BITE user comments - Codrotten
Comments by Codrotten
Basically this is a family oriented restaurant with the 'pub' as a secondary thing. Beers okay, service reasonable (vying with eaters' orders), although not much seating for drinkers. Restaurant is big, can be noisy with kids (and parents). Service when there a few weeks back was quick (end of the weekend serving day) and the place a bit quieter apart from the all-to-common family with undisciplined kids and adults who don't give a toss about other people. Food was okay, nothing to write home about, although the portions were large, perhaps because it was near closing time. Probably better lunchtimes during a schoolday.
25 Oct 2011 20:59
I must admit it was last year when I ventured into here, led by a tracker attuned to off-the beaten track Ramsgate experiences. And what a find. Nothing special in the beer stakes, but a throwback to a bygone era. If it were closer it would become one of my locals. A most agreeable atmosphere, and sitting outside on a sunny day....well, one could have been in the heatwave of 1976, save for the more agreeable beer. So this one's points include a uniqueness factor, and why not?
25 Oct 2011 20:49
Can be a very laid back, culturally entertaining cosmopolitan sort of place, with an interesting menu and selection of beers. It can also be a dank, grubby joint with the atmosphere of a forgotten room. In fact, the grubbiness has almost been a constant for me, and the further into the place one ventures, the grubbier it seems to get. Maybe the increasingly dim lighting hinders good housekeeping. The toilets were pretty scuzzy, too. Anyway, the beer is as one would expect, although not always the prices. The food out front can look appetizing, but I once watched a mate scoffing a Sunday roast that almost evolved into something with flippers to stop it drowning in the over-abundance of gravy. Eclectic and erratic. And a position in the front is probably best. Or alfresco is weather allows.
25 Oct 2011 20:43
Wetherspoon clone with Wetherspoon variability. Middle of the road beers. Bulk standard mass produced nosh. Can be very cheap. Staff usually efficient. Ambience can change abruptly depending on time of visit (like on Friday or Saturday nights when young people swarm into town). Not a particularly appealing pub, all things considered.
25 Oct 2011 20:35
Bit old fashioned but that adds atmosphere. Add friendly staff, okay beer and reasonably priced food that is edible, and there is little to complain about. Eastenders cast members were spotted there on one visit, coming down from the restaurant upstairs, script notes in hand. Sunday roast was very well priced, although that's gone up a little but probably still represents good value. Customers seem a reasonable lot, with a tendency towards families on Sundays for the nosh.
25 Oct 2011 20:30
This is basically an identity update. From Harvey's to the Cantina on the Marina to a bar with a good Thai restaurant on the top run by a trio of efficient, friendly women. Didn't have a drink in the bar, but it looked friendly and comfortable enough.
25 Oct 2011 20:23
Seen bands here and it was like having a group play in one's living room at home. Outside the music scene it resembled a pub in The Sweeney, not for the clientele, who were okay, but the decor, which struck me as very 1970s. I almost expected Jack Regan to come staggering out and do a quick song and dance with George Carter. Anyway, the beer was okay and staff friendly. Overall I've always found this pub interesting and belonging to that class of increasingly rare old boozers that time has almost forgot. However, in recent weeks it has undergone a major revamp so I have that to look forward to.
25 Oct 2011 20:19
Atmospheric boozer with friendly enough staff and locals and a certain timelessness as evidenced through the old photos and decor. The ambience is as fitting as the choice of beers, and the only thing missing was a cheese and onion roll.
25 Oct 2011 20:11
Quirky real ale treasure trove for these parts. Small pub with very much a local crowd, but friendly. Beers seem well kept as per the CAMRA accolades. Still do rolls as pub grub. Almost timeless.
25 Oct 2011 20:03
Cosy local pub with traditional opening hours. Good selection of beers and all seem well kept. Off the beaten track but worth the trek.
25 Oct 2011 19:57
The Bradstow Mill, Broadstairs
Split bar, dark wood, has live music which can sound awful if standing in the wrong half of the pub (a matter of acoustics), varied clientele, occasional dog, efficient bar staff, average sort of boozer with average sort of booze.
21 Oct 2011 19:53
More like a large bar than a pub. Ikea decor and furnishings. Or maybe Homebase special offer. Nice. Gives it a clean, modern appearance. Bulk standard booze. Varied food menu, but never eaten there. Instead had a round of drinks and got overcharged. It's okay and serves a particular type, and why not?
21 Oct 2011 19:50
This rare pub lives in a time warp. Decades ago. Like having a drink in some mad old relative's house with clutter all about. Atmospheric and very different. The beer has always been okay, lager too, and the wine is apparently rather good, so I've heard. Prices always seem to be on the cheap side, and the landlady fits the place perfectly. Can't add more than what the previous entry said. See it before it disappears.
