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Crystal Palace Pubs

tommers

Fuck it, it's fine.
hello, I was wondering if anybody knows of any decent pubs in crystal palace. we just moved to gipsy hill and our initial expeditions to try and find a decent pub have been... well.... patchy to say the least.

admittedly both times were on a sunday night, not the best, but good god, there must be somewhere....

so far we have tried...

prince albert - nice cheap sunday lunch... london pride was OK.

the alma - weird, weird pub. could be OK on a busier night I suppose, and there is supposed to be music which might be alright.

the wetherspoons - a big wetherspoons

the puzzle - the bouncer FRISKED me (on a sunday night) when we tried to go in. what? apparently people were dancing to "tragedy" inside!

the hollybush - good lord. there was us two, the barman and two blokes who shouted that there were better pubs in Crystal palace than this one when we walked in.

the black sheep co. - OK, bit trendy but not too bad.

the blue bottle - looks like "living" in brixton, basically. the bouncer checked my g/fs bag when we went in, which we found vaguely disconcerting...

we also went to the paxton in paxton green - again, completely empty (although admittedly on a sunday night) except for about four blokes stood at the bar.

finally, we went to the two towers - everybody seemed to be part of the same big Irish family.

the next on the list is the gipsy hill tavern..... that's basically our last best hope. does anybody know of any secret gems that we're missing. we seem to have slipped into some kind of twilight zone, are things better on a friday or saturday?

or do we just have to get the bus to brixton?
 
Try the Railway. It's down a little side street on the left as you walk up Gypsy Hill. It's a Young's pub, I'm not so keen on it personally but I know a few people who reckon it's the best in the area.
When I used to drink in Crystal Palace a few years back the choice was far grimmer than it is now. Strange place, full of restaurants and seldom any good pubs
 
tommers said:
the next on the list is the gipsy hill tavern..... that's basically our last best hope. does anybody know of any secret gems that we're missing. we seem to have slipped into some kind of twilight zone, are things better on a friday or saturday?

or do we just have to get the bus to brixton?

Used to have a very bad reputation, but now much improved from what I hear.
 
There are a few pubs and bars in the area, but I guess it depends what you want, really. There has been a bit of trouble on the main drag in recent weeks, centred on the Puzzle, so I am glad to hear that the bouncers are starting to do their jobs!

If you try this site, you will find some reviews by local people of some of the local pubs.
 
Toomers every pub you have spoken about you are prity bang on

BUT the Albert is worth another try, the others are shite, i have lived round

there all my life and its sad we can`t get a good pub up the palace, the only

times i go up there is when im high, i can take it then :rolleyes:

the Wood house is great the other pub is THe Crown and Greyhound Dulwich village

these are my two favs i hope this helps and saves a lot of time :)


link fancyapint.com
 
My uncle used to drink the The Paxton Arms, no idea what its like but he's a Palace supporter so maybe it gets busy when theres a match on?
 
thanks... although you have all just seemed to confirm our fears. the trouble on the high street would explain the frisking in the puzzle and the bags being searched at the blue bottle... but not really an encouraging sign is it?

we'll give the railway a go, might be up my street...

other than that it will be trips to dulwich and brixton I suppose... my mate was talking about the crown and greyhound or whatever.

the only other thing we heard was that there is a bar underneath the numidie restaurant.... anybody know what that is like?
 
HerneHillBilly said:
Try the Railway. It's down a little side street on the left as you walk up Gypsy Hill. It's a Young's pub, I'm not so keen on it personally but I know a few people who reckon it's the best in the area.
Yeah seconded, this is a nice old pub - I think it's actually called The Railway Bell. Defo the best in that little area.
 
tommers said:
thanks... although you have all just seemed to confirm our fears. the trouble on the high street would explain the frisking in the puzzle and the bags being searched at the blue bottle... but not really an encouraging sign is it?

we'll give the railway a go, might be up my street...

other than that it will be trips to dulwich and brixton I suppose... my mate was talking about the crown and greyhound or whatever.

the only other thing we heard was that there is a bar underneath the numidie restaurant.... anybody know what that is like?

Small, quaint, mainly wines on offer, apart from pints of rat's piss, sorry, Stella. Full of Observer readers.
 
