Shinner & Sudtone, Sutton

This one had four ales on - a Milk Stout (brewery not displayed); Bragdy Heavy Industry Collaborator (think I noted it correctly - never heard of it before); Volden Session Ale; and London Beer Factory Chelsea Blond (£4). There were no menus about when I visited at about 5.30 on Monday evening. This is one of Antic's most recent acquisitions, and as is usual with this chain they've stripped it back to its bare bones. Very often the pub is left with rough plaster, rough concrete floors and other stuff some might argue is best left covered up, but in here it's revealed a parquet floor at the front, some mosaic tiled floor in the rest of the room, plus loads of tiling on the walls. Apparently this place started out in life as a Sainsbury's many years ago, and at some stage subsequently became Shinner's store - hence the name; Sudtone is the old name for Sutton. I would guess that the wall tiling and mosaic flooring would be from its time as a Sainsbury's. As usual for an Antic pub, they've not pushed out the boat on top of the range furnishings. Some tables seem to be made from old gash bits of wood, most chairs are folding jobbies, possibly re-cycled from somewhere like an old erstwhile cinema. The bar counter seems to be constructed from old department store drawers and display cases; the wall on the left as you enter has more display cases and chinaware on it; shelving units are used as dividers between some bench seating; and I saw loads of old suitcases down at the end as some sort of decorative feature. There's another seating area at the back up on a mezzanine level, but I didn't explore it. All in all it's a fairly predictable Antic "conversion". But the beer's good and the barman was friendly and chatty, and it had the usual laid back Antic feel. Whatever else you might say about Antic pubs, they're not boring and there's always something to look at.

Official site of The Shinner & Sudtone - shinnerandsudtone.com

Official site of The Shinner & Sudtone - shinnerandsudtone.com