21 Oct 2011 19:43
New bright new landlady has revitalized the pub a bit and ushered in a bit more variety on the music front on Fridays and weekends. Beer and lagers okay if you like what they sell. Wine selection not bad. Can be a very tight squeeze on a music night.
21 Oct 2011 19:36
Proper community pub with live music usually on Fridays and/or weekends (the pub actually has a stage area), a monthly quiz night, and other things. Efficiently run by an extraordinary landlady and her bevy of delightful serving wenches, with a fine parade of regular locals both old and young and inbetween. The pub boasts carpet on the floor, upholstered seating, winter fire, hot water in the clean toilets, and seating outside in the summer. The Greene King beer is well-kept, and the lagers shine.
21 Oct 2011 19:29
Pretty friendly, laid-back sort of pub, with wooden floor, beams, history and a boxing connection, judging from the photos on the wall. There is nothing special to drink here (meaning no real ales, real ciders, decent wine) but of course does have the usual mass market brands. It also has wireless internet. During the afternoons and evenings it is fairly quiet, except Friday and weekend evenings when the young people of town cluster there like iron filings round a magnet, and it stays open late. Occasionally has music, and also has an extra bar for busy periods, and a surfeit of TVs usually all showing the same thing.
21 Oct 2011 19:19
The Tartar Frigate, Broadstairs
Olde Worlde pub with wooden floor and beams, and quite a history. Cool in the summer and cosy in the winter when they have a fire going. Staff are usually efficient and friendly, and the restaurant upstairs is pretty good, albeit a tad pricey. Like the bar food, which is at least of a reasonably good quality. All the booze seems okay, the beer well kept.
21 Oct 2011 19:12
This boozer defies the laws of economics by being one of the emptiest pubs in town, except on a Sunday afternoon when it has music and the locals etc like to gather for a bit of social. At that moment it can be heaving. One winter's evening I walked past and saw only a dog looking forlornly out of the window, poor thing. I couldn't even see anyone behind the bar. Maybe the dog had a job there and was hoping for a customer. But the pub looked uninviting because it has big bare windows which make it seem austere and cold, rather than warm and cosy. And I've never found the beer or lager particularly inspiring in there.
21 Oct 2011 19:05
This establishment has had more identities than a bank robber, and all have lasted about five minutes. It is now a small restaurant for what seems older people, and is usually busy, so success for someone at last.
21 Oct 2011 18:55
Revamped a while ago and now very different than before. Had a pint of something forgettable months ago - Worthington's, Watneys, some old rubbish which nostalgia forced me to buy - and it tasted like sewage. Friend's beer was okay. Apart from that the pub seemed reasonable enough, with free nibbles (which was unusual because it was a mid-week afternoon) and only two other customers.
21 Oct 2011 18:53
This pub ceased trading this week, together with The Charles Dickens in Broadstairs. Something to do with an Administration Order.
21 Oct 2011 18:44
The Charles Dickens, Broadstairs
This pub has ceased operating, apparently due to an administration order. The Prince Albert in Broadstairs High Street has also closed for the same reason. They could be administratively connected.
21 Oct 2011 18:42
Hmmm, a strange conglomeration of elements. A well-mixed clientele featuring suspiciously polite chavs, psyched-down bookists, pram-pushers, old stoats and fiddly weasels. Bar staff very pleasant. Beer standard. Prices okay. Quite a large building once you go off exploring, looking for the bogs. I couldn't quite fathom this place, and nor could Mrs C, who has quite a nose for this sort of penetrative skill. Maybe Sunday afternoon is a peculiar time here, a period of subdued transformation. Or maybe it's simply a cool place where all sorts are welcome and respected.
18 Dec 2007 19:56
I took my mother to this pub one Sunday some years ago and it was clean and nice and had all the things that would please an old lady. I paid a return visit on another Sunday recently (thankfully without mother) and the place is a hell-hole. The only people I'd want to bring here are those in a demolition unit. The pub is noisy with TV and unruly kids, stuffing is creeping out of the seats, the place looked grubby, the drinks were expensive, the bar staff looked as friendly as a death squad, the food looked (on other people's tables) as if it might induce vomiting, and the other customers either looked like they had made a dreadful mistake in coming here or were right at home in this sink-hole. This pub is a total chav city benefit toilet, and I couldn't wait to airlift me and the wife outta there and get some tetanus shots.
11 May 2007 09:38
Me and Mrs C have trekked here on a few occasions and have found it a better pub than most on the Brighton Road into Croydon. Clean, bright, with a range of food and drinks to suit most palates. And the addition of music/band nights that would appeal more to the over 25 is welcome. All-in-all a change very much for the better.
