Whistler's Bar (Croydon Park Hotel), Croydon

Croydon Park Hotel is the town centre's 'posh' hotel option and it has a bar that is open to the public for those who can't be bothered to make the short walk down George Street to find a proper pub. As hotel bars go, it's almost pleasant, providing a compact room with a lounge bar feel. You reach the bar by passing straight through the hotel lobby towards the rear, where it soon appears past some partitioning screens. The main bar area is carpeted, with some brick tile flooring around the bar and a mix of bare brick and wood panelled walls studded with large frosted windows bearing the bar's name. Padded benches run down either side of the room and opposite the bar whilst the rest of the space is filed with standard tables and chairs and the odd high table and stool. A wide brick fireplace dominates the rear wall, with a clock and vases decorating the mantelpiece and a TV above showing a random BBC show whilst music quietly played in the background. The bar is on the opposite side of the room under an unusual double brick-archway. Framed Victorian era images dot the walls and there is a ceramics display in a cabinet in one corner. Further seating areas , in the form of plush banquette booths, have been positioned along the outer corridor areas to the left and rear of the room. Beyond the bar, through the aforementioned obscured windows, is the hotel's grand art-deco style dining room, beloved of so many local employers come Christmas time. As you might expect, a transient group of customers were in on this visit, mainly businessmen who were presumably staying at the hotel. One group asked for the evening's Champions League fixture to be put on the TV and the barmaid duly obliged. I was genuinely surprised to find a handpull on the bar dispensing Theakston Best Bitter of all things, so I ordered a pint, which came to me in a Doom Bar glass, and thought it was okay but maybe starting to take a turn for the worse. On tap, the usual mainstream lager and cider options were available as well as Guinness. This isn't somewhere I'd really recommend, although it does serve a small, pub-less part of town and might be worth a quick look if you're in this specific area and in need of a quick half. However, it is one of the better bars I've found in a large hotel like this and the presence of a half decent real ale was unexpected and a real bonus for the hotel's residents.

Official site of Whistler's Bar - www.croydonparkhotel.com

Official site of Whistler's Bar - www.croydonparkhotel.com