The Dolphin, Sydenham

Sydenham is a queer area. Literally in one sense – so many lesbians and gay men live here, but I mean queer as in the contrast between the area as a whole: nice houses, nice people, nice parks (I’ve never known so many of my neighbours and have actually become friends with three of them), and the High Street which is a dive. It’s grotty, clogged with traffic, has a poor choice of shops and generally there are no decent pubs in the area. Well, I say no decent pubs; I suppose it largely depends on what you like. So if you want dodgy clientele, Saturday night brawls every day of the week and sticky carpets Sydenham has it all. It was left for us to go to Forest Hill or Dulwich which in my case if I’m very sore, means driving, which means no drinking. Until that is, the missus and I saw one of the pubs being done up about a ten minute walk away from us. We both raised an eyebrow (not the same one) and wistfully wondered whether it would taken over by nice people and become a decent pub. Again, it’s all relative so I’ll tell you what I think qualifies as decent: nice décor, good staff and service, a choice of drinks, reasonable prices, welcoming and friendly. Not much to ask…

The Dolphin was reopened in December and had immediately become FF as someone who used to run pubs told me. FF means female friendly. Women are put off by pubs they cannot see clearly into and so will avoid them. The Dolphin has big windows allowing you to see right into the pub. And that’s not the only good thing as we subsequently found out this Saturday. Nice décor (fabulous retro tiles in the girlies bathroom, had I a nail file I would have tried to pry them loose and take them home), four staff behind the bar on a Saturday night looking both efficient and friendly, three real ales, and a very funky crowd from young gay people to middle aged (presumed) straight couples having a bite to eat. We found some comfy leather seats in front of the fire and proceeded to get drunk. As we had a tab for the evening, the staff kept coming over to check if we wanted anything else and we could order fresh drinks from our table. One of the boys ordered some nibbles – an eclectic choice! – cheese board (cheese from Neal’s dairy), olives, fish bites (white fish and squid), some fresh bread and some dips. All very tasty but frankly they paled in comparison to the desserts, I had the orange crème brule and it was absolutely bloody gorgeous. One of the boys had hot crumble and cold custard – you think it won’t work, but it really, really does.

The really exciting thing is that there is a MASSIVE beer garden which had previously been neglected and overrun. But the new owners are having it landscaped just in time for summer so on a warm summer’s evening you can guess where the residents of fairy towers will be…

Finally, it’s non-smoking. Yes I know the smoking ban is coming in this summer anyway, but to have an entire evening fume free was very pleasant.

So, credit where it’s due… http://www.thedolphinsydenham.com/

I just need to check if dogs are welcome now!