Market changes: the Market Tavern on Surrey Street is the latest Croydon pub to close
The Market Tavern is the latest Croydon pub to be closed.
At the top of Surrey Street, the town’s historic street market, the pub was much-liked by younger drinkers who appreciated its lower prices. A Stonegate pub, the company opted not to renew the lease at the end of September.
Just a short stroll away down to South End, another pub, The Store, has also closed and is seeking a new leaseholder for the property.
This pub has gone through numerous name changes and makeovers in recent times (The Joker, a name shared with a sister pub in Brighton, didn’t last long, and before that it was Bar TXT, Bar R and Bar Rendezvous, in reasonably rapid succession… ), although the period details from the building’s time as a Sainsbury’s in the early years of the 20th Century, with elaborate and elegant interior tiling, thankfully have remained.
Period features: The Store’s interiors respected the building’s history
Called The Store since 2019, the managers opted to pitch for a more affluent customer, upping their prices and removing the cask ale pumps, focusing on a restaurant which struggled to deliver quality food in an area of Croydon which is supposed to be called “The Restaurant Quarter”.
Inside Croydon’s top team of secret shoppers visited The Store at what was supposed to be the start of a series of reviews of best pub Sunday lunches. The food was so bad (“I’ve had better school dinners,” according to co-reviewer Bella Bartock at the time), and the service so poor that an editorial decision was taken at a high level not to publish the review for any damage it might do to what otherwise appeared to be a busy pub, at a time when pubs across the country are closing at a rate of six every week.
The idea for a series of reviews was duly abandoned.
Today, the local CAMRA branch simply notes of The Store: “Closed, future uncertain. Unclear what will happen to the premises”.
The Store’s closure coincided with Mayor Jason Perry’s “Food Festival”, held on a stretch of road which now has half the number of pubs still in business than it had pre-covid.
With the Market Tavern, former bar staff working there suggest that the lease is being taken on for a branch of Tesco Express. The pub’s former customers, meanwhile, still have a couple of alternative watering holes nearby – the Green Dragon, The Ship and the Spread Eagle are all less than two minutes’ walk away.
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