TheOrator.Press Bar & Restaurant Review: Coopers of Crystal Palace ~ September 2022

Coopers Bar & Restaurant, Crystal Palace, London, Is As Good As Any Fine Eaterie or Drinkerie One Might Find In The West End or The City. It Has Great Food, Versatility of Use And One of The Best Cocktails In Town, Worthy of Any Upmarket Establishment.

And It’s All Fabulously Local!

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Stylish. Spacious. Delicious.

There’s Alot To Like About Coopers Crystal Palace. It’s Stylish. It’s Spacious. It Has A Great Cocktail Menu. And The Food Is Delicious. It’s Been Open At No.58 Westow Hill SE19 For Just Over A Year & A Quarter Now Having Opened Next Door To Joanna’s Resaurant Last Summer. That Was A Confident Thing To Do In Itself As Joanna’s Has For Decades Been The Smartest Restaurant In Town. But Kudos To Coopers Because Its Self-Confidence Was Well Placed And It Has Really Established Itself Well.

This Comes As Little To Surprise To Those Who Know It Is Part of A Larger Restuarant & Bar Enterprise. South East London Born Antic London (www.anticlondon.com) Already Have Two Other Establishments In The Same Group, On The Same Road (Albeit Not In The Same Class!). They Have Establishments Far & Wide Throughout London Including The Pineapple In Redeveloped Elephant & Castle And The EDT In The Historically Time Honoured, Ever Delightful & Terribly Posh Dulwich.

Westow House Pub Stands Proud & Picture Perfect On The Corner At Number 79. It Is Very Very Popular And Has Been In Situ For Years (Previously Under Different Ownerships). And Briggs And Walker Bar Operates At The Other End of The Street At Number 37. It’s More Quiet But Does Tick Over Steadily And Has A Nice Beer Garden & Cosy Corner At The Back End of The Venue Which Opens Onto Said Beer Garden Allowing For Extra Light & A View of The Skyline. In Terms of Elegance, Style, Modernity, Versatilty, And Finery, Coopers Is The Best of The Three.

The Site of A Former Not So Elegant Plumbing Store (Up Untill Coopers Started Renovating A Couple of Years Ago) It Now Has Large Windows Ceiling To Floor & French Windows Either Side of It’s Wooden Front Doors. This Means It Has A Wonderful Glass Look And Can Open Up The Whole of The Front Facade And Offer Seating Parisian Style Facing Out On To The Main Road. This It An Airy, Chic, Spacious Quality Which Makes It Feel Very Inviting & Well Ventilated (Quietly Comforting, Post Covid).

Even When The Weather Is Not So Kind There Are Regular Glances Inward From Passers By Keen To See What’s Happening Amongst The Classes Who Wine & Dine. And They Are Welcome Because Whilst This Eatery Is Classy, It Is By No Means Snooty. In Fact It Loves To Engage With The Community, Which Is Very Much Part of The Company’s Philosophy.

The Kitchen Is Located At The End of The Bar, Allowing The Food & Drink Makers A Greater Chance To Keep In Sync With Each Other. There Are Wooden Tables (Some With Bonquets), A Wooden Piano, And Even A Large Wooden Book Cabinet If You Fancy A Solo Quiet Read (See Photo Gallery Directly Underneath). It Would Also Make A Great Work Space For A Few Hours (Or A Day) As It Opens At 10.00am And Serves Toast, Jam & Marmalade, And Coffees, Teas, Brunch, Lunch & Dinner. It Is Open Untill 11pm (6pm On Mondays & Sundays).

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Relaxing. Comforting. Community Spirited. And Great Smooth Music.

TheOrator.Press (TO.P) Went Along On Sunday September 18 2022 Because We Heard That There Was Going To Be A Reggae Day of Music From 2 pm -6 pm As Part of The Annual Crystal Palace Festival. The Event Usually Consists of Lots of Fun, Cultural And Musical Things To Do Every Summer In And Around The Crystal Palace Triangle And Park Over A Series of Days.

And The Following Weekend (September 24th & 25th) There Was The Annual Artists’ Open House Art Festival Featuring Open Invitations Valid 11am – 6pm Issued By Local Artists To Come And View Their Artwork, Studios And Work Spaces. Coopers Was Displaying A Number of Art Pieces (Available For Purchase) From Community Creatives, Including From Artist Nick Slim @Slim_of_London Who Is Their Neighbour At No.62 Where He Has Had A Studio For Over Twenty Years. His Work Includes The Two of Clubs Featured In The Picture Gallery Above.

The DJ Playing Live Music This Afternoon Was Local Legendary Music Maestro & Star of Community Radio Station Flex Radio, Oliver Sudden (Pictured Above Along With A Selection of Happy Customers. TV Presenter, Producer, Comedian, Author And Oxbridge Graduate – Richard Osman Is Also Somewhere Amongst Them).

The Strictly Vinyl Tunes Were Mellow And Smooth. Serious Soul To Ease Customers Into The Mood. Truly Relaxing. And By The Time The Reggae Kicked In, It Was Time For Some Dancing. The Guests Loved It As The DJ Played Some Serious “Sunday Healers” In The Form of Good Vibes Reggae Treasures. Coopers Closes At 6pm On A Sunday So Just As The Dance Vibe Got Going, It Was Announced That The Resaturant Was Closing. It Went Down A Treat And It Should Not Be Another Year Before Coopers Hosts Such An Afternoon Again Because Right Now Regular “Sunday Healers” Are Definitely Needed.

