is a quaint little pub which offers an interesting counterpoint to the food-led 'Sandrock', which is just up the road. The interior is a bit tattered and torn but retains much of its charm with lots of curved banquettes creating partitions and booths of sorts on one side of the L shaped bar. There are plenty of exposed beams which have been adorned with horse brasses on the walls and various jugs and pans hanging from those on the ceiling. There's a nice, bare-brick fireplace which was sadly not in use after I trudged through vast amounts of snow to get here. A plasma screen was on round the far side of the bar and was showing some sport, whilst there were also a couple of games machines silently flashing away. Ales were somewhat limited choice-wise, with just London Pride (£2.80) available, although a Greene King IPA clip had been turned. The barmaid seemed nice enough and was prompt in serving me. The 'Surprise' mentioned in the pub's name came, for me, in the form of the bar counter which had a lot of old coins set into it. I thought this was quite a nice, retro feature which seemed to fit in with the pub's look. I quite liked it here, although they would have benefited from a couple of extra ales, and can imagine making a return here, perhaps as a double header with the Sandrock. Worth a look if passing.