Tamworth Arms, Croydon

Tamworth Arms page at the Youngs site - www.youngs.co.uk

Solid building with main door up a few steps and bold green tilework beside / under the windows on either side. The interior had been opened out to form a 'U'-shaped bar, but one internal division remains and brick fireplaces help define the remainder of the original room pattern. Plain, but attractive, curved bar. Limited furniture and decor. Part-covered decking beer garden to rear. Just one of the four handpumps was working, offering a serviceable pint of Youngs Ordinary at £3.10. Overall, a good example of a relatively unspoilt early Victorian pub (dating from the 1850s), but worryingly quiet for a Saturday lunchtime and one continues to wonder how much longer the brewery will hold on to it.

Tamworth Arms page at the Youngs site - www.youngs.co.uk

A pub perpetually under threat of closure, this is a charming traditional boozer only a short walk from the busy shopping malls of Croydon town centre, but tucked away enough that there never seems to be enough customers that find it. Beer in the past was a mixture of the typical Wells and Young offerings and some guest ales, but a recent visit saw just Young’s Ordinary available – hopefully a one-off. Staff are very welcoming and eager to please - I was even given the choice between a straight glass or pint jug. I hope this place can find a way to bring more punters through the door, as it is a lovely building (check out the green tiling around the entrance) that should never be lost to greedy developers.

Decent local boozer that probably relies on its regulars as I don't imagine there is much passing trade. The horseshoe shaped bar has a dartboard to one side and there's a small stage area in the corner. Sky has been a recently addition I believe. There was only one of four handpumps working on a Sunday lunchtime which I thought was strange but the Youngs Ordinary was in decent nick and the cheese & biscuits on the bar was a nice touch. Rather unusually there was a customer newsletter on the bar from the new landlord of six months addressing some of the issues raised by customers. It had a myriad of spelling mistakes and gramatical errors but it got the message across and was something I'd not seen before.