The Jolly Sailor, South Norwood

I'm sorry, this is not a review as such but a story about the Jolly Sailor back in 1991.
I was invited to join the pub's pool team after playing a few frames and getting to know some of the regulars who were a friendly bunch.
Over the course of the next few months, I travelled around various pubs in the area and fate transpired not only to almost always leave me as the player facing the deciding match but, no matter how hard I tried, I failed to recapture the form that had caught the eye of my fellow team-mates back at the Jolly and I finished the season with a miserable straight loss record.
They were kind enough, but I could tell that secretly they were cursing ever inviting me to take up the cue.
They must have been very relieved when I announced that as I was moving up to Manchester to get married I'd be unable to play the following season and as a gesture of goodwill and a fond 'farewell' invited me to the end of season party.
There was free grub laid on by the JS's fantastic staff and the banter was good - if a little cutting as the remarks about my awful season became more regular as the booze flowed.
We ended the night with a couple of games of 'killer' where everyone was invited to put a pound coin into a pint pot and take their turn at the table. Just to explain to the uninitiated, in killer, you generally start with 3 'lives' and take turns at the table. If you pot a ball you 'survive' with your lives intact, if you miss, you lose a life and when all three are gone you are out and the last person surviving gets to keep the cash.
As the first game drew on I found that my luck had changed and everything I hit seemed to go in. There were ironic and slightly embittered cheers when I potted the last ball and became the winner of game 1.
"Another game" went up the cry. So even more pound coins plinked into the pint pot which was now brimming as I wedged my winnings sheepishly into my jeans and announced I'd be sitting this one out.
"Oh no you're not" came the reply, and so I dropped my pound in and was given the job of breaking, which is often a sure-fire way to lose your first life. In went 2 balls.
30 minutes later I was making a hasty escape down Portland Road after pocketing my second successive lot of winnings, closely followed by an angry mob. OK so I made the 'followed by an angry mob' bit up, but they weren't keen on me staying put it that way.
Haven't been back since. If you were one of the members of that Pool team, I'm really really sorry.

4 Jul 2008 13:54

The Gold Coast Bar and Restaurant, South Norwood

I hold my hands up londoncabby. The amount of pubs closing down is a truly depressing sight and you're right, it is a refreshing change to see some opening and thriving as this one obviously has.
Were William and Francesca the couple who ran it when it became The Pleasant Pheasant in the late 80s?
The next time I'm down on my old stomping ground I'll definitely pop in and open my mind a bit more rather than letting nostalgia get the bette rof me - good luck to the GCB and all who sail in her!

4 Jul 2008 13:40

The Cherry Trees, South Norwood

What a pleasant surprise to see a pub IMPROVING! If these reviews are anything to go by the CT has changed enourmously for the better in the intervening 13 months since I last visited. On that occasion the only entertainment to be had was to see how long it took you to unstick your pint glass from the bar or to guess how many times your one or two fellow drinkers had washed, shaved or been compos mentis in the last six months.

Well done the Cherry Trees' new management! It sounds like it's 1988 all over again.

Just a shame that, living in Manchester, I won;t be able to get down for a while!

16 Aug 2007 15:47

The Gold Coast Bar and Restaurant, South Norwood

Oh dear. On my 'reminiscence tour' of my childhood home last year I was disappointed not to have time to visit my old local drinkery 'The Pleasant Pheasant' - depressed as I was by the sorry state of my other two haunts - The Cherry Trees and Portmanor. It's a sad endictment of how the area is going when we have to have an African theme pub. Yes the food may be great and no, you may not hear a racist or sexist comment, but then in the heyday of its previous incarnation, 'The Pheasant' was a cracking friendly old pub where you could enjoy friendly banter and a warm welcome. No racism then either! I virtually lived there during the 1990 World Cup. It was run by a middle aged couple whose names escape m (like they say: if you can remember, you weren't there!), but they were brilliant hosts and the pub was a credit to them. They left shortly after I moved out of London and it apparently reverted to the old name of The Spreadeagle and its rep nosedived with it. I'm sure the Goat kebabs and Kelewele are great and good luck to its owners for their innovative and brave venture, but I still find it somehow deeply saddening...

And yes, I know I shouldn't criticise until I've been there, and I'm sure if I did I'd enjoy myself, but it's not the Pleasant Pheasant is it? HArRUMPH.

30 May 2007 16:33

The Cherry Trees, South Norwood

The demise of the few good pubs in South Norwood is a tragic shame. I returned to the town where I grew up in for the first time in 14 years. When I left, The Cherry Tree was a bright, modern, pristine establishment with well kept gardens and always buzzing with life on Friday and Saturday nights. A young clientele would meet there prior to moving on to various nightspots and it was a favourite 'after work pub' for the Sainsburys employees - of which I was one back in 1988. When I visited in June 2006 it was in a sorry state, dirty, depressing, smelly, neglected and the typical 'low-lifes' haunt. I moved on to another of my old locals - the Portmanor, only to be further depressed! I truly hope the new regime get it back to close to where it was.

29 May 2007 18:00