New Cross Inn
From Frikipedia
Pub in New Cross in London. Also doubles as a hostel, though Friki cannot even begin to imagine exactly how wrong your backpacking holiday around Europe must have gone for you to consider staying there, given that you'd only be slightly further from London's tourist zone if you bedded down for the night on Mars.
Friki's tip for wannabe European hippy travellers: Always start in London. It only gets cheaper from there on in.
Contents |
The Drinks
In keeping with a proud London tradition, the New Cross Inn's bar prices are extortionate. Two pints of chemically-soaked lager and a small brandy will set you back more than £8. Your despair will quickly turn to joy, however, when you roll your eyes skywards after receiving your meagre change, only to spy the collection of the world's smallest chandeliers that the Inn has a collection of hanging from it's roof.
The Decor
Friki took an unhealthy interest in the decor of places on it's East London Line jaunt, and was pleased with the retro-shambolic look of the whole place. Some may have said that they just couldn't be bothered to re-paint the place, so the staff had just stuck weird photos everywhere, but they'd probably only partly been right. The only issue was a sense from the right side of Friki's brain that the floor was a bit rubbish.
The only other slight point of contention between the New Cross Inn's owners and Friki was on the issue of flies swarming around the toilets. Friki said it was bebby, the owners hold the opposite view.
The Pool
The pool table was oddly decorated with black felt, making it look like a darkly gothic version of the Crucible. To add to the uncertain feeling the table embodied, the cue ball would occasionally disappear into the depths of the table's mechanism, forcing the barman to come over and violently penetrate it with the thick end of a pool cue until it spat the offending item back out again.
Friki particularly enjoyed the rather dubious use of a chunk of prehistoric limestone as "chalk", and eventually won the game of pool by playing whilst sitting in a chair, although Friki would also argue that everyone missed it's "best" shots by not looking the right way.
Friki Verdict
Two and a half Celtic Crosses for the New Cross Inn.
Categories: Pubs | London
