The Red Deer, South Croydon

This is a prominent, large pub on a junction near South Croydon bus station. There are two large, open plan rooms with the front room proving the most popular on my midweek evening visit. The room is carpeted, apart from a laminate flooring area around the pool table. There are some high stools and tables as well as decent banquette seating around the front walls. The ceiling is nicely decorated and there is a frieze and some nice coloured glass windows, all presumably original. Several TV screens were showing Sky Sports News and there were a number of games machines and a jukebox as well. The rear room is more comfortably furnished with plenty of sofas, some huge curved banquettes and a few standard tables and chairs. There is a second bar in here, seemingly closed when I popped in, as well as another pool table and plenty more TV screens. A simple menu is detailed on blackboards behind the bar but I didn’t see anyone ordering food, despite it being busy. There were two hand pumps on the bar, but both had turned Greene King IPA clips. There was also a board advertising Doom Bar, but there was no trace of it anywhere. This struck me as a typical lager drinker’s pub, so I suppose it was apt that a lager selection was all I had to pick from. The barmaid served me with a smile, but I didn’t find the pub very welcoming otherwise and I can’t see me making an effort to return in a hurry.