Bedford Tavern, Croydon

The Bedford Tavern is an attractive looking pub on a main corner a brief walk from the shops and high street of Croydon. An asphalt beer garden lined with picnic tables is found at the front of the pub. There is a large canopy to shield from the elements and advertisements for live music on Friday nights can be seen. The L shaped interior is much smaller than the outside suggests, but the owners have still managed to comfortably incorporate a dartboard and multiple televisions for showing live sports. During my recent Thursday afternoon visit the Sky Sports was muted in favour of some very random background music. I found the service to be friendly and the handful of locals was harmless enough. I noted some advertisements for food in the garden but I didn’t spot any in the pub, although my visit was after lunch hours. The usual draught suspects are available from the bar that also supports three hand pumps. These were drawing Wadworth’s 6X, Sharp’s Doom Bar and Fuller’s London Pride. A sign inside and out advertises that this pub is available for hire at the weekends. The small size of the pub suggests to me that it is closed to the general public when being hired out and I do not know if it is open when not being hired. If visiting at the weekend I would phone ahead to make sure it is open, although I don’t think this pub is worth going out of the way for. This is a good pub for locals.

Doom Bar and GKIPA were the ales on when I visited last week, with a London Pride clip reversed on a third handpump. I had a quick look at the menu while I was standing at the bar, and am pleased to say that it featured pub grub, with meals at around the £5 - £6 mark. The building has that unmistakeable appearance of a Victorian or Edwardian pub, with the sort of carved stone architectural features that they specialised in. For a pub with such an imposing facade it’s really quite a small pub inside. With just a single room now of course, it’s carpeted with mainly normal tables and chairs although there were a couple of tall chunky tables with tall stools. I spotted a dartboard on one of the walls, and there was a fair bit of horseracing themed decor on the walls. It’s still a family run “Irish” pub, and with St Patrick’s Day imminent there were more than a few Republic of Ireland flags on display, and generally more green on show than would normally be the case. There are a good number of benches on the patio area at the front, and with a large canopy to protect the smokers from the elements. This is a friendly enough pub in which to while away an hour or two. It’s certainly not the sort of pub that you would want to make a special visit to Croydon in order to visit, but it’s a perfectly respectable little place and I wouldn’t object to dropping in for another pint sometime.