please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
We retreated from the Grape & Grain across the other side of the traffic lights to the much livelier Westow House. I quite like Antic pubs and this one is no exception. Although no dark beers or real cider means it will stay as a 6/10 after this visit. The ale choice was Volden Pale & Session, Brighton Bier South Coast IPA, Redwell Julol, But The Horns Stiff Upper Lip, Adnams Ghost Ship & Dark Star Hophead. Many people were eating food and most tables were taken. If you're in the area, give it a try.
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Large Antic pub, on the corner of the Triangle. Decent enough place, decent selection of ales. Had a beer festival on when I first visited, not sure if that was one-off a an annual thing.
Beer is on the pricey side, but good quality and usually served in proper jug. There is a table football machine and pinball machine inside the pub.
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Good place to have a drink, huge selection of craft beer. Food is somewhat overpriced, better to have a Sunday roast at the Alma or White Hart. Other food is quite good though. DJ on Saturday nights which is good if that's your kind of thing, absolutely packed on weekends. Live music on Friday nights which unfortunately is usually sub-par cover bands (the staff wear ear plugs on these nights for a reason). Management frequently drunk on duty.
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Cavernous and trendy, busy at night and weekends but more relaxed during the day. Good range of real ale on pump. Oddly, they have put frosted glass on most windows which makes it dark, presumably hiding some dubious views. Seems unnecessary. There is a garden but this junction on the triangle is too busy for it to be pleasant. I haven't eaten here - it isn't cheap. Beer, staff and general atmosphere good on my couple of visits.
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Crystal Palace has some great places to eat, but the Westow House isn't one of them. It's a decent pub to go for a beer, and it has lots of tables outside. However, the food is nowhere near as good as other gastro pubs, such as The White Hart or The Bridge House, down the road in Penge High Street.
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In it's previous guise before it became Westow House I regular came here on Friday and Saturday nights and it was always a bit of hit and miss, sometimes packed, sometimes empty, beer good, beer bad etc etc.
My first visit under its new name & ownership and my is it trendy! Saturday afternoon and the crowd was made of mainly 30 something's in groups enjoying the vast array of beer and food.....food was proving hugely popular during the half an hour I was here.
8 hand pumps dispensing ales, 2 offerings from Adnams, Sharp's Cornish Coaster with the other 5 being 'guest' ales...Thornbridge and Rooster were 2 of the breweries being offered.
Friendly efficient bar staff dealt with the masses in a timely and polite manner.
Music played at a reasonable level, tables were cleaned quickly and the pub has a lovely feel to it.....what's not to like, cracking pub.
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This is an Antic House and is fairly large. As other have said, it's conveniently situated just across the traffic lights from the Grape & Grain. Inside is a moody, gothic affair. Popular with families and diners, plus also plenty of drinkers. There are table football games if you are that way inclined. The beer selection was good - Great Heck Treasure IPA, Harbour IPA, Five Points Railway Porter, Green Flash Green Bullet, Tempest Ball Park, Adnams Bitter, Sharps Cornish Coaster & Darstar Hophead. Cider was Westons Old Rosie. Service was slow, with bar staff more interested in chatting with friends. But a good pub with a good range of ales.
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We use this place a fair bit, always a good range of beers on pump and some interesting bottled stuff too. Have tried the food several times, and to be honest it can be bit hit and miss, obviously an imaginative chef but portion size can vary and once found a hair that wasn't mine!
Whenever there's music on here it's always quality, beer festivals are well run and good fun, as is the quiz night and everything is done under the watchful eyes of Craig (if you don't know who he is you don't go in enough!)
The only niggle is that it seems to be nigh on impossible to become a recognised face here, don't know if the staff are told not to acknowledge regulars or what but it gives a feeling of something missing in an otherwise good pub.
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Good pub and right next to the Grape & Grain too! Fine selection of ale just like the G&G, both pubs seem to live off each other and long should it be that way!
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Terrific. Someone has put a lot of thought into the selection and presentation of the beers. Always nice to see Craig, too.
