After a £1m refurbishment, Wetherspoons’ first new pub to open in Croydon since 2000 will create 80 jobs
Final countdown: Coombe Lodge’s opening as a Wetherspoons now won’t happen until Friday
The first new Wetherspoons pub to open in Croydon for 25 years has been delayed by a further 48 hours, with Coombe Lodge now not due to welcome its first customers until this Friday, December 19.
“It’s just a big project and they need a bit more time to get it 100% ready,” a spokesperson for JD Wetherspoons told Inside Croydon today.
The Grade II-listed Coombe Lodge, on Coombe Road, not far from Lloyd Park, has undergone a £1million refurbishment since it closed as a Beefeater in September.
It was originally due to open last week, before that date was put back to this Wednesday. The latest delay was only announced this morning.
Wetherspoons has not opened a new venue in Croydon since the Sir Julian Huxley in Selsdon in 2000.
Coombe Lodge represents something of a departure for the bargain beers and cheap meals chain, as it is to be a franchise operation, rather than owned by Wetherspoons. In the past few years, Wetherspoons have been closing their Croydon pubs – the Milan Bar and Skylark having called “last orders” soon after the covid lockdowns.
Coombe Lodge will be managed by Connor Joyce, and will provide 80 full-time and part-time jobs.
“Myself and my team are looking forward to welcoming customers into Coombe Lodge,” Joyce said. “We are confident that the pub will be a great addition to the local social scene.”
Coombe Lodge was originally part of the large Coombe Estate, when this part of South Croydon was mostly farmland. The building dates from the mid-1700s, and has a large 19th-century conservatory. The grand house, previously Coombe Gate House or Coombe Green House, was first listed as Coombe Lodge in the 1851 Post Office Directory.
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.
Historical photos and details of local history will be on display in the pub once it reopens, in the usual style of Wetherspoons.
The pub will have two bars on the ground floor, and in warmer months will make use of its large beer garden.
Food will be served throughout the day, from opening until 11pm, and will cater for family dining, with children, accompanied by an adult, welcome throughout the week.
Characterful: the Coombe Lodge building, including its Victorian era conservatory, is impressive
The pub is wheelchair accessible and has a specially adapted toilet for people with disabilities.
“The new pub will specialise in real ales and traditional ciders, as well as craft and world beers, serving a wide range of different draught ales, as well as bottled beers, including those from local and regional brewers,” Wetherspoons said.
Wetherspoons has 800 pubs and 50 hotels across the country. They once had eight Croydon pubs, but in the last four years they have closed The Postal Order in Upper Norwood (in 2021), The Milan Bar (in the town centre) and The Skylark in South Croydon (2022), and the Foxley Hatch in Purley (2023).
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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When it does finally open, I’m looking forward to seeing a photograph of our jolly rosy-cheeked Mayor pulling a pint from behind the bar of his new local
Tim Martin failing to deliver a project on time during the crucial Christmas trading period. Must have his eye off the ball pontificating to the Government on how he can run it so much better.
Remember when he blamed Brexit for closing the Spoons in Purley..?
You’ve missed the Ship of Fools from the list of closed Wetherspoons
That’s because we were citing those closed since covid. The Ship of Fools closed in pre-covid 2013. Wetherspoons couldn’t even blame Brexit for that.
Welcome to reopening of Coombe Lodge it has many memories for my family. A small delay should not be criticised for such a successful operation.
Let’s celebrate its opening
A small delay of 9 days during the busiest trading period of the year. I noticed the George was shut during one day in the first week of December too due to essential maintenance. After all the closures in Croydon it seems to be an organisation that doesn’t seem that bothered about here.
As a VFM venue Wetherspoons must be very near the top of the list, but in this case I think they will find that its the wrong pub in the wrong place, Political views aside I for one have always admired Mr Martins business model .
Political views mean I’d never set foot in a wetherspoons, but I’ve another very personal reason for hating the organisation. A friend who was a former Unison Branch secretary and mentored me as a steward, fell into alcoholism and had to retire early. He was reasonably stable and functional for a few years, but was offered a part time cleaning job off the books at a local ‘spoons’, where instead of paying him cash, they did so in beer, which very soon killed him. Utterly morally indefensible behaviour by the management.