Golden Lion — Restaurant in London

🚇 Sydenham 🍺 £6.05 Brixton Coldharbour Lager

The Golden Lion stands on busy Sydenham Road in Southeast London. Sydenham station is just a short walk away.

One of Sydenham’s oldest pubs, it dates back to 1732. Rebuilt in the 1850s, it once boasted a music hall, a bowling green, and served as HQ for the Sydenham Albion Cricket Club.

In March 1987, the pub hit national headlines when Daniel Morgan was murdered outside with an axe. The case remains unsolved, tangled in claims of police corruption and five costly inquiries.

Inside, it’s a deceptively large two-bar pub, last refurbished in 2015. The exterior is London stock brick and blue-and-white painted woodwork, with beautiful curved etched glass windows being the highlight.

The Public Bar, on the right, has a modest servery and a tired pastel-painted decor. the tall fridge stacked with cakes was a nice surprise.

The Saloon Bar, on the left, is roomier, with a lovely old servery that’s crying out to be stripped back to bare wood. The decor mirrors the other side—modern, mismatched, and a bit weary. There’s a pool table, dartboard, and a cracking Wurlitzer jukebox. Behind it, a dining room and patio beer garden complete the setup.

It’s all keg here, with familiar names on tap. My Brixton Coldharbour Lager was crisp and well-kept, the price fair. No food was being served, apart from those homemade cakes.

I arrived just after 1 pm on a grey Saturday lunchtime in July. A handful of locals were chatting in the Public Bar, the atmosphere was easygoing. The Guv’nor, who proudly told me he baked the cakes himself, was a genuinely nice bloke.

The pub hosts live music nights and shows live sport.

I left the pub slightly disappointed—this place has huge potential but feels stuck in limbo. Ideally, It needs someone to give it a proper kick in the harris, but the challenge here is how to you fill this boozer with all the challenges that face the licensed trade. I enjoyed my visit: the Guv’nor was welcoming, my pint hit the spot, the Golden Lion just needs a bit of love.

📅 26th July 2025

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I recently attended a party at this pub and had a very bad customer service.

As you can all see, I have never given a bad review on Google but I'm extremely saddened and angry at the level of Customer service I have received or should I say haven't received

Upon arrival, my friends and I carefully entered our number plate into the parking machine, with one of my friends double-checking the entry. Despite this, I later received a parking ticket, which left me perplexed and frustrated.

I contacted Civil Enforcement, the company managing the parking, but they directed me to the pub for resolution, as they own the car park. I also checked with Lidl next door, and they confirmed that the pub owns that part of the car park, not them.

I spoke to Gary, the owner, who assured me on Friday, July 11th, that he would look into the matter and call me on Monday. It is now July 24th, and despite my efforts, I have called the pub seven times, left two requests for a callback, sent an email, and messaged their Facebook Messenger six times. The messages show as read by Gary, but he has not responded. The bar staff confirmed that Gary is the one who handles these Facebook messages.

It's a shame their customer service has failed in this instance. Our group has always enjoyed the pub, but this experience has left a very bad impression. Unfortunately, we will not be returning. This issue is not about the cost of the parking ticket but rather the fact that we followed the pub's process and still received a ticket, and the lack of response and being ignored by the owner...

It’s been 5 years since this pub acted as a jazz venue and they could not have chosen to relaunch The GIG with a finer band than Fletch’s Brew. Mark Fletcher, the UK’s most admired drummer leads this progressive jazz band with the legend which is Laurence Cottle on bass, Paul Stacey the muso’s muso on Guitar (who is a minor god frankly) and Jim Hunt on tenor sax who has the tone and aggression to match the ferocity of Fletch’s playing: no mean feat. The fine lady promoter deserves a tip of the hat and I for one will be endeavouring to make the third Wednesday of every month a date for Jazz. Oh! And yes, my mate Jeff and I had a few pints of a very fine, dark, cask beer (Resolution?). BBQ Chicken wings were bountiful and lovely and my scampi goujons (calamari was finished) were exactly what one would expect. Not haute cuisine but highly edible. The space is big and great for live music so I hope the word gets round that this venue is open for business and has already proven itself by promoting one of the finest bands...