please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
A wonderful Antic pub serving the best hand-picked real ales,the bare brick walls are not to everyone's taste.Their own brewery beers (Volden) have improved considerably and thankfully the rubbish brewed by Clarence and Fredericks can be forgotten.9/10.
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This is where the poets and Art teachers go in South Norwood.
Very good range of beer as you'd expect from an Antic pub. Just a funny old space a bit devoid of atmosphere looking deliberately half-finished.
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I don't believe I ever visited this pub when it was a Wetherspoon's. But it is now run by Nicholson's and named the Shelverdine Gatehouse. I checked ahead to see if I would be able to get in as an away fan on a matchday. The answer was no. But we got in anyway and there were plenty of other away fans present. Crowded, as you'd expect when Crystal Palace are playing. But there are plenty of different seating areas. Ales were Volden Pale, Saltaire Triple Chocoholic, Ilkley Mary Jane & Magic Rock Hat Trick. They normally stock cider. But on this occasion, they had run out.
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It can't seem to shake off the feel of a down at heel Wetherspoons pub full of old men who think that woman wearing trousers has signalled the death knell of England.
Antic have done a great job in some pubs across south london. For some reason this didn't quite seem to work. Beer was ok if not the most imaginative line up but layout still feels a bit JDW. A pint of Article 50 please guvnor.
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Re-opened by Antic as "Shelverdine Goathouse". Pint of Jaipur was £4.10. Served in Plastic glass due to the Palace v Man City game being that afternoon could have been topped up but kept well. Still feels more Spoons than Antic, although not as busy as Spoons used to be on matchdays. Would be interested to see what it is like midweek.
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this pub is closed and will reopen (allegedly) as an "Antic" pub
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A small 'spoons (i.e. the size of most other pubs) which is a shop conversion and since the demise of the Ship one of very few extant pubs around here. Had the Monday Mexican special and a pint of Nøgne oatmeal stout. It was ok. Proudly exhibits its 5-out-of-5 hygiene rating (which is more than some of my local pubs have).
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This is a small 'spoons full of locals who are reasonably well behaved. The ale is surprisingly good, midweek about three ales are on weekend perhaps a couple more.When I visited the barmaid on duty was very crude to put it mildly( talking, no- shouting actually to a few locals). Match days it is very difficult to get served and plastic glasses were in operation when I last went on a Saturday match day.It is fairly common knowledge that 'spoons a few years ago were trying to off load the pub but obviously there were no takers.Nowadays there's not much choice in S.E.25 , you should find a decent pint here.
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I have been in quite a few spoons. This is the worst I have ever seen. Full of Piss heads and tramps, the service is poor and the food is dreadful.
This one is worse than the spoons at Crystal Palace or Penge.
DO NOT BOTHER!
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Decent enough Wetherspoons crowded with football supporters during our visit, but they were a friendly bunch and the ales were good. Handy for the station, and worth a call: everything you expect from what I consider on the basis of one visit a slightly above average pub of its kind.
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The Stanley are hosting a Westerham Meet the Brewer on Friday the 26th of November ( 19:30),so anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of meeting Robert Wickes can do so.to complete the weekend they have the North Wood Morris Men from 13:00 hrs on Sunday the 28th November.A rather pleasant 'spoons especially on a Summer's day when the frontage is opened up.
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Visited a few times and always serves a refreshing beer and I never have to wait very long to get served. It's a very good after match pub also and it was the start of a very nice after match pub crawl through Norwood Junction afer one match a coue of years ago.
Still the same as it ever was and one to try before a game at Selhurst also.
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I visited several 'spoons on Saturday and the Stanley was one of the better ones.The service was outstandingly quick and four guest ales all in decent condition were on offer and I enjoyed a reasonable lunch.This is a much smaller pub than most 'spoons , as the day was fairly hot and sunny the windows were open giving a continental bar feeling to the place.Conversation led me to understand that the current guv'nor was fairly new and is working hard to improve the place( reading earlier reviews he is obviously suceeding).Perhaps the cosiness made the locals more affable than is usually the case in a 'spoons outlet but whatever the reason they seemed to be reasonably welcoming.The toilets are so far away I think they might actually belong to another pub in another town but in all honesty that is a minor gripe and only a worry for those with bladder problems.Clearly an asset to S.E.25 and worth 8/10.
