The Horseshoe, Thornton Heath

This is a reasonably large pub in the Brewer’s Tudor style on Thornton Heath Pond. The interior has been entirely opened out into a single large U shaped room devoid of almost any character. At one end of the pub there is a carpeted lounge style area with dark beams, red walls and a large brick fireplace. For a lounge, it’s fairly sparely furnished with a few seats around the edge of the room and not much to make you want to settle down over a few pints. As you move through the room, there is a single corner banquette before the room opens out into a space with a dart board, juke box, pool table and various slot machines. Several TV screens were on showing the Grand Prix and live football. A few old boys were busy playing cribbage in one corner, but that aside, the place was very bland and uninteresting – betting slips on the bar counter hinted at the typical customer base. There were Greene King IPA and Abbot Ale clips on the bar, but not attached to hand pumps and when I enquired I was told that the Abbot was off and the IPA was the keg version. A pint of John Smiths, the only other bitter available, was priced at £3.00. I found it really hard to draw any positives from this visit and for me the pub’s highlight is its exterior, so in future I will enjoy it as I pass by on my way elsewhere.