I guess they have to do it that way because of time constraints, probably (hopefully) only enough for a session - 2 hours max at lunchtime
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This was a midday to midnight non stop joint at the weekends in a large town 21 years ago. It was very popular but I didnât like how they operated re the ingredients.
Ok, it was only 2 hours lunch and maybe 4 in the evening the last time I went to one, but only ever on a weekday lunchtime
The sheer numbers of covers means a high turnover so ingredients wouldnt be sitting around for long. Whereas at a local traditional french resturant myself and a friend suffered food poisioning. How long was that food sitting around? A friend who worked for Croydons health inspectors said we inspect more indian and chinese restaurants more frequently due to suspicions and claims, they tend to be cleaner places because of that inspection. He then said I wouldnt trust Any british restaurant in Croydon as people falsley place their trust in what often is a filthy restaurant. So bias comes in, I wonder what french health inspectors think?
I used to live there, I wouldnât trust any restaurant (or pub food) in Croydon . The only place I ever used to eat regularly at was the Crazy H (until it disappeared 
)
As students we all did âour timeâ at the Crazy H. If you were good you generally went on to the Chalet Swiss. The H moved down to Purley under the railway arch if memory serves me.
There was a bakery opposite Lyon House. Bought a coconut macaroon and fortunately broke it open before eating, it was alive with maggots. Took it back to the shop, the queue left immediately and the place went bust within a couple of months.
Are you sure you didnât ask for a coconut maggotroon by mistake?
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Purley was just a major crossroads when I lived in Croydon. Before, when I lived in old coulsdon, it was a place where you could get a good light and bitter at 16 ( The Jolly Farmers) 
and a Wimpy
Used to be the Fox or the Wattenden when in that neck of the aerodrome.
The Fox was my local when I lived at home, just a short walk across the common. Took longer to get back though 
. The Wattenden was always an interesting pub with liads of history being that close to Kenley aerodrome .
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Edited: sorry⌠I would have been responsible for a deviation too farâŚ
Ah, light and bitter. That brought back a few memories. I lived in Gloucester and went up to Queen Mary College, as it was then. The locals all seemed to drink light and bitter. The only near equivalent in Gloucester was a âforest toppedâ.
Forest brown bottled ale with a top of bitter.
At least 3/4 of a pint of bitter with a bottle of light ale - best value for money when youâre young and skint. Mind you, in a Youngs pub it would be Ramrod and special, same as L&B but much stronger 
My OH was a regular L & B drinker, but never in a straight glass 
We were called aprentices 
My first beer (probably about 19yo: I had a very young face) was a pint of âmixedâ: half mild, half bitter. I canât remember the brewery, but Iâm pretty sure it wasnât a Tetleyâs house.
Mine, in a pub, was at 14. At scout camp in the Goathland arms (later to be made famous in Heartbeat). Me and a couple of mates sneaked out but we did get caught out but only after 3 rounds at 13p/pint I think.
Brown and bitter in my part of Yorkshire as a kid, half a Webster strong brown ale with a bitter top, hand pump. A few years later a half of Newkie brown and Tetley bitter, no where near as nice.
I never saw the point of Newcastle Brown Ale.
But a proper pint of Tetleyâs was always worth seeking out.
Thatâs another thing. In Gloucester at the time I donât remember anything but beer mugs with a handle. Then I learnt about straight glasses which some called a sleever.