The Ship, Croydon

The Ship does not open until a little later than other local pubs. So the young barmaid appeared surprised to see us when we arrived on Tuesday afternoon. Although one other customer was already present and seated. It is a long and narrow pub owned by Marston's that was playing some kind of rock music, which didn't really fit with the time of day when custom was so quiet. But the pub clearly has a rock/metal theme. The barmaid was fairly sulky and looked generally uninterested. The solitary real ale was also uninteresting - Wychwood Hobgoblin IPA. I'd seen the original ruby Hobgoblin and the Blonde version before, but never the IPA. So maybe I'm doing it a disservice. In addition, a bonus for me was the presence of a couple of Thatcher's real ciders - Stan's Big Apple & Cheddar Valley. A bonus point for the ciders, but not really my kind of pub.

Spitfire, Pedigree & Banks bitters; tried latter which was in good condition. Surprised by loud music at noon when I was the only punter in the place but was ok and the small stage at the street end of the bar shows it to be an evening music pub. Cheap basic menu inc '2 meals for £4.95' eg Steak & Marstons ale pie, possibly not homemade organic. Bohemian feel appeals to me more than the bland looking Spreadeagle on the next corner.

A sign on the exterior proudly states to all passers-by that the Ship is ‘The last real pub in Croydon’… No it isn’t! The interior is long and thin with an alcove with seating along the left hand wall and a bar that runs along the right. There are a couple of high tables with some stools, but the majority of space is reserved for standing. There is a lack of natural light because the front window is blacked out where a DJ booth is set up, which explains the lack of furniture on the bare board flooring. During my recent early evening visit a muted Bond film was being projected onto the rear wall and some background music was playing at a bearable volume. The bar supports five hand pumps that were drawing Wychwood’s Gold and Hobgoblin (x2) alongside Marston’s Help for Heroes. The fifth hand pump was unused, but there was a standard draught selection available. This pub opens daily at 17:00 and closes at midnight every night except for Fridays and Saturdays when it closes at 2am. I found the barmaid to be very friendly, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit here again whilst this pub is in its present guise.

Cosy atmosphere!

Lovely pub, and a good one to add at the end of your crawl as you won't want to leave, plus they are open until 2am on fri and sat nights. Good variety of music with all sorts of "alternative" from 50's to present. Can be quiet early evening but rammed on sat night with DJs getting very loud. Nice ales (I had a hobgoblin but there was a couple of others) and a massive selection of whiskies etc. Landlord friendly and helpful. Seems to be child friendly in early evening (not after about 7 or 8 as it can get BUSY. Some nice old features like big fireplaces but a lot of cool lighting, lasers etc on weekends

This pub is one of those old traditional types, no sport but good enough beer and a huge open fire which was a great welcome. It's been repainted since this picture was taken and is now black and white. Opposite the old surrey street market it's def worth popping in but seems to be more evening only now. Great little pub, nice staff and cracking atmosphere when it's busy. Top notch, esp if like me you like your rock. Good old fashioned type!

Another very quiet pub on my visit even though they had football on the box.Comfortable sort of pub but Marstons beers are not for me and the EPA was in poor condition.

Ship official site - www.shippub.co.uk

Ship official site - www.shippub.co.uk

Occupying a High Street position near the top end of Surrey Street market is The Ship, a single bar pub with a strong music emphasis. Much bigger than it looks from the outside, it’s a pleasant pub with a long bar counter and a rather dark and dimly lit wood panelled, bare boarded interior. Down the far end are a number of framed shipping prints. The emphasis on live music is reflected in a slightly raised stage at the front of the pub by the window set up with musical instruments ( drums etc ). On the left hand side by the entrance door is an enclosed booth with a music deck which would appear to be for DJ’s or music comperes. Thankfully, on my recent Sunday lunchtime visit, a quiet subdued music free atmosphere prevailed. The pub’s website tells us that it’s in the Marstons Inns portfolio, although I don’t recollect seeing any external branding. There’s 5 handpumps which were serving Brakspears, Marstons EPA and Hobgoblin. The Brakspears ( £ 2.40p !) was in good form, but I don’t imagine there’s much real ale trade here. I’m not a big fan at all of live music in pubs, but I wouldn’t be averse to popping in here again during a music free period if the occasion presented itself