The Surprise, Shirley, Croydon

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Pub SignMan left this review about The Surprise

Located on the Upper Shirley Road, a short walk from Shirley windmill, this is a quaint little pub which offers an interesting counterpoint to the food-led 'Sandrock', which is just up the road.
The interior is a bit tattered and torn but retains much of its charm with lots of curved banquettes creating partitions and booths of sorts on one side of the L shaped bar. There are plenty of exposed beams which have been adorned with horse brasses on the walls and various jugs and pans hanging from those on the ceiling. There's a nice, bare-brick fireplace which was sadly not in use after I trudged through vast amounts of snow to get here. A plasma screen was on round the far side of the bar and was showing some sport, whilst there were also a couple of games machines silently flashing away.
Ales were somewhat limited choice-wise, with just London Pride (£2.80) available, although a Greene King IPA clip had been turned. The barmaid seemed nice enough and was prompt in serving me. The 'Surprise' mentioned in the pub's name came, for me, in the form of the bar counter which had a lot of old coins set into it. I thought this was quite a nice, retro feature which seemed to fit in with the pub's look.
I quite liked it here, although they would have benefited from a couple of extra ales, and can imagine making a return here, perhaps as a double header with the Sandrock. Worth a look if passing.

On 11^th January 2011 - rating: 5
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