please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
I don’t often frequent City pubs in the run up to Christmas but a friend persuaded me to meet up for a drink and I paid my first visit to the Golden Fleece. I found it a fairly typical City pub with a good atmosphere. There is a small lowered seating area by the main entrance with a few steps up to the main part of the pub and a 12-15 person snug area at the back which can be booked for private functions. The island bar is so big that it doesn’t leave a great deal of room for punters, you can get one row standing at the bar, another round the edge of the room and just enough room to walk between the two. It looks as if they have a large downstairs area as well. The beers are Greene King and I had a few decent pints of Abbot served by the fairly efficient staff. A good City drinking pub.
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Been using this place off and on for a few years now. In short, this is a decent pub - winning brownie points for the speed of service no matter how busy it gets. They sometimes do live music which is a bit of a rarity in the City (in my experience anyway). Would recommend compared to the competition in the area
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A really nice looking pub. Central island bar which nicelt breaks up the interior. Usual GK beer. The OS Hen I had was good. TV on but with sound off. Service was good.
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Not much has really changed here in a decade, since I last used to visit (working then nearby). Standard GK outlet, with main beers, and as mentioned, a pool table downstairs.
All of the beer (IPA, Speckled Hen and Abbot) was in good condition and well served, not only with full glasses (rare these days), but properly flat and in the correct glasses! Something to recomend.
Only 'gripe' if it can be called that, is that the Hen was more than the Abbot, (2.80 vs 2.75), which is a tad sad, since they reduced the strength (and taste) down to 4.5% ABV.
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Great real pub. Manageress really freindly and works hard. Problem is that she spends most of her time in the kitchen. Really good beer and food. Staff are all foreign. If you want something other than a pint or a short their command of English leaves a lot to be desired. Give us some staff that we can talk too.That's what I call a real traditional pub.
anonymous - 18 Nov 2006 20:36 |
Staff are okay. I've never experienced them to be overly friendly but you can't really blame them. They're working in a place where they have to serve drunken arrogant idiots most of the time which must wear them down. I've always found if you're nice and pleasant to them you get that in return.
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Reasonably pleasant and traditional Greene King pub. IPA was only £ 2.40 and on good form early yesterday evening. This is an unremarkable pub not worth going out of your way to visit, but worth popping in for one if crawling in the area.
Incidentally, I'm surprised to see so many comments on the staff in this pub - at the end of the day, does it really matter if they're friendly or not ?. Unless you're a regular customer ( as opposed to someone who visits, say, every six months ) the chances are that the staff in a London pub like this will all be different next time you drop in.
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Ok, while I obviously commend the previous poster for getting punched by a barman, the staff here have definitely changed - they're all friendly and I was impressed by the way they'd walk round the bar to serve people in order (it's a big bar). The pub itself is a pretty good place - nice pint, a lot of pretty girls (who strangely don't look like they work in the City - ie, they look too happy :-) pool table downstairs, and while it can get busy upstairs it's a lot quieter round the back. It definitely stops serving at 11 though .
anonymous - 18 Aug 2006 21:56 |
I have reduced my rating to its lowest possible following being hit by a barman on Thursday night. If a pub is advertised as closing at midnight on a Thursday you don't close it an hour early because you "feel like getting home early". Yes, I probably acted like a drunk when I refused to hand my half-empty pint glass over but I do not expect a member of staff to hit me first. As a former regular (I use the term loosely, previously going there around twice a week) I would appreciate a bit more respect and would expect an apology for this behaviour rather than being squared up to. I will no longer give this pub my custom and would appreciate it if people who expect a good evening out not ending in unwarranted physical violence from staff followed suit.
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The place is really nice although it's often very crowdy.
The athmosphere of a pub depends mostly on its staff and all guys there are very friendly. I especially like that tall brunette with long hair and highlights. She sometimes even smiles to me but unfortunately usuallly doesn't pay a big attention to me.
Keep up a good work folks!
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I work for a firm in the City and organise lots of social events for our team. We decided to have a Pool Night at the Golden Fleece so booked the room downstairs. I can honestly say, the people working behind the bar were the worst I'd ever come across - they really acted like they didn't want our custom....
When we arrived we were curtly told that we weren't to go downstairs until 6pm on the dot because other people were using the Pool tables (why we couldn't sit and watch them god only knows). They took our order for drinks and then when they didn’t arrive the manager shouted ‘they’re in the lift’ (how were we to know?), then the Manager shouted at us for taking a chip before she’d finished laying all the food out.
Terrible customer service and really REALLY stroppy people behind the bar. We certainly won't be going back.....
anonymous - 16 Mar 2006 15:02 |
if you were on perception altering drugs you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a wetherspoons - a wee bit bland
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The Fleece has become our new local in the city!!
What a find,fantastic friendly staff(cute too)
Great range of beers,very well kept.
Havent come across better service in town.
keep it up as we are here to stay
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This pub is a regular once a month visit - as the London based Bristol Rovers fans use it to meet up. The Greene King IPA and Abbot are always in good nick.
Bar Staff are always friendly too. Had the food a couple of times at Christmas - they always do us proud.
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too packed. always. sh1t lager.
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I like this pub a lot - good staff, brilliant landlady and a decent range of ales. It's quite small inside though and can get very busy at lunchtime and immediately after work. Well done to all the staff and Greene King though, it is a great pub and head and shoulders above most of the competition.
KrisD - 30 Mar 2005 12:01 |
I think everyone's missing the point, it's bloody hot, stuffy and always smokey (AND I'm a smoker) The downstairs is completely random and I've never seen anyone down there.. probably due to lack of oxygen, a trip to the toilet down there is suffocating and the toilet itself is even hotter, so you come out looking worse than when you went in. Bar staff are friendly but I'd prefer a cold bottle of wine rather than tepid.. urgh! Basically.. no
CM - 8 Jul 2004 11:32 |
A City legend this place. Annie is now in her 2nd stint behind the bar - I first started going to the Fleece in the late eighties when she was just "staff". She was good then but she's even better now she's running the joint. A couple of visits will be enough for you to rememebered and be greeted with a "hello again - the usual?". A very popular pub means that it's often heaving with people. At it's best on a quiet evening, the interior I think is quite impressive - tasteful brasswork and rich colours. Avoid the seating on the lower level as there is a tendancy to get a draft from the door. I'm not quite sure what's going on with the new hallway area under the recently installed spiral staircase, but it's a lot better then the precipitous narrow twisty staircase that claimed the limbs of many a wobbly drinker in the old days. The IPA & Adnams is satisfactory, and the Guiness is good. Friendly staff, welcoming atmosphere, but has it's bad nights. Avoid when crowded.
Simon - 2 Jul 2004 13:14 |
Just popped in for a quickie. They have just installed large projection tv screen, presumably for the footy. Makes a very good pub even better.
Ringo - 15 Jun 2004 13:49 |
A word of warning regarding the pool, last time I went the tables and cues were in a chocking state… also a little cramped, perhaps just the one table would be more sensible. Apart from that, a decent boozer.
Dan - 14 Jun 2004 15:02 |
Great pub, run by a great landlady (Annie who used to run the Hatchett round the corner). Always good 1664 and Greene King bitters. Watch out for the crowd of forfait traders every lunchtime at the top end of the bar, they are city legends!
Cliff - 15 Mar 2004 10:54 |
Nice interior, spacious with plenty of seating but every time I've been there it's been rammed, which is inconvenient but shows it's popular. A bit more seating and two pool tables in the smaller downstairs. Friendly staff and a decent location, but usually full of city types. 7/10
Steven - 6 Feb 2004 14:15 |
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