Nelson's Bar, Hooley, Coulsdon

Pub SignMan left this review about Nelson's Bar

This is a small bar, located just off the main road to Croydon, next to Hooley Village Hall. The place has the feel of a function room and is actually used for this purpose quite a lot, so be sure to check their socials to make sure they are actually open to the public. It's a simple, single room space, carpeted for the most part but with a laminate floored space at the far end that looks suspiciously like a dancefloor. The walls have been painted in a plain, two-tone scheme with an artex ceiling and the servery in the rear left corner. Standard tables and chairs fill most of the room, organised into two rows with a sofa to the rear right, on the aforementioned dancefloor space. The bar has a grey painted counter with a matching canopy and a simple mirrored bar back. UPVC windows run around three sides of the room, including the doors to the right that lead out to a patio garden space which I didn't properly explore. Various black and white photos line the walls, mostly depicting movie scenes as far as I could tell, whilst a large TV to the front right was showing live rugby with the commentary on. The place brands itself as a bar and pizzeria, and I found a menu on my table which indicated that they do a good range of pizzas, which must be handy in an area with limited dining options.
I popped in here more out of curiosity than any expectation of finding some decent beer, so it was a most welcome sight to see an operational handpull on the bar, offering Pilgrim Surrey Session Ale, with one other Pilgrim beer off. A very friendly governor explained that they operate a cash only policy and chatted for a while about their link-up with the Pilgrim Brewery. My pint was in good shape considering there didn't strike me as high demand, with just a couple of other punters in on an early Saturday evening, all on the lager.
This place clearly fills a much needed gap in the market, providing the village's only pub facility as well as a pizzeria option. It's not the most attractive place to have a session in, but with good beer and an extremely friendly host, I wouldn't hesitate to call by again if I happened to find myself out this way.

Date of visit - 24th February 2024

On 11^th July 2024 - rating: 6
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