The Sun, Carshalton

The Sun was the last pub I visited on an all-day pub crawl so my memory of it is a little hazy. I noted that one of the five hand pumps was off so the ale options were Sharp’s Doom Bar, Plain Ales’ Inntrigue, Tring Brewery’s Jack O’Legs and RCH Brewery’s East-Street. Texas Hold’em is played during the poker night which is held here every Monday from 20:00 and there is a quiz every Tuesday evening again from 20:00. Every Sunday from 19:00 live local acts are employed during the Acoustic by Candlelight evenings. There is an advertised garden bar that is open when the sun is shining, but I didn’t venture outside during my visit. Food is served from 18:00 until 21:00 on Mondays, from noon until 15:00 and from 18:00 until 21:30 Tuesdays through to Fridays and from noon until 16:00 and 18:00 until 21:00 at the weekends. I found the staff to be nice enough and would have no problem returning here if passing.

An impressive building occupying a corner location close to Carshalton station,the pub splits into two segments,an open plan drinking area immediately on entry with a bar on the left hand side and then beyond this in various sections,a dining area that would fit the broad description of gastro.There is an opening where the modern kitchen and chefs at work can be viewed and dining seemed to be the core activity here.However there were 5 handpumps,offering ales from a pubcos list,but that is the extent of my pitiful notes.Would I come back ? Given the commitment to real ale and the friendly attitude of the bar staff, yes and I would take more careful note of whats on offer next time as well.

They had five real ales on during my visit – Landlord; Doom Bar; O’Hanlon’s Stormstay; North Yorkshire Brewery Honey Bunny; and Stonehenge Pigswill. Despite the discouraging name, I went for the Pigswill (£3.10 a pint) which was OK, but not overly good. I didn’t know this pub before the relatively recent refurbishment, so cannot make comparisons. But this is clearly an old pub judging by the exterior – indeed there appears to some of the original internal tiling (possibly even Victorian) in the now unused entranceway on the left. Inside, with the possible exception of the bar back, it is all stripped out and new. The floor is mainly bare-boarded with what looks like modern replacement boarding, except for a grey tiled area in front of the bar counter. Furnishings are a bit of a mixed bag – chunky solid wood tables, smaller round tables, normal chairs, stools, and padded benches with scatter cushions. Some of the walls are wood panelled up to the dado rail level and painted grey/green (as are the insides of the doors) and light yellow above that. On the plus side there is a separate family room at the back, which was serving its purpose during my visit with young kids consigned there, accompanied by their parents, working on their colouring book skills. Also, I saw no one-armed bandits, games machines or suchlike, although there was some rubbish pop music being played, but which improved dramatically when someone put on a Beatles CD. There were a few prints and suchlike on the walls, but it seemed more minimalist than most pubs. There were a few chalkboards on the walls, advertising the Tuesday quiz night, the seasonal food plus brunch on Sundays, and the “quesadilla with cheese, red onion and coriander s/w chicken or roast veg topped with sour cream & guacamole - £6.50”. Bit different from the usual pub grub. Essentially this is a fairly comfortable bar that has deliberately moved upmarket (vis the fruit bowl on the bar counter), but in the process abandoned any traditional pub character it might have had. But it does do some decent ales, was doing a decent trade on a Saturday afternoon, and I noticed a couple of tables reserved for the evening, so there is clearly a thriving market for this sort of place. But a traditional pub it isn’t.