Capitol SE23

London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Southeast London: Other – Forest Hill

Capitol, London SE23.. Pic: J D Wetherspoon

Contemporary pub (Wetherspoon)
11 London Road SE23 3TW
T 020 8291 8920 w www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-capitol-forest-hill
Open 0900-2400 (0100 Fri-Sat). Children very welcome until early evening.
Cask beer 5-8 (Fuller’s, Greene King, Wetherspoon guests) Cask Marque, Other beer Usual Wetherspoon kegs and bottles, Also 1 real cider, a few wines.
Food Wetherspoon menu, Outdoor Side terrace, Wifi. Disabled toilet.
Usual Wetherspoon promotions.

The Capitol is arguably the most accomplished and impressive of London’s several Wetherspoon cinema conversions, thanks in part to the superior architectural interest of the building itself. Designed in a fanciful blend of art deco, mock-Egyptian and mock-Classical styles by leading cinema architect John Stanley Beard, it opened in 1929, and screened its last film in 1973. Aside from a few ignominious years as a bingo hall, this splendid building lay cruelly derelict until its rebirth as a pub in 2001.

Walking through the glass doors and up thickly carpeted steps, you almost expect to be greeted by uniformed usherettes, but the stalls are now a large drinking area that’s been cleverly refitted to retain the spacious feel while creating at least some intimacy for drinkers. Above the bar you can admire the flamboyant proscenium arch, with elaborate purple and gold pillars and a pediment depicting Terpsichore, goddess of song and dance.

The gold heads studding the circle are believed to represent Ceres. Since he was the god who lent his name to term ‘cereal’, he should be pleased to overlook a bar dispensing some excellent grain-based refreshments that range more widely than is usual for the chain. Up to seven beers might include guests from Brentwood, Cairngorm, Exmoor or Oakham, at the usual keen prices. Extra seating in the foyer and a children’s play area at the top of the stairs add variety, and the attractive environment, enlivened by the quiet hum of conversation, attracts a more mixed and perhaps sophisticated audience than is usually seen in JDWs.

Visitor note. Ask at the bar about guided tours that take you up to the circle and other areas usually closed to the public. The wider surroundings are also worth exploring – up the road, beside lovely Horniman Gardens, is the Horniman Museum, an offbeat collection created by philanthropic tea millionaire Frederick Horniman (see also Horniman at Hays), housed in an Arts and Crafts building that is itself an architectural gem. Though the area was named Forest Hill by a Victorian developer, it did indeed form part of the once extensive Great North Wood until the railway arrived, following the route of the now vanished Croydon Canal.