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Smaller than it looks from the front, with an even smaller bar. An unusually limited range of real ale on, but my pint of Clark's Classic Blonde was fine. Also has a dart board, a rarity for 'spoons.
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This is a typical Spoons with the usual array of ales, standard draught products and clientele.
The barman was surprisingly on the ball for a Spoons employee, but I�ll still not be returning in a hurry.
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This could be a great pub but there are so many things that need to be put right first. Staffing is an issue that needs sorting. One or two of the regular staff in here are fantastic but most of the others are just coasting with many of them being downright surly.
The second major problem is the regulars. Most of them are lazy old sots who are so lazy that they all have copies of the key to the disabled toilet so that they don't have to negotiate the stairs down to the gents toilet. I wouldn't want to be a genuinly disabled person using that toilet. The regulars also tend to get served ahead of other people just because the staff know what they drink. You'll be ordering your pint but as you're being spoken to the staff will start pouring the pint for the drunken old prat who's behind you.
The final problem is the food. Quite often, if you order two meals, they are brought out some time apart. This leads to one person being nearly finished before the other gets their food. Steaks are hit and miss and generally best avoided. Other times the chef will eventually turn up and tell you that they haven't got what you ordered when one meal has already been served. Food being served just warm or cold is also common.
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I am so exasperated by this place. The guest ales can be varied, well kept and tasty but, equally, cloudy and undrinkable. I'll not be told by some slip-of-a-girl that a pint of murky beer is "alright". That's assuming the guests are available at all. Cellar management appears to leave much to be desired. The toilets, particularly the men's, are a nightmare and the smell that emanates from downstairs is legendary. Consider the adjacency of the kitchens. The famous Wetherspoon's 99p pint currently doesn't exist here as there is a "problem" with the cellar: it's waterlogged (again) and barrels are inaccessible and can't be changed. I have this freely from the staff. Today, one of the coldest for a while, saw the heating out of action as well. When Crystal Palace are at home you'll have to put up with plastic, even when the place is fairly quiet (when the match is actually in progress or afterwards when virtually all of the fans have gone). My generous rating refers to today's visit when, to begin with, I couldn't face the place and chose to drink elsewhere. I went back later; the heating was working but all the other faults hadn't been rectified. On other days I might give it a 5 or even a 6.
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and I had a meal there the other day - steak and chips - it was fine and really reasonably priced.
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Sunday morning when the sun is shining and the front is opened up this pub is hard to beat. And I'm being serious. Sit and drink a coffee on the food side of the pub away from the nutters. Glorious!
And SE25 is a great place to live.
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Went here and ok. But a place to meet someone and then go off somewhere else.
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In here to-day for the first time in a couple of years or so. Initial impression is that it could do with being refurbished as it appeared somewhat scruffy.
Had no intention of staying too long and this pub does not encourage you to do so.
Three 'guest' ales on, all worth drinking.
Not a pub I would go out of my way to recommend but if you are in this depressing area of SE London it is slightly better than other local ones.
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Wetherspoons should sort this place out. Toilets are dirty as is the rest of the place. Staff seem to try their best but the place is full of abusive drunks & weirdos. It's like being in the audience of a Jeremy Kyle show.
anonymous - 19 Nov 2007 11:38 |
the ale is always well kept, and the atmosphere is ok, but it attracts weirdos. the food usually takes ages to arrive and is often the wrong thing. average pub.
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This Spoons is second only to the one in Penge. A S*ithole. Full of pissheads, dirty and stinks. Cold food.