This DJ & Podcaster Has Dedicated His Life To Music Since He Was A Teenager So Much So He Has His Own Clothing Range To Help Keep The Feel Good Vibes Going. Which He Sells Under The Wonderfully Monikered WaxOn WavOff Trading Name As A Live Vinyl DJ & Radio DJ & Podcaster.

Another Community Creative In The House Was Local Artist Romy Zahman Who Decribes Herself As “A Human Shaped Mass of Paint” (Pictured In Picture Gallery Below). Directly Underneath Her Are Two of Her Well-Behaved, And Very Polite Little Models For The Day With Her Face Painting Talents On Display, With Their Little Sister And Father. Looks Like One Is A Masked Superhero And One Is A Tiger! Either Way Romy Tells Us She’s Booked To Come Back Again For Halloween, Coming Up In October.

Coopers As Well As Being Great For Business Meetings, Family Ocassions & Celebrations, Friends Connecting, And Couples Canoodling, It Is Also Very Family Friendly. If You Look Closely At The Second Picture In The Picture Gallery Below You’ll See Where This Family Managed To Find Themselves A Nice Cosy Corner Which Accomodated Their Pram & Allowed Enough Room For A High Chair. Everyone Was Well Behaved Too.

The Great Looking (Vegan) Burger And The Eggs Benedict (With Extras On Top) …And The Lovely Cocktail Are Ours. Well We Like To Be Thorough!

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Great Cocktails. Great Chips. Great Facilities.

We Believe That The Marker of Any Great Establishment Is The Quality of Its Cocktails. The Quality of Its Chips. And The Quality of Its Lavatories. Coopers Passes This TO.P Triple Test With Flying Colours. We Love The Place & Would Recommend It To One And All (And We Visited On A Number of Ocassions).

The Well Stocked, Wooden Panelled, Street Facing Bar On The Right Greets You As You Walk Into This Generous Space. There Is An Eating or Just Drinking Area Right In Front of The Bar Perfect For People Watching. On The Left of The Bar Is The Same. And Right In Between Is A Centre Aisle Which Allows Staff & Customers To Easily Move Through The Establishment With Ease. The Space Is Not Cluttered With Too Many Tables or Corners But Instead Is Open & Free.

This Is Most Practical As The Loos Are Situated Right At The Back, And Designed To Look Most Decorative With Stained Glass Windows And Framed Artistic Stained Glass Designs, And This Design Is Integral To The Decor of This Cosy Rectangular Refreshment Retreat.

Sadly It Must Seem Utterly Obvious, Predictable & Foreseeable To Most Legal Minds That It Is Only A Matter of Time Before There Is A Legal Case As A Result of Bad Actors Abusing The New Prevalence of Unisex Toilets (Afterall That Is Why They Were Separate In First Place). Here That Risk Is Mitigated As The Ladies Are On The Right And The Gents On The Left. This Is Notwithstanding That Whilst The Main Entrance To The Loos Is Open, The Entrance Is Still Not In A Seperate Space For Each Seperate Gender (See Both Main Picture Galleries Above & The One Below). Both Genders Have To Share That Entrance Space Due To The Way It Has Been Designed. Seperate Entrance Spaces Would Have Been Nice.

The Bar Serves Premium Brands Such As Flavoured Absolut Vodka (Raspberry, Strawberry. And Passionfruit To Name But A Few) And To Complete The Upmarket Feel It Serves Premium Tonic Too. Fever Tree. Which Is Great As It As Discernably Less Quinine. Whilst It Has The Fewest Ingredients A Margarita Is One of The Hardest Cocktails To Get Right. But They’ve Nailed It Here. The Pineapple Chilli Margarita With Olmeca Blanco Tequilla Is To Live For! (drinkaware.co.uk.) And Their SATC Style Cosmopolitan Is Pretty Fabulous Too!

The Moving Mountain Burger, With Gem Lettuce, Gherkins, Beef Tomaotes (Totally Cow-Less), Vegan Smoked Applewood Cheese & Burger Sauce, Did The Trick For Our Male Vegan Companion. And The Eggs Benedict With Bacon & Chorizo Sausage Extras, Is Simply The Best Eggs Benedict We’ve Ever Had. And The Chips? The Chips Are Great Enough As A Meal In Themselves. Or Even A Cheeky Starter. There’s Even Vegan Mayo!

The Harrisa Marinated Green Olives Are Tasty & Moreish, As Are The Padron Peppers With Toasted Sunflower Seeds On A Bed of Baba Ganoush (See First Main Picture Gallery With Padron Peppers & Double Portion of Harrisa Olives).

As Well As The Vegan Burger There’s The Delicious Sounding Vegan Stew Made With Spicy Tomatoe, Butterbean And Jackfruit, Which Comes With Hash Browns And Toast.

Ever So Relaxed We Ordered The House Red With A View To Enjoying A Slow Cheese Plate For Dessert. We Ordered It In Advance To Let It Breath Only To Discover On A Sunday (When The Restaurant Closes At 6pm Instead of The Usual 11pm) There Is No Cheese. Suffice To Say The House Red Is Great Too! There Are Soft Drinks From Cawston Press (Including Apple & Ginger, Lemon & Elderflower) And Non-Alcoholic Sparking Wine From Kombucha.

As We Said From The Start, There’s Alot To Like About Coopers, Palace, London.

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