The Victoria Cross, 228 Bensham Lane, Thornton Heath

Some things make me think twice before entering a pub, and one of them is a surfeit of English flags flapping about on the outside. The Victoria Cross had so many that I wondered whether it was staging some kind of reconstruction of the Battle of Agincourt, or maybe it was just full of John Terry clones for whom seeing the flag in multiple brings on the same warm feeling that others get from incontinence. Nevertheless, the next nearest pub having recently been busted for drug use, and it being a cold wet day, I went in. It’s a big pub, one of those Victorian fake-Tudor affairs, half-timbered on the outside and with a wooden panelled interior, split between a saloon and a private bar, with an additional room at the back that’s now dominated by a pool table. By no means crowded on the day of visiting, the bar staff were anyway very attentive and friendly, and seemed on excellent terms with the culturally quite diverse range of punters. They had several real ales on tap (including Brains’ excellent Merlin’s Oak) and, although they don’t do food, they do provide menus from all the local takeaways, and will phone through and order you stuff from any of them, and provide plates and cutlery for you to dine with. Does the usual Saturday night jamboree of karaoke and disco nights, as well as showing all the football. Despite the flags, a really decent, low-key, friendly local. Certainly my pick of the surrounding crop for anyone with business to attend to at the nearby Mayday Hospital.

---

All content © Random Pub Finder 2001-2010, website development by Doogal