The Surprise, Addiscombe

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FancyaPint?'s review...

If you leave Shirley and climb its Upper Road toward Addington and Selsdon, you can briefly feel quite countrified as you come upon the little village-like area at the foot of the Shirley Hills where the Surprise and its neighbour, the Sandrock, sit upon the hill. To us, the surprise of the Surprise was its ability to remain unchanged over the 35 or 40 years we've been dropping in there. Somehow it's managed to retain something of the quality of a country pub, while still influenced by an inevitable Croydon-style urbanity. But, now it does seem different. There's certainly the smells of fresh paint and new carpeting, but the old regulars who'd seemed grafted to their seats aren't there. And, on the evening we went in, they didn't seemed to have been replaced by anybody else. Perhaps it was the wide screen TV that's appeared over the fireplace, or the dance tracks beating away in the background, both seemingly for no one's benefit save the bar staff. Or, perhaps it was the idle beer pumps, shut down to allow the dominance of a forest of lager taps. No one should take any pride in the Pride that was still on offer. The Surprise used to be a lovely pub, and nothing's been done physically to alter it too much just yet. But, we fear it's on the slide and hopefully somebody will get their act together to stop its ruination.

Reviewed by mr_mulliner 23 Apr 2010 Helpful? yes/no

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Pi31415
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20 Aug 2008

The Surprise

As a visitor many years ago, I was told that the name was due to the step that newcomers would often trip on when walking through the bar. The step has been replaced with a gentle slope which no longer causes a surprise!

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