please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
I visited there one saturday afternoon.
There were only a few customers and there staff.
It took ages to get served.
The pub was very dirty, not very clean.
The staff were really not interested in their work.
AVOID AVOID AVOID
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I had my pre-wedding drink in here in 1948, then nipped across the road to St Patrick's. It was a smashing pub then. Too dark and dirty now. Trade aimed towards the students at King's college based in the old Daily Star building (Star, Standard, Evening news?)around the corner. I don't think I'll come back again alive; maybe as a ghost?
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Could be a lot better; being a badly lit pub is a good clue to poor cleaning practices; sticky bar surfaces, dust on shelves. Comes from employing students. Has great promise drink wise, but lets itselfs down on my comments. Best to go to the Kings Arms or Windmill.
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I ended up being quite disappointed with this pub, which looked really good from the outside and had a very impressive range of lagers. The staff were really uninterested, to the point of not looking at you at all when you were ordering, and managing the whole ordering process without saying a single word except for the price. I ordered some potato wedges, by far the worst I've had for a long time, microwaved (with cold bits) and soggy. A friend asked if he could get a burger with a different topping from the one on the menu (the topping he wanted was on another burger they do). The barman's reply? 'No' (full stop). Unimpressed.
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Having vowed not to go again after my last visit a few months ago, when I had to virtually plead to be served 10 minutes before they closed, I thought I'd give it another try 2 nights ago. I needn't have bothered. The staff are disinterested, and behave as if they'd really rather you weren't there. It's a shame because it could be a decent pub. At the moment though, I'd prefer Wetherspoons - which is where I went instead the other night.
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been going in here a while,good beer,and food
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Actually, I think I got the wrong pub - I'm thinking of a different White Hart, on Great Suffolk Street the other side of Blackfriars Road. I'll get my coat.
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I agree that the below reviews are overly negative. It's not the most exciting pub in the world and I only spotted GK IPA on tap although may have missed others. The food smelt nice although I didn't try it.
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Notwithstanding some of the previous 'reviews' of this place which were (justifiably) removed from BITE, I just can't understand the low rating this place gets. I may prefer real ale, but if it difficult to understand why another reviewer complains about a pub having 9 lagers on tap. The atmosphere seemed OK to me, and the bar staff reasonably attentive. The Everards Sunchaser, served in an old-fashioned pint 'jug', was fine (and everything is somewhat cheaper than the nearby Kigs Arms). Whatever may (or may not) have happened in the past, I suggest that this place is well worth a try.
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3 real ales with a changing range. Seemed tidy enough to me.
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Been a few times and it could be so much better. Simply no need for SO many lagers on sale. I counted 9 on draught ! Bar staff were comically useless and dumb to boot. If you expect me to pay nearly £4 for a gin and tonic don't you dare then argue the to$$ when I object to the RED HOT glass you served it in!!!! BTW the pub looks nowt like the picture above. It now has much more modern signage etc and actually better for it.
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Gave me the impression of a decent pub trying to get out from beneath the trendiness, that has been slapped about the place. Could have done with a wider beer selection, only Pride being on offer. That said, it was a good pint and 20p cheaper than down the road at the Kings Arms.
Certainly qualifies IMHO as the third best pub in the area, after the Rose and Crown and the aforementioned Kings Arms, but I would make myself a regular.
mrse1 - 24 Mar 2008 18:23 |
Monday evening 29th Oct, Arrived at White Hart with a dozen mates. All ex ( or current ) Rugby players. All quite large. All quite thirsty. 6.30 PM Greene King IPA ran out. 7.00 PM Fullers London Pride ran out. Apart from a cuppla the younger guys on various Euro Fizz taps rest of us kept on the Young's Ordinary - no problems - fine. Kept us going until 10.30 or so.
Two guys behind bar working their socks off. Cheerful friendly attentive and alert and observant.
Good Lads. Even if they had been trained to change barrels I'm not sure if they would have had time. Pub very busy all night - not bad for a Monday. Service still pretty quick. No complaints. Cheers to the Bar lads ( and lass )
Earlier derogatory obsos posted about the pub must have been heeded by management, unless they were posted by sacked incompetent disgruntled staff.
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What have they done to this pub.
Atomsphere is dead, where is Kasia the Tablefootball Queen.
I think that the table football Queen has been replaced by other Queens, if you get my drift.
There is no long table foodball.
The old watering hole is now really scuffy and dirty, but worst of all the beer is warm and the glasses have a funny taste.
The staff are combination of gone wrong skake-boarders and boring 'no it all bar people' who wear keys on there trousers belts because they think they are jailers.
Advice - hit the road to the back streets of Covent garden for a real pub.
anonymous - 25 Aug 2007 17:52 |
After a couple of years since refurbishment, the pub is more scruffy than ever.
