please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Improved in recent months (appears to be new manager). Service now ok and number of guest ales better (although not consisent). But seems little thought to what real ales they put on together eg could all be around 5% or might all be dark ales.
They need to stock lighter more drinkable beers eg Bitter and Twisted, Oakham JHB.
However excellent value beer and food which really is generally very good for the price.
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wethespoonsky seems to be listening a little bit too much to rumours see people bullshit and if you listen to it then u are as bad as them. i worked in the wetherspoons for a short spell and can tell tou thats untrue.
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i tell u something more in next few month ??
Gues why?
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all truth about it .Does anyone think where the Polish girls are ?
does anyone like it moon & star as much as b4 ?
Dont think so .
And the GM have a romance with one of the staff.
Thats great behalf of Menager and so profesional.
HhA
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the_thirsty_moth I think you will find the previous manager wanted more than a rocket up his arse.
back to its old ways..........running out of drink.
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The staff need a rocket, or similar, up their collective arses. The service is beyond slow. Apart from that it's your bog standard Wetherspoons.
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Does anyone have something to tell about this pub??
anonymous - 2 Jul 2007 13:49 |
Always short staff
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Regarding Alph_river's comment about beer festivals, we were in here yesterday for the spring beer festival, and it looks like things have got better. Everything we wanted to try was on. Kudos to the staff for remaining cheerful even when asked to pour nine 1/3-pints per round!
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This pub has really come on in leaps and bounds in the last few months. The New cooling system means the lager is much colder than before and there seems to be a more divers range. Also, since extending the non smoking area during the day we have been eating here. My wife and I were surprised to find some "specials" not usually associated with wetherspoons - a smoked salmon ravioli with lobster sauce and a venison casserole - both delicious and reasonably priced. The atmosphere is excellent and the staff are helpful and friendly. This is not a one off, we have been coming here for 8 months now and have noticed a huge improvement.
anonymous - 12 Apr 2007 15:09 |
Best pub in the area, the ale is always in nice condition. I've never had a problem with the staff, even when the pub is rather busy. It can get rather smoke-filled at times though.
anonymous - 12 Mar 2007 14:38 |
A fairly decent Wetherspoons, but having said that... Our outings here during "Beer Festivals" have been slightly disappointing. The range of guest beers during the last festival seemed to be thin; many "Sorry - not available" handpump signs, and beers going offline as we were served.
At other times tho': capable service (for Wetherspoons), good selection of cheap and interesting beer. Never noticed the place being dirty as other have, but that might just be me :)
Cheers,
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A big purpose-built Wetherspoon’s pub which fortunately contains plenty of alcove seating to give it a proper pub-like feel. For a long time I thought this was the only place to get real ale in Penge, but recent forays have proved otherwise. Deservedly, this place is frequently packed during the daytimes but rather sadly this means that other worthy pubs in the area are practically empty. The usual range of real ales is available, and more often than not are in top condition… but, as we know from many other Wetherspoon’s, this is always dependent on who the current manager is, and how much he cares about his beer.
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I very occasionally go to The Moon and Stars because it is the worst pub in Penge, every time i do go there, i wonder why, and always think it must have improved and am proved wrong. Every time I am in there it is always dirty, the tables are nearly always uncleared, ashtrays unemptied, the bar is sticky, the staff are all permanently on "go slow", when they understand what you are asking for, and seem to