Donna Ferentes said:
Personally I find the Crown and Greyhound a little overrated as well as overpriced. Also, a bit of a stretch from Crystal Palace.


very dear i agree, overrated maybe but still a nice busy pub with a massive beer

garden and lots of totty :eek: :p
 
Tommers- my commiserations... Crystal Palace pubs can suck- considering how many there are it's pretty impressive how bad they are overall.

The Black Sheep is OK, but overpriced and trendy. I go there 'cos one of my friends works in there and I know it's where I can find my brotherif he's not working in his shop. Fine Bloody Marys in there, really very good.

The Puzzle is absolutely horrendous, I once had a seriosu verbal with the bouncer because he asked me "Do you know how old this pub is?", and being a bit slow, I was like "Um, it's about 2 years old, I remember it being done up..." He thought I was being a smartarse because he meant "what's the age limit?" Don't go there it's grim.

Satanspoons is at least free of terrible music, but the roster of tragic old people never changes.

Bluebottle- what you're likely to get in the face if you upset any of the less friendly crowd there. Canbe a good place to sit and chill but they whack up the music of an evening and it gets horrible.

Gipsy Hill Tavern's not all bad, they have music on there sometimes (open mic nights & stuff)

The Alma- weird, but a but of a favourite, I've seen lots of silly gigs there, and it can be remarkably friendly if you catch the right night (this happens at random). Comedy lock-ins also available. Give it another go if you can handle the oddness. Open mic nights, etc. etc. lively!

The wine bar under Numidie is apparently alright, but I've not been myself.

Crown and Greyhound in Dulwich, s'alright... in summer. It's full of Dulwich College and Alleyn's kids being all public-schooly though (or it is everytime I've been there)

Good luck! The Palace isn't all bad, but it's nicer in summer when you can use the park...
 
tommers said:
thanks... although you have all just seemed to confirm our fears. the trouble on the high street would explain the frisking in the puzzle and the bags being searched at the blue bottle... but not really an encouraging sign is it?

we'll give the railway a go, might be up my street...

other than that it will be trips to dulwich and brixton I suppose... my mate was talking about the crown and greyhound or whatever.

the only other thing we heard was that there is a bar underneath the numidie restaurant.... anybody know what that is like?
Yes, there is a bar under numidie, and it can be really great, but it tends to get very busy and very smoky (because of that, I suppose).

Don't give up on Crystal Palace just yet!
 
Brixton Hatter said:
Yeah seconded, this is a nice old pub - I think it's actually called The Railway Bell. Defo the best in that little area.
The Railway Bell used to be a good little pub, but it is has all changed recently. At least, I don't feel so welcome in there anymore! :(
 
perplexis said:
Satanspoons is at least free of terrible music, but the roster of tragic old people never changes.

I agree. They should socially-cleanse all the original Upper Norwood residents out to New Addington, to leave the place for hip young cats like you.
 
absinthe said:
I agree. They should socially-cleanse all the original Upper Norwood residents out to New Addington, to leave the place for hip young cats like you.
:confused:
Umm, yes. Cos I'm so fuckin' cool, that's exactly what I meant. They do so ruin one's drinking experience. :rolleyes:
Let me rephrase then, when I used to go there regularly, many years ago, of a Saturday with my workmates, we would find it inordinately depressing and sad to see the same faces, alone drinking themselves and their sorrow into oblivion, I'm talking about lonely old people for whom we had some kind of, if not empathy, compassion.
I didn't mean it in an offensive "Oh. My. God, have you seen those people over there, they're so not cool, let's, like, totally leave this place; I mean, have you seen that guy's shoes, they're so 1999..."
It's an observation.
And, before anyone says it, yep, maybe if we felt that sorry for them we could have spoken to them and brightened up their lives. Such is life though, we don't always do exactly what we should do, we're not always as charitable as we should be, nor as nice as we should be.
 
no ones mentioned the Cambridge yet i wonder why ?

its the pub people go to when they come out of prison

so they don`t fell like things have changed to much
 
passenger said:
no ones mentioned the Cambridge yet i wonder why ?

its the pub people go to when they come out of prison

so they don`t fell like things have changed to much
I read on that virtualnorwood.com site somewhere that the Cambridge was closing down. Strangely, the posters from virtualnorwood are quite fond of it. I haven't worked out why. Strange pub!
 
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