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A decent enough pub but they do seem to play catch up to Grape & Grain across the road. Westow House attracts a different crowd admittedly.
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The choice of ales for the Festival was really great, the pick for me was the Magic Rock High Wire, an exceptionally hoppy 5.5%. Gret staff, big CAMRA member discount andvery pleasant surroundings, this pub is terrific.
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Excellent beer at an excellent price. Just seen that it is another Antic pub hence that explains the atmosphere they are trying to create. Yet on a Monday when 90% of people where there to watch the biggest premiership match ever, really can't understand why they couldn't turn down the music and have the TV volume on. Odd.
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Always enjoy a drink here � relaxed crowd, decent music, pleasant staff.
But can anyone tell me what the hell that smell is? Is it a consequence of the fine selection of real ales? It seems worse near the bar.
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In another post, slerpy berates a fellow poster for his spelling!
celebratd, lamps, to...confirm his well earned status as BITE's village idiot.
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Good stay there slerp or in and around Croydon and give us all a rest,
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This Pub is part of the Antic group who plan to start brewing in ther future.The Pub itself is dark and cavernous with huge panoramic windows through which you can watch the bustle of the area.Yesterday their Beer Festival celebratd the installing of another three handpumps taking the count to eight.The beers were very well chosen, By the Horns, Kent Fyne (Jarl), Dark Star ( three including Rye and Juniper, Revelation and Golden Gate) and many more including Brews brewed by others with Antic pumpclip.This is an "In crowd" place with a laid back feel to it. Quirky huge lamps shades of differing size and type swing at unintended angles over the bar. A huge plasma screen with the most ornate of chandeliers sits in a corner, music is played but not to loudly, an eclectic mix from Paul Simon to the XX.The food looks fabulous and plentiful. For my taste this was far better than the Grape and Grain and I certainly did not expect that! I would say that this is easily one of the top three pubs in South London.10/10.
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Beer still good. Menu still reads impressively (never eaten there though) but the pinball machine has gone. Will still go there, but not so often.
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Generally had been avoiding this pub on regular visits to the Triangle - not that it was ever a terrible pub but it had always been a bit dark and gloomy on the inside and turned into a bit of a loud disco atmosphere at the weekend - getting older and want a more quiter atmosphere to sit and drink
However in the last few months this pub has been drawing me in again. It has alot going for it - very spacious, a large bar with a decent array on tap including real ales (there was 3 different varieties of Adnams at one point all in a row), capable and friendly service, and a well rounded atmosphere - book selection, different corners.
Now with an xmas tree almost touching the ceiling to boot, its not hard to see why this pubs a winner and throws another pub into a winning line-up at the Crystal Palace Triangle
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Visited yesterday. Several Meantine ales on tap (Pale ale and a larger?) Also a couple of excellent IPA's on draft.
Best feature by a mile was the pinball machine. [YEAH!!!!}
Jack*Bot. In very nice condition. Also table tenis and classic video games.
Great pub; will return soon and return often.
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Looks like you are spoiled for choice in crystal palace..... Looked a really nice place and was tempted to eat here...... Alas a ruby was calling my name.
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I went last Sunday to watch the Chelsea v Liverpool game - my first visit for about five years.
Upon entering, I was glad to see a few real ales on draught - I drank the Young's Ordinary which was fine and was also served in a nice old-fashioned tankard which you don't often get.
We managed to get seats in front of the screen for the game and the atmosphere was good without being too packed.
The downside? Not too much. The staff were quite slow but to be fair a lot of people were ordering food. It seems to be the sort of place where the customers pay using credit cards. Well that's young people for you - try cash, it's a lot simpler. We also had to ask twice for the commentary to be turned on once the match had started. Unfortunately the sound went off as soon as the game had finished which was quite annoying.
Overall a good pub and would visit again if I was in the area.
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A huge modern pub.
