The Fox, Caterham

A nice looking old pub, tucked away in the rustic surroundings of Coulsdon Common and technically in Greater London rather than Surrey. Sadly the inside does not live up to expectations and has been thoroughly modernised, although it does still have a reasonable bar area to one side. The further reaches of the pub are aimed at diners, and are quite airy and spacious or, to put it another way, devoid of character. The selection of ales was not hugely exciting - London Pride, Proper Job, Ghost Ship and Doom Bar - but at least they seemed to be in good order. This could be a great pub, but it is merely adequate.

Facebook page of The Fox - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Fox - www.facebook.com

After spending a couple of hours walking around the nearby Farthing Downs and through Happy Valley, we decided to stop off at this pub for a bit of liquid refreshment. It's a large Vintage Inns house with what I imagine would have been various rooms now all pretty much opened out with a few pillars and supporting walls creating notional divides. The front of the pub has a mixture of banquettes and comfy chairs with a nice fireplace on the right hand wall and another central fireplace to the left of the bar. The back half of the pub has standard tables and chairs and is set up more for those who want something to eat. Additional seating can be found in an area to the left of the entrance which in turn leads to the large beer garden which has lots of benches and a pretty big decked area. There is a plaque on the front of the pub which was put up by the Royal air Force Linguists' Association in 2007 to commemorate the Joint Services School for Linguists which was located close to the pub on Coulsdon Common. The inscription reads 'Here linguists were trained for covert work, their vigilance contributing to national security during the Cold War.' Three ales were available from the bar - Sharp's Doom Bar and Fuller's London Pride and Summer Ale. I tried the Summer Ale and found it was in a lot better shape than I had expected. The bar staff were nice enough if not the chattiest. This is a fairly charmless place and as mentioned in the review below, it is probably only the good location that makes it worth a look. It gets an extra point for serving up a tidy pint of ale though.