11 May 2007 09:18
THIS PUB IS NOW CLOSED AND BOARDED UP WITH METAL SHEETS TO STOP THE GOTHIC GHOSTS OF DAMNATION GETTING OUT AND DRINKING IN THE CARTOON. Yeah, seriously, it is no more. But what a place. Like something out of the Young Ones crossed with Hieronymous Bosch. Best juke box I've ever seen in a pub.
14 Nov 2006 17:29
West Croydon? A Charles Bukowski novel? Some other part of the world? I never know where I am in this place. Only come here to meet people and move on. Funny old crowd here. Bit mad at times. Can be a bit edgy too. Below average for a Wetherspoons.
14 Nov 2006 17:26
I've had kangeroo steak here, and it was like venison. Nice. I've also had crocodile steak here, and that tasted like a cross between pork, chicken and fish. Not bad. I've had dried vomit on the seat (someone else's vomit that is) but didn't try it. I liked the bottled foreign beers, too. However, I've come to the conclusion that it is a dirty place and I wouldn't risk ingesting anything there again unless I was suddenly to become a young thing with the constitution of an ox and fuelled for a randomly wkd Sat nite.
14 Nov 2006 17:21
Good for people watching on a bright Sunday lunchtime in summer. Sometimes. Has a sense of space. Okay sort of place I can't get excited about. Pleasant enough.
14 Nov 2006 17:13
The Goose on the Market, Croydon
A place to drink if you're skint or alcoholic or one of Croydon's dispossessed. Comparisons to Wetherspoon's runs into the hundreds, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it knows its market and they provide sustenance for the shareholders, one assumes. Mrs Codrotten hates it. I like it when in a Bukowski state of mind, but only for a pint or two. Never know who you might meet.
14 Nov 2006 17:11
I do believe I was served by the same barmaid as in the previous entry. Remarkable woman, but these days I consider myself lucky just to get served, although that has never been a problem in the D&B. One of the last trad pubs in Croydon, methinks. Rough around the edges but full of honesty, sincerity of style, and good beer. No pretensions here. Good garden, too. Yeah, I like this place. Reminds me of the good old days, or some fictitious version of them.
14 Nov 2006 17:05
Stereotypical pub with limted range of beer, uninspiring food, okay staff, okay standard of cleanliness. Bulk standard touristy sort of place. Interesting design/layout, but that's all.
14 Nov 2006 16:54
I like the Ship. No TV screens or crappy music (although it has music), reasonably priced drinks, mixed clientele featuring well behaved old hippies, old soaks, old bikers, young long-hairs, new agers, goths, witches, office workers, shoppers, warlocks, the dispossessed. It's warm and comfortable, kind of cosy, friendly, with good service, reasonable range of drinks, good food. Long live the Ship!!
14 Nov 2006 16:41
Hardly awesome but they do run it imaginatively with all the different theme and interest nights, gigs, etc. And that is what Croydon needs, especially for those over the hill. I've always found the service pretty good, the beer bulk standard, the bouncers okay, the punters fine, the music so-so, and the late opening hours convenient. More power to their elbow.
14 Nov 2006 16:34
Went there to see a band the other week. Downstairs was busy with bright young thingsn and the service was so slow I eventually went upstairs and got served straight away. The band was called Runner and that's what I did after three numbers and another drink. It all struck me as average. I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary about this place, but maybe I wasn't looking in the right places.
14 Nov 2006 16:28
Pub or bar? Always the latter to my eye. Luck of the draw as regards atmosphere. Ikea showpiece or party buzz, it seems to depend on the numbers. Excellent range of beers, and the wine is good to, even excellent at times, and Mrs Codrotten doesn't dish out praise too carelessly, although the wines change rapidly, so what was excellent one day, becomes merely good the next, or so it seems (to her). Me? I've ten zillion beers to choose from. Background music wouldn't go amiss, say something laid back like Floyd or Porcupine Tree. Hope the future bodes well.
14 Nov 2006 16:24
Mrs Codrotten and I have wined and dined here on a couple of occasions in the recent past, and found the food on the right side of nouveau cuisine (i.e not only properly cooked but of a filling enough amount, and not too psychedelically inspired). Wine was good, (so Mrs C advised me). Bit pricey, but you get what you pay for - efficiently polite service, clean glassware, good standard of hygiene, good quality alcohol. Cut above the rest of the pubs in Croydon, but I must admit it never really strikes me as a pub, more a restaurant with a pub-like bar. And no multi-screen sports and crappy pop music. Ya-ya!!