Toilets just have never been cleaned, what must the kitchen and cellar be like? The staff have no ideal about the drinks, the beer fridge is actually an oven. Make sure you have had your medical injections to protect your health before eating in this establishment.
The best thing, is there are four parking spaces free from charge after 1pm on saturday.
anonymous - 30 Jun 2007 06:46 |
Pleasant enough place, but nothing to make it stand out. Not really a beer drinkers pub, but they did have London Pride and Deuchars IPA on, but at a price. Has a lot of foreign lagers on and tends to attract a slightly younger crowd than the nearby Kings Arms.
I dont have any adverse comments to make on the staff, unlike some other posters here - perhaps I visited on a good day
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Shame, this place has a lot of potential, but is let down by uninterested, rude staff, who actually appear to make an effort to ignore you. 45 minutes stood at the bar without being is unacceptable anywhere, had it not been for the rest of our group we would have walked.
Avoid, it's overpriced, understaffed and not how a chilled beerintheevening should be!
anonymous - 5 Feb 2007 21:07 |
Went there Saturday afternoon, waited over ten minutes to get served. I was not ever ackownledged, so walked out. What has happend to this pub? It truely rocked back in 2004. So they gave it a Make over and forgot all about the customer service and strange beers of 2004
anonymous - 5 Oct 2006 19:03 |
They now have less of a selection of beer compared to the golden years of this pub, of 2004.
The staff have no idea about which glasses are for which drinks, that's even if they remember to give you a glass.
And that's if they serve you having finished a 3 hour conversation with their friends.
The Beer fridge is really an oven, most of the bottle beers are warm, and your paying over £3.00 a bottle.
GO TO THE AUBERGE for the bottled beer (Belgium fruit beers yummy). For THE CRACK go to THE MULBERRY BUSH near LWT for the CROWD (LWT Stage crew - Quilty,Lennie,Jamie,JJ,Trevor,Dinky etc).
THE WHITE HART has totally lost it's way, no character and a clear lack of TLC regarding it's drinks
anonymous - 23 Jul 2006 11:14 |
Odd location. Usually a choice of real ales. Had some very pleasant Summer Lightning there recently. Also recall an attractive barmaid working there! Good pub for a swift one at lunch-time.
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This is place is the pots and unfortunately because of its location its constantly full so the manager obviously doesnt have to think about running a good pub. Full of office groups, particularly IBM who cram in their despite its obvious short fallings.
I only went there once before Richard left and we had a great night. He put on some food for us but because a delivery hadnt been made he went down to Tescos and bought endless boxes of frozen party food. And charged us cost price! We had so much we ended up handing it round the pub. Be great to find out where hes gone.
This place is just miserable now. Staff are rude and obviously hate theire job. Its possibly one of the worst designed pubs in London. It was bad before its refurb. The new owner then decided to make the bar area even bigger by adding a bit at the back. But they dont serve from there. Whys it there then! Plus you are constantly told not to stand anywhere near the wrong side of it. Despite it being an empty space.
This place has gone to the dogs. Plenty if better boozers nearby that are less crowded, the staff arent sullen and they have some idea how to treat their customers.
Avoid!
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Went up there on a saturday afternoon,
The pub opened at 12 noon,
Toilets were mega dirty.
The barmaid was more interested in talking to her friends, I waited along time to be served.
I had a Belguim bottled fruit beer, but I had too ask for the glass.
The selection and knowledge of the drinks was very poor.
Bring Back Richard, The Old Manager, who had great staff, loads of new interesting products, history info of the beer, beer fridges that were cold and fantastic art work on the blackboards.
Will the new manager, stop, think, and put more effort into the place, because it was a great place in 2004.
anonymous - 4 May 2006 11:19 |
I find it hard to find the appropriate words to describe visit to this poor excuse for an establishment last night. Firstly, the layout of the pub. The bar's almost the same size as the seating areas and is slap bang in the middle, reducing seating space further. The service area behind the bar is exceptionally tight, making it nigh on impossible for the bar staff to pass by one another. Now normally I wouldn't object to a large serving area (bigger bar equals more pumps and more staff) but sadly having only three bar staff it does nothing for the speed of service.
Which brings me succinctly on to my second point. The staff. The Duty Manager looked like a skater-boy crossed with a die-hard heavy metal fan gone wrong. His attitude resembled more of a sullen teenager who’d just been told he wasn’t getting any pocket money, rather than a man in charge of an entertainment establishment. Rude, discourteous; the man (boy) quite clearly had zero respect for his customers.
And so we move on to the quality of the drinks. I will admit that their draught ale wasn’t too shabby. However, the white Wine the girls were drinking was served warm. When they asked if they could have a replacement (i.e. Chilled) bottle, they were initially told no, as they’d taken said wine over to our table. After much deliberation, they kindly conceded and offered a replacement bottle of wine. Sadly, they’d run out of the Pino Grigio the girls were drinking previously, and were subsequently offered a suitable alternative. Then, they attempted to charge us for the £4 difference between the bottles. A shining example of customer service. And do they offer you wine glasses to drink out of when purchasing a bottle? Absolutely not, half pint pots all round. Class.
