please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Great atmosphere and food downstairs in the bar, but don't bother with the dining room upstairs. The staff are so unhelpful and have no concept of what 'customer care' means. We booked a table for a family celebration but found the dining room menu really limited - 2 members out of our party of 7 couldn't find anything that they wanted to eat (eg. no vegetarian options at all but was told the chef could 'rustle something up'!)and so we asked for a couple of dishes from the bar menu downstairs. The waiter said no, despite the fact that the dining room was empty - we were the only people there. In the end we left and went to The Automat which is very nearby and we had a great meal there in a fantastic atmosphere.
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Never really seen anyone eating in here, effectively half the space is wasted with the "dining area" which if you sit down when not eating (bear in mind it's a small pub and gets crowded) staff get v.stroppy about. Agree it's a pub with an identity crisis, so many good eating options in the area, it should just focus on being a pub.
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This is pub is just around the corner from my office and so frequent it regularly with colleagues purely as a matter of convenience. It has been recently refurbed and seems to not know whether it is a pub or a restaurant. Half the very small floor space in the small pub area is taken up with tables covered in white table clothes. If I want that I will go to one of the dozens of fine dining restaurants in Mayfair.
Never have I been to a pub which has less impressive staff. They are seeming led by a South African gent who feels that dancing, singing and socialising behind the bar should take priority over serving customers and a woman who seems to be the maitre d’ (is this needed in a pub). The other night I was at the bar along with about 10 other customers waiting to be served and the maitre d’ lounged at the end of the bar talking to other staff while the bar tender joked and chatted with another member of staff who was standing polishing glasses while the customers had to wait. There is just no urgency or customer focus.
I would strongly urge that no one ever go out of their way to visit this poor excuse for a pub. You will get better service from the worst of the Weatherspoons chain!!!
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Appalling, (and expensive) beer. Awful service. Undercooked (but still expensive) food. A khazi.
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Used to be a decent little boozer now just another shitty gastropub
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So now it's October, and the Running Footman has just re-opened, some couple of months late. What a change! This pub is now really a restaurant with a gastropub attached. On the ground floor is the bar, now packed with tables bedecked with white linen, with a few bar stools lining the perimeter. 3 decent bitters including Youngs & Bombardier at a very good value £2.75 a pint. Good range of lagers, but seemingly expensive starting at £3 a pint. The price of bar food has stabilised since my last visit at £12 for fish & chips. Waitress table service has been introduced. On the 1st floor is a more expensive restaurant, 2nd floor a private dining room, and in the basement - believe it or not - a cookery school! Stripped of all soft furnishings the bar is extremely noisy; but overall not too bad, and certainly not as bad as I had expected.
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stupid name, I think it speaks volumes no need for a detailed review
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The Running Footman - affectionately known as the "Running Sore" in my office around the corner - is currently shut. It was always a bit grimy - I should know, I've been popping in for the last 10 odd years - but at least it served a decent pint and it was near work. After changing hands in December 2006, it had a quick spruce up with a lick of white paint, pulled out the juke box, and laid white linen tablecloths on the tables. The menu started to charge £14 for fish & chips. It's now completely shut, and a sign says that it's undergoing a mjor refurb and won't reopen until July 07. I walked past last week to see workmen chucking lumps of concrete out of the windows into a skip. Goodness only knows what will happen next. Fish & chips at £30?
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Went in at the weekend before Christmas and I couldn't really recommend it - very expensive menu and beer wasn't up to much.
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This place has really changed, they have done a small refurb and are running a very cool, cute little pub - definately worth a look. They also have plans for a major refurb which looks very exciting.
anonymous - 2 Jan 2007 17:26 |
To the one who posted the anonymous comment, they are totally spot on - I also worked there around 1988 and it was a 1st class happy and smart little boozer. Have been back on most visits to london and it is now run down dirty and should display a sign saying under No Management rather than under New management.
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They appear to be under new management (changed over on Friday 8th Dec apparently), and quite eager to please (on the phone at least.)
