Coulsdon Manor Hotel, Coulsdon

Official site of Coulsdon Manor Hotel - www.bespokehotels.com

Official site of Coulsdon Manor Hotel - www.bespokehotels.com

This is unlikely to be the first place anyone thinks of when deciding to go for a pint in Coulsdon, being part of a fancy hotel and golf course complex, but having reluctantly dragged myself out here, I found it was actually a fair bit better than I'd expected (not that I was expecting a great deal). Marching through the hotel entrance and lobby area, the reception desk to the left acts as the cue to turn right into the public bar. You find yourself in a large carpeted split-level room with the servery to the rear on the lower level. The bar has a surprisingly well worked wood-frame counter and gantry with some nice panels and sturdy looking pillars. There was just the one table in this lower space, leaving a large open area opposite the bar, perhaps in anticipation of busy functions or golf tournaments. Most seating was on the upper area to the front of the building, with a mix of sofas and tub chairs serving a small number of tables. There was a nice fireplace to one side with a plain mirror above and the room was decorated with stripped wallpaper, decorative coving and a high ceiling adorned with a large chandelier to match another one over the bar area. Old golf themed paintings and a few modern golfing photos provided a bit of visual stimulation, as did a TV screen showing a Euro 2016 fixture. Doors to the right lead out to a decent looking terrace with bench seating overlooking the golf course - a relaxing spot on a quiet mid-week afternoon. There was a decent pub food menu laid out on each table with mains not costing as much as I'd expected for such a venue. I was braced for a choice of lager or Smooth flow, but was rather amazed to find an operational hand pump offering a pint of Greene King IPA for £4.05. Next to it was a second pump with a turned London pride clip. I was a bit unsure about the potential quality of the IPA, but I risked a pint and thought it was perfectly drinkable. The barman seemed friendly enough, but this is a very transient venue and I wasn't really expecting any kind of pub-like interaction. This isn't really somewhere I would recommend unless you happen to be staying here or playing a round of golf. It's good to find such a place able to keep a half-decent pint of ale and I moderately enjoyed the surroundings (watching a fox skulk around one of the fairways being a particular highlight), but it's ultimately a fairly bland hotel bar serving fairly bland beer.

Four star "country house" hotel and golf club in former manor house. The bar is exactly what you'd expect, standard hotel stuff and pricey too and is naturally highly populated with golfers. However the terrace outside overlooking the course is a perfect spot for a sundowner on a hot summer's afternoon, and you can usually get out of range of talk of golfing exploits if that's not your scene. You might just get a pint of GK IPA but I wouldn't count on quality - best to stick to lager in such places.