So to summarise, poor layout, rude staff and abysmal service. Oh, and one of the urinals in the Gents was overflowing onto the floor.
One of the barmaids had a nice rack though, every cloud…
anonymous - 28 Apr 2006 13:08 |
This pub is chilled, relaxed, bar staff are friendly, I think they've done a good job on the refurb.
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Went last night for the first time since the revamp. What a mess! Loud music, useless staff (you don't expect to have to exlain what "Stones Ginger Wine" is to a barman - worse still, when I asked what bitter they had on tap, he proceded to list the lagers) and too many tiresome young wanabees - presumably from the ITV offices nearby.
The decor looks as if they've tried really hard (far too hard) to create a 'trendy' space while retaining some 'pub' character. As a result it doesn't work well in either category. To be fair, the Bombadier was not the worst I've ever had -and it was reasonably priced - but that's not really enough to redeem the place.
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Where is Richard now? I was told the Canonbury Arms in N London. Anyone?
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.....the White Hart takeover was pure travesty. Decent ale houses are a rarity on the southbank and this one was great fun but I wouldn't waste the rubber on my shoes to trek there now. The makeover's a rank disaster and the bar staff are a piss take. Richard, the White Hart needs you!!!
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Walked into this place on monday night and turned straight around. Ugh!! Awful place.
anonymous - 2 Aug 2005 23:46 |
Problem is that it has changed hands. Richard teh previous manager has moved on and his slow trendification has been replaced by full-blown revolution. The new management have rushed to make this a bar, not a boozer. Sad for trad drinkers, but the place always seems busy. The biggest shame is teh loss of local atmosphere - this used to be a proper South London family pub ith a real mix of clientele. Now it is aimed at trendies. The TV has gone, so I'll need a new Central London meeting place for watching England crash out of major football tournaments. The changes are symbolised by the ditching of the traditional pub sign and window boxes. While it is still a nice place for a pint, the service has been apalling the last two times I've been in and I can't really imagine myself going there too often in future.
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I tend to agree with the previous comment concerning the service - it is awful,very slow. The young female staff seem almost unaware of the presence of customers and when they do notice they usually pick those who have beem waiting the least time. However I would persist here because of the beer: always a varied choice,good quality and reasonably priced ( for the area) £2.50 for bitter. I avoid The Wellington for the poor beer at high prices but agree King's Arms is a great alternative.
White Hart get your staff sorted out.
mally - 25 Jul 2005 18:14 |
I must disagree with the previous 2 comments. The only positive thing i can say about this bar is that you can drink outside. The staff are terrible they look a mess. They don't acknowledge you when your waiting to be served sorry if your lucky enough to be served. We waited almost 10 minutes, there was only 6 people at the bar and still we didn't get served in turn instead we were blatently blanked. The one good thing was that while we were waiting we could observe just how dirty the bar area actually was. I dont think i have ever been in a bar where ther are so many beer flies, the brasso could do with a polish too!!! Maybe i am just being too picky??? Best go to The Kings Arms just around the corner much better or maybe The Wellington.
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Tried after a long absence based on previous report by Microman - thanks good tip.
The beer here used to be unspeakably awful. Now however the quality is very good with an interesting line in guest ales. The refurb is a bit trendy for me (sad old git)but the atmosphere is friendly & the deep armchair makes an ideal spot for an early evening session. Keep up the good work
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Magic for a little scuttle away from the main drag. Wonderful range of unusual bottle beers & spirits.
Well kept tap beers (including the lagers!). Nice line in the better known, and some of the more obsure, guest ales for those of us that are CAMRA and proud of it!
All this in a super pub with good food, atmosphere and a manager whose taste in shirts is, fortunately, not matched by his taste in beer ;-)
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best pub in waterloo
simon - 3 Sep 2004 12:41 |
Spent riddiculous amount of time and money in here when I lived in the area. Great place off the beaten track if you are in the area and in need of a drink.
Jack Knight - 24 Aug 2004 17:33 |
Dear Richard (Croatian for all his sins) runs a tidy little pub here. The food's extremely good, affordable and served late and the bar staff are always friendly and attentive - the way all public houses should be. That apart, there's Staropramen on tap.....well, what else would you go back for?
Spudster - 22 Jun 2004 17:58 |
Very friendly Landlord. Lots of after work drinkers - and I mean proper drinkers - who go there every night. I wish they would bring back the pool table. One of the best paces to drink in Waterloo. Good beer, dear food, decent wine (apparently).
Stephen - 25 Nov 2003 17:32 |
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