I've not been in as yet, however, so I can't say more than that for the moment. I rang them to check that they were open on a particular day - we're planning a word-crawl that needs an 'I'... They were keen to impress on me how the pub was under new management and how much better it would be than it has been recently. We'll see - watch for another review early in the new year.
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Visited last Friday evening for the first time in a couple of years. The pub used to be run by a jovial Irishman who's name escapes me. Unfortunately he's no longer there and the people serving were, like the previous comment, surly and also poorly trained. The beer was still good although every pint I bought was short by a good inch - the bar staff seemed offended when asked to top them up.
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Visited on a Saturday afternoon and were welcomed by a very surly miserable barman as we'd obviously interrupted his TV viewing, we were the only ones in there! Presumably it does a trade in the week rather than at weekends. Wouldn't recommend it at weekends!
Hucks - 20 Aug 2006 15:26 |
Lively atmosphere and good ale selection. Yes, it is small--certainly not the space to be on a Friday evening if you are claustrophobic. But if you like a good atmosphere in a good location, drop by.
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I worked here in 1988 when it was a Chef and Brewer training house, it was probably was the cleanest pub in London, vastly over staffed, but then that's the only way to get good results. Then Malcolm and Marsha left and the whole thing went south......
juke-box and fruit machines and lack of attention to detail the last time I was there just made me sad!
anonymous - 19 Jan 2006 01:58 |
This is a great little pub with a couple of very good bitters. Popped in for a pint after work and ended up staying all night. Good quiz machine, nice bar staff and friendly customers too.
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A nice pub, small and very friendly..the food at lunchtime seems to be good as the place filled up swiftly with suits etc,Robbie the barman is am engaging bloke who knows a lot about the area and the tall 'Scandinavian(?)' girl that works behind the bar is a real honey!!!
Good beers and well priced for its location I thought.
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A fairly good english pub. A little to much like standing in a corridor (even when not too busy) to make it a comfortable place for an entire evening, but a good port in a storm.
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keep walking to the Red Lion on Waverton street. Unless you like baked beans for lunch.....
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Tony - It did improve a little. But when I went back in '01 to find some of the sofas held up together by tape, I knew it went south. I wish I was able to check it out back in the day. Joe
Joseph - 1 Nov 2004 17:48 |
When I worked in the war office's Berkley Square branch from 1961-62 the Footman was a popular lunch place for the officers and NCOs in our branch. The bitter was served in superb pewter mugs and it was a brilliant pub. An American crime writer who uses the names of British pubs in the titles of her books used the Footman for one of her books. I'm very sorry to hear it's gone to the dogs.
Tony Potter - 1 Nov 2004 03:17 |
Very dissapointed on how the Footman turned out. Used to be a very hardcore local at this place in the 80s, only to come back and find it in shambles. Used to be one the nicest ones in Mayfair up there with the Punch Bowl.
Joseph - 15 Oct 2004 17:56 |
I don't have so much of a comment as a question.l I last visited this pub in l989 and had an excellent dinner in the restaurant upstairs. The pub was unique with tons of atmosphere then. I would like to return there for drinks and dinner next summer. Can someone tell me if the restaurant still operates upstairs?
Thanx in advance.
tbeam@sofast.net
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Several ales on, very nice place if you're in that part of town anyway.
Pauly - 24 Mar 2004 18:05 |
Is it in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest pub name in London (or anywhere)? If not, it should be.
P - 12 Oct 2003 12:41 |
I used to work at this pub in 1996. The customers are mostly local area workers from the casinos and hotels nearby as well as office workers from the posh businesses nearby. The lastest remodel done a year or so ago was a disaster. A lot of the nice woodwork of the bar is gone as well as the traditional upholstery. It still amazingly has a lot of character though. The bar area is intimate, the staff is still courteous. Most cask ales are gone.
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Small, cozy pub located a short block from Berkeley Square. Popular place for after-work drinks during the week. May close early on weekend nights.
Bob F - 1 Apr 2003 21:06 |
listed as one of the ten most unusual pub names in the UK. Features in a murder mystery novel called the running footman mystery (US print). Beer OK, good guv'nor
robert adams - 27 May 2002 09:42 |