Visited here after having a couple of Ciders round the corner at the Grape and Grain. Again, very impressed with the fact that they offer both Addlestones and Stowford Press Ciders on draught.
That makes a choice of 5 draught Ciders between the 2 pubs and not a Wrongbow in sight ... excellent.
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Awesome pub. Been a regular here for a few years and I must say that the improvement in the last two years or so has been immense. Amazing food, fantastic, friendly staff, lots of things to do and great beer.
The table tennis is the best thing in Palace. I could spend hours on it. A competition would be great though.
I do have one gripe. Went to watch Arsenal v Chelsea at the weekend and it wasn't on at both ends of the pub. We were all crammed into the back room/stairs. This was ridiculous. We were all in the way of the poor waitress and the toilets. We were told the other screen was broken, but my colleague tells me he was in there on Monday watching the bloody Ryder Cup on it! Quick fix?
Other than that though, pub perfection.
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The Westow really seems to have raised its game recently. Food is excellent pub grub and the beer range now includes some slightly more unusual lagers and a good selection of ales (including 3 from the Pure Brewery on my visit this week). And the beer was served in a dimpled old-man mug - extra brownie points for that.
Still the same grungy dark funky (non) decor, and I imagine it's a still a pretty good late night venue as well, although my most recent visit was early evening.
I still like the Grape and Grain over the road, but I wouldn't say one was better than the other, as they're quite different in vibe. Westow is a place to take a date perhaps, G&G is the place to go with a mate.
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Spent a long sunny Spring Saturday here recently - great time outside and the food was excellent (and chips to die for). Good friendly staff too. When it got chillier in the evening we went inside and I was in heaven - in the back room there's table tennis! Two hours and 8 consecutive victories later I retired - tired and unbeaten. Highly recommended if you're in or around Crystal Palace.
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I went here for an all-day session with a big group of friends a couple of weekends ago and had a great day - I'd definitely go back.
Comfy sofas, lots of games (table tennis, pool, table football, board games), great food and a good atmosphere.
I can't comment on the beer because I only drank one lager (Zatec, which was pretty decent) but there seemed to be a good range available.
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Spent a great Saturday afternoon in this pub. Beer was good and the food tasty - the chips and homeade mayonnaise were great.
There is a pool table, pinball machine and a full size table tennis table, it's also very big, so it's a perfect place to go if there's a bit of a group of you looking for somewhere big and spacious to relax in. But it'd be just a comfy if there's jsut a couple of you as therre is plenty of good seating.
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Love this pub! good selection of drinks and well kept ales! by far the best pub in the area. 5*
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Nice airy pub, fairly decent beer, but...the barman was a moron...apart from miserable service, i went up to get two halves at 11:10 to be told he'd finished serving...when asked about ringing last orders he said he didnt have to anymore, no legal requirement (whether true or not, it still helps to point out to your handful of monday night patrons when the bar is closing)...then we saw a couple of locals waiting to be served at the bar! The barman was waiting for my party to leave before serving them, so we left telling him excactly what we thought of his service and the fact it was one rule for regulars and one for everyone else... great way to run a pub, especially after we'd just spend upwards of thirty pounds in there. Won't be going back. Sad, cos the pub itself is quite nice :-(
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The problem with the Westow House is its size. Spacious pubs are usually welcomed by prematurely older drinkers like myself: everyone gets a seat, hurrah! But here it's too much. On a Saturday night the place felt half empty and lacking in atmosphere, not helped by most people choosing to sit outside and breathe traffic fumes. Nothing else against the pub. The beer is fine - although there's not much choice if you're into real ale - and the service brisk. Plenty of books to read too.
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I had a problem with badly kept ales a couple of times. That puts me off. If they sorted that out I'd be more inclined to go back. Food was nothing to write home about the last time I tried it, but to be fair they've changed over to selling pies now which aren't made on the premises, and that may be more foolproof.
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This is a nicely done gastropub and the food looked appetising BUT the pint of Bombardier was one of the most badly kept ales I've ever had. Might go back for the food but not for a proper beer.
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