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Apparently, Terenced, according to gossip I probably shouldn't have listened to, the manageress with the lackadaisical attitude is to move on in the near future. I have personally nothing against her, but she obviously does not enjoy serving the public, and she has favourites, some of whome are the begetters of the free-for-all. The beer was excellent this week, however!
"The Ship of Fools" is an example of a Wetherspoons which is run with some consideration for the customers, and although catering for a similar demographic, manages to have fewer loud, swaying characters. It CAN be done!
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They are indeed, anonymous, they are indeed.
There are laws and these individuals are quite clearly wrecked and incapable.
If it was properly run these individuals would be slung out on to the High Street.
But it does seem to be a bit of a free-for-all.
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Random incoherency is an expected hazard when rubbing shoulders with all-day drinkers,TerenceD, but is it not the case that bar-staff are prohibited by law from serving alcohol to anyone who appears to be drunk? Why cannot the William Stanley staff see the obvious piss-heads and deny them service? The other punters can spot them after all. Then it might become that halfway-decent Wetherspoons dreamed of by Gunner1, full of little old ladies sipping brown ale, off-duty nurses, thirsty homeward-bound be-suited businessmen and women, and tidy twenty-somethings with centre partings.
And White Lightning sales will rise at Spar...
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Agree with terenced full of people that shout at traffic and get there muncies from the bin outside spa, pity because could be a nice pub as far JDW's can go.
Also could do with more than one barstaff trying to serve six people and talk about there boring lives!
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If you like your conversations to be punctuated by random "mature" drunks, then this is the place to be, with random incoherent shouting going on.
There's also the "watch the old drunk try and obtain the key to the disabled toilet" game. The standard gents toilets are about a 9 mile walk away down some stairs so you can sympathise....
Well stocked bar of course with low prices being JDW but it's like being surrounded by men who shout at the traffic quite frankly.
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Cannot totally agree with "Chavsum"'s comment. On 1st August we visited at 11.30pm on our way home from the Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court. We were thirsty after almost an hour's journey, and the Stanley provided a welcome pint of tip-top real ale. The locals were cheerful, and although there was no food at this time of the evening, I remember eating here and the fare being far from "dredfull" or even dreadful. The area is down to earth working class without pretentions. Some may see this as "dodgy", but it's a friendly, mixed neighbourhood.
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Total Rubbish crap hole. Full of drunks, no atmosphere. Food dredfull. Avoid at all costs!
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Named after the man who founded the best secondary school in the history of western europe.
Typical Wetherspoons. Cheap prices, wide range of beers and ales but no atmosphere or character.
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Paradise for "morning drinkers". Usually 'spoons is reliable for a decent cheap pint, but the regulars here seem more intent on quantity than quality. Shame tho'. It could be a nice place, but discerning drinkers seem to go elsewhere...
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Came here last sunday 4 a "morning after breakfast" only 2 be told that the kitchen was closed.
Friendly bloke behind the bar though, and we had a nice pint of ale here.
Not a bad spoons, seen a lot better and a lot worse....
My Rating 7/10
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It's good in the afternon, but avoid in the evening or when the football's on. This is a better-than-average Wetherspoons pub, but there is not much customer demand for real ale, so it doesn't keep much. Overall: a reasonable pub in a dodgy area.
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i agree but some of the bar staff are alright
anonymous - 8 Feb 2006 13:54 |
Okay for a quick one (or several if you're already drunk). Nice bar staff but very unpleasant regulars that look upon strangers as treading on their 'patch'. Regulars often get served ahead of not-so-regulars by the bar staff who know that they'll complain if they're not given preferential treatment. It is very clear that the staff are doing this just to avoid confrontation.
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Bog standard JD Wetherspoons.
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Good, reasonably priced food and beer but very, very dull mostly. Nice in the summer when the front windows are removed.
Jon - 20 Sep 2004 22:42 |
This Wetherspoon has a particularly obnoxious bunch of regulars, even by JDW standards.
Nick - 19 Jul 2004 12:59 |