14 Nov 2006 16:04
I've been coming in here for years, and it has definitely shown a gradual decline over the years, accelerated by the installation of the quasi-religious footie screens upstairs. On Sunday the usual imbibers of cheap ale were in attendence, and the service was slower than usual (which is slow because they never have sufficient staff); many a time I've seen someone looking like a manager doing nothing while one or two overworked youngsters have been toiling away like galley slaves, and I have almost been overwhelmed by the urge to scream at the manager to get his finger out and serve some people before he has to go off for skull reconstruction (not as though I could even get over the bar without dislocating every limb going, but you get my drift). I no longer order food there, fearing it would take years to arrrive, by which time the cleanliness of the place would be even more compromised by the slipping standards. At least the books look more interesting after a few pints. Overall it is a pity about this place. It's large and spacious, light and airy, yet somehow feels increasingly small and grubby. I'll still give it seven though, as it can still be a half-decent refuge from the wider world.
14 Nov 2006 15:54
The Stag and Hounds, South Croydon
Every time I've been into this pub the experience has been the same. This deja-vu is down to its squareness of structure, form and layout. It is like drinking in a box with insufficient distractions and comforts. Apart from this architectonic comment, it is average in all other respects, which means it could be slightly below or above average depending on the drinkers there, time of day, mood etc.
14 Nov 2006 15:41
Not the sort of pub one would expect to find tucked in amongst the terrace houses of South Croydon. More like a small cosy country pub (with sport on the TVs of course) with a garden out the back. Mrs C and I have been popping in there on and off for years, and we've never seen food there other than crisps and peanuts. The beer and wine have proved satisfactory, as have the locals. The staff have always been efficient and courteous, although what may have been an Eastern European barmaid was quite reasonable in her presentation. There was no sign of any dog. Not a bad little pub, apart from the seating not being as comfortable as Mrs Codrotten's buttocks require.
14 Nov 2006 15:28
The Swan and Sugarloaf, South Croydon
About time this building was given a good gutting and converted into a multi-bar establishment catering to young and old and those in between. Currently it is on par with some joint Charles Bukowski might have staggered out of during a mild nightmare. I've never met anyone who has lasted more than half-a-pint in the place, including moi. However, it does do bed and breakfast.....ha ha ha, the mind reels trying to imagine what that must be like.
14 Nov 2006 15:19
The Croham Arms, South Croydon
Was there last weekend. Football on the screens but few watching it. Young female barstaff, pleasant enough. Service acceptable. Beer okay. Nothing fancy. Clientele a mixed bunch. Another bulk standard Croydon pub neither good or bad, just plain average.
14 Nov 2006 15:13
The Purley Arms, South Croydon
Another pub in Purley Oaks whose fortunes seem to undulate like a tired old rollercoaster. After a decorative refreshment that left it looking exactly as it had before, a relatively new management seem to have slowly restored some faith in it. The staff are friendly, the regulars a mixed crowd, real ale features, the wine is good, and the food is perfectly acceptable (and comes in generous portions). The prices are reasonable. The only downside is the wretched adherence to sport, although it's not as bad as some pubs. Even so, Mrs C and myself have often left the more 'cosy' side bar area because the big screen has come to life with unnecessary volume even though no one is actually there watching or listening to it. Oh yeah, and they have a quiz night on a Thursday, and it's open until midnight Th, Fri and Sat.
14 Nov 2006 15:02
Poor old Red Deer, tumbling down the ratings. Had its peak with the new takeover a couple or so years back, and has slowly spiralled down ever since, albeit with the odd plateau and peak. Now it seems the front bar is the only one serving until later at night (if it's a Friday or weekend) so service can be frustrating. The staff always seem new but are pleasant enough in that efficient sort of way overworked bar staff have. The music is repetitive. Sport is always on. Beer is cheap. Wine is average. The last time I and Mrs Codsrotten ate there it upset our sense of digestive decency, and quite often the glassware suggests the dishwasher needs attention. The crowd range from old geezers (even older than me) fuelling their budgeoning noses to couples having a chinwag via groups of lively young things. It is still furnished okay with some interesting modern photographs on the wall, but is slowly revealing a tatty aspect to its decor. I'd like to see this pub turned into a real ale wine bar playing ambient krautrock and with an age restriction of 35-plus, except for the strippers on a Sunday lunchtime. Unfortunately it's all popwash and footie, and very busy when the later is an Important Match. Yawn.
14 Nov 2006 14:46
The Britannia, Margate
Sunday afternoon. Summer. Drizzly. Popped in here more for shelter than beer. Bulk standard boozer with drinks to match. Nothing fancy. Staff okay. Customers late teens to thirties. Mates, couples, families. Not abrasive but a little edgy. Like a bar in downtown Guatemala City. Garden out back for kids. Large boozer. Has music. Next to police station. Did close not so long ago but reopened under local community pressure. Can't see the cops using it as their local.
25 Oct 2011 21:07