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Detail Pages
The Store, South End, Croydon
Croydon
CR0 1BF
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Joker
Visitors to this pub’s former guise – an unremarkable cocktail bar called TXT – will no doubt be surprised to find that beneath all the bland decor and shiny surfaces, the venue has a most impressive, fully tiled interior dating back to the early 1900’s when the premises was an early incarnation of Sainsbury’s. The place still has a simple, open plan rectangular room, but this is a far nicer spot now, thanks to the incredible mosaics on the floor and the eye-catching wall tiling, including numerous ‘frames’ with decorative white inserts and a colourful frieze beneath. High banquettes and stools run down the left side of the room whilst regular tables and chairs service the centre and right side. The servery is located midway down the right hand wall and has a drab counter an minimal bar back which makes good use of the aforementioned tiling. A pool table to the rear of the room is a little incongruous with the pub’s overall feel, especially as they seem to be going for the food and cocktail markets, as evidenced in part by the open kitchen to the rear right. Some cool, laid back tunes were playing on my mid week evening visit and the front doors appeared to fold out to reveal some limited pavement seating, which I’m sure would be most welcome on a warm summer’s day.
Sadly, the pub has no ale on the bar, so discerning drinkers are likely to find themselves drawn towards keg beers from the likes of Camden and Meantime which were available alongside the usual mega-brands and the inevitable wine and cocktail lists.
This place seemed to be trying a little too hard to attract a hip, trendy crowd, which is a shame as the conversion is great and well worth stopping off for a look at. I’m glad this fine old building has been given a new lease of life but can’t imagine me making too many repeat visits sadly.
Review from 19th July 2010 as 'Txt' (Rating: 3)
Modern cocktail bar and night club situated down on Brighton Road close to the Swan and Sugarloaf pub. The wooden floor interior is sparsely furnished with sofas and low tables, plus a few standard tables and chairs. Some rather attractive modern art prints are dotted around the otherwise plain walls and there are some fancy light fixtures hanging from above the bar. Music was playing fairly loudly, but I think that is to be expected in this kind of bar and so it seemed to fit in well with the ambience of the place.
Drinks were dominated by the extensive cocktail menu which takes quite some reading if you are hoping to peruse it all. Most cocktails are priced at £7.00 although to be fair there were a number of drinks promotions such as 2 for 1 cocktail deals detailed on flyers and blackboards(although sadly none that applied during our Saturday afternoon visit). Beers ranged from Becks Vier (cheapest at £3.60) to Hoegaarden (£4.50). Guinness and a cider were also available on tap at prices within that range. The service was surprisingly good, with a very cheerful barmaid taking our order and bringing the drinks to our table once they were all ready. It was very quiet though and I can imagine things would be a lot different if it were in any way busy.
I had very low expectations for this place, it not being my cup of tea, but I can see that this is a pretty decent place that will appeal to those who dislike the traditional notion of a pub. As such I feel a little guilty scoring it so low, as it is clearly much better than the likes of Tiger Tiger and Yates's, but it's not somewhere I would return to and they deserves to lose marks for an outrageous pricing policy.
On 25th February 2019
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Paul Brett left this review about Txt
No real ales but it's what you'd expect at a place like this. £2.10 for half a Guinness but it did come with a variety of nuts and olives. Not a place I would come to again but it is aimed at the younger community of non beer drinkers
On 21st April 2012
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 67 recommendations about 66 pubs]