Greyhound, Crawley

As I approached the Greyhound at around 19:00 on a recent Friday evening I noted the large grass covered beer garden at the rear that housed some picnic tables. At the front of the pub was an overhang that covered some seating on the front patio that leads to some decking and the car park. On the wall in this area was a round plaque that detailed the history of the World Marbles Championships that are held here on Good Friday every year. Pool and Darts were advertised, but the lights were off in the left hand ‘Sports Bar’ so I did not get to have a nose around in there. A function room was also advertised and again I did not investigate. I found the three quarters full bar area to be comfortable enough and the barmaid was extremely friendly. One hand pump was unused leaving Adnams Broadside and Fullers London Pride as the cask ale options. A generic keg range was also available alongside Guinness Dublin Porter and Tuborg. Food was advertised and I noted that the cod and chips were priced at £9.99. There was some background music playing and Sky Sports was muted on the flat screen televisions. I thought that it was ok on here, but this isn’t a pub that I would go out of my way to revisit.

A medium sized country pub which was in the throes of a reorganisation when we visited a few weeks ago. The bar is in the middle of the pub, with several rooms around it, including a restaurant area, a main pub area, and a games room with pool table, dartboard and games machines, which had all just been changed round. There is also a function room upstairs, smallish but with a large balcony. There were several locals here, who seemed a good sort, on what was a quiet January night everywhere. There was some slightly irritating musak a tad too loud – not excessively so, just at the sort of volume where you feel it’s trying somehow to inject life that wouldn’t be there otherwise, rather than be a background to it. Service was friendly and efficient, and the two hand pumps offered Adnams Broadside (a decent pint reasonably priced for the area at £3.15) with the other having a reversed Pride clip on it. The menu was quite limited, with most mains priced at £6.95 – I understand there is usually quite a good specials board, but that wasn’t on when we visited, because of the re-organisation and as the chef had only just returned from holiday. Signs announced that it hosts the local poker league on Mondays and has karaoke on Fridays. This is one of those pubs that felt like it was trying to be all things to all people, and probably losing character in the process, but it does its thing well and was a decent place to drop into for a pint or two.