The Charcoal Burner, Crawley

The Charcoal Burner is a flat roof pub that, like every other flat roof pub, advertises itself as a community local. During a recent Friday evening visit I found a lively pub with a busy lounge bar and quieter smaller sports bar. I stuck my head into the lounge bar, but decided against standing alone in amongst all of the locals. Instead I stood in the sports bar for almost two minutes whilst I waited for the barmaid to finish her conversation. She then pretended that she didn’t know I was waiting even though I was standing directly in front of her with a fiver in my hand. Sharp’s Atlantic and Doom Bar were the two cask ale options and there was a range of standard keg. Food was advertised as being available from midday until 14:30 and 17:00 until 21:30 Monday through to Saturday and midday until 19:30 on Sundays. Most of the pub grub mains were priced around the £6 mark. I spotted at least two flat screen televisions that were airing muted Sky Sports and some background music was playing via the jukebox. There is a dartboard and the pool table was being used by a couple of boisterous youths. Poker is held here every Wednesday evening and on the last Sunday of each month. There is a quiz every first Monday of the month and open mic every third Monday of the month. There is also live music every Saturday night and the sports bar can be privately hired. This pub opens every day at noon and has an hour extension until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Out the front is a patio area with a couple of covered picnic tables and at the rear is a small grass covered beer garden with some more picnic tables. This pub is located at the end of a parade of shops that include fish & chips, kebab, and Chinese so there is no need for anyone using this pub to finish the night hungry. I imagine that the locals hold this pub in high regard, but I wasn’t enamoured by the service and as an ‘out of towner’ I didn’t see anything that would have me rushing back.