Closing down: the Coombe Lodge Beefeater closed in September, with a new operator already lined up. Now Wetherspoons have revealed they will be re-opening soon
Might ‘Spoons being going up-market?
Wetherspoons, the old-school, cheap beer and regular curry nights pub chain, has announced that it will be re-opening Coombe Lodge as their latest Croydon pub, and all just in time for Christmas.
The Grade II-listed grand house had previously operated as a Beefeater pub until Whitbreads sold it to another, undisclosed operator, as part of a £38million disposals project, and closed its doors in September.
Now Wetherspoons has confirmed that they are taking over the impressive building that stands on the opposite side of Coombe Road from Lloyd Park, with an opening date set for Wednesday, December 10. The new ‘Spoons will be handy for the area’s more affluent residents, and Mayor Jason Perry.
It is thought Coombe Lodge will be the first new Wetherspoons to open in Croydon this century.
At one point, Wetherspoons had eight pubs in Croydon. Five have since closed.
Historic site: how the Coombe Lodge details appear on the Wetherspoons website
The company – which has 800 pubs and 50 hotels across the country – closed The Postal Order in Upper Norwood in 2021, The Milan Bar (in the town centre) and The Skylark in South Croydon in 2022, and the Foxley Hatch in Purley in 2023. The Flora Sandes, in Thornton Heath, closed in 2018.
“This area of Croydon has retained much of its rural character and many of its older grand houses, one of which was Coombe Lodge,” Wetherspoons, which relishes a bit of history and tradition, states on its website’s “new openings” page today.
“The Grade II-listed building, originally part of the Coombe Estate, is ‘probably mid-18th century’, with a large 19th-century conservatory.
“The grand house, previously Coombe Gate House or Coombe Green House, is first listed as Coombe Lodge in the 1851 Post Office Directory.”
Characterful: the Coombe Lodge building is impressive
The Coombe Estate passed through the hands of several wealthy owners, perhaps most notably Frank Lloyd, the newspaper publishing heir who gave the land for Lloyd Park to Croydon.
After World War II, the estate was bought by Croydon’s local authority, which used the house as an old people’s home. The council’s parks department built its nursery in the grounds.
Coombe Lodge has a huge beer garden, as well as later additional features, including the brick porch and large conservatory.
Read more: Coombe Lodge to close as part of Whitbread’s pubs sales
Read more: Coombe Wood House is providing what Croydon’s long missed
Read more: Selhurst fans’ favoured pub to re-open as a bit of a Dark Horse
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