Picture of Oval Tavern, CR0 6BR

Historical version 14 of Oval Tavern, CR0 6BR (view current version)

Pub near East Croydon Station, in the Good Beer Guide.

It's a single room inside, with four or five pillars breaking up the space. The ceiling is low, with exposed beams, and worn varnished floorboards are underfoot. Seating is a mix of low stools, mismatched upright chairs, and church pews. The bar runs along one wall of the room, with a mirrored and fairy-lit gantry above and a dart board to one side.

A wood-burning stove sits in a brick-built fireplace, beneath a heart-shaped mirror in an ornate wooden frame. Windows to front and back let in the light, though this doesn't penetrate too far into the dimly-lit centre of the room. Out the back there's a patio garden with picnic benches.

Kake visited on a Friday afternoon in October 2015. There were four other people in when I arrived around 4:15pm, and by 5:30pm there were about two dozen, some of them seemingly regulars. Music was playing, quite interesting and not too loud. They normally have five real ales on, but Friday is delivery day so they only had Robinson's Trooper (£1.75/half) and St Austell Tribute. The bartender was friendly and chatty, and extremely helpful to another customer who came in after being stranded due to a suspect package at East Croydon Station.

According to their website as of October 2015, food is served noon-9pm, possibly every day, and, quiz night is Wednesday. They also host lots of live music events.

August 2016: Hepworth prospect £3.70 and hogs back tea on. Lots of tables booked for the wednesday evening quiz. Garden at the back down the stairs.

Child-friendliness: The ladies' toilet has a pull-down nappy change table and a potty (gents' not checked). According to their website as of October 2015, they do a children's story time on Saturdays.

Accessibility: A very small step to get in, more of a ridge. Toilets are down a staircase with a sturdy handrail on one side and a landing in the middle.

See also:

Last visited by Kake, October 2015. Opening hours taken from the Oval Tavern Facebook page, October 2015.
OS X co-ord: 533195 OS Y co-ord: 166092 (Latitude: 51.377737 Longitude: -0.085970)
This is version 14 (as of 2016-08-03 15:54:03). View current version. List all versions.