Newton Arms, Croydon

A good example of a three-room inter-war suburban pub for a densely populated area and one that can be easily visited and compared with the rather larger but contemporary Victoria Cross just over in Thornton Heath. The frontage is an asymmetrical composition with brown glazed bricks on the ground floor and plenty of half-timbering above. Most of the windows are filled with attractive rippled glass. In the front there are two doors, the right-hand one to the public bar, the left-hand one to the lounge but formerly to an off-sales compartment which, remarkably, still survives even if it is not in use. The original entrance to the lounge was the door halfway down the side. The servery is L-shaped and extends into both lounge and public bar and (of course) served the off-sales too. The bar counters with their raked tongue-and-grooved panelling are original to the rebuilding of the pub as is most of the woodwork in the bar-backs. At the rear right is a third room which relies on a hatch for access to the servery: its walls have tongue-and-grooved panelling.