Shirley Inn, Shirley, Croydon

I'd always felt that this place was nothing more than a typical suburban, lager drinker's pub - packed out for the football each weekend, but otherwise just about getting by thanks to a few regular locals. My recent venture inside did very little to disprove this theory. The pub has a central bar with what appears to once have been two rooms, now opened up into one large space. Seating is plentiful, whether it be in the front window area, or to the rear where high tables and stools mix with leather sofas in a jumbled mix of seating options. There is a passage that runs behind the bar along the side of the pub from the front room, past the toilets, to a small beer patio out the back.The bar had a few hand pumps, at first seemingly all out of action, but a walk around to the rear portion of the bar revealed a Spitfire clip, so I braved a pint (£2.40) and found it to be in surprisingly good condition. The staff were slow and for the most part, pretty unfriendly as well. Football and horse racing was being shown on three screens and, as expected, there was a decent crowd sat around watching it. I grabbed a seat at the rear of the back room and was surprised to see the state of disrepair evident, with the walls in particular in a sorry condition. This detracted somewhat from the nice original features that have survived previous refurbishments, such as the tiled fireplace on the back wall, although I doubt the regulars care too much about such things. Not a visit I enjoyed and not a place I would want to return to.

Large old fashioned single bar pub that seems to have a fairly strong local following.Only Adnams Broadside on as a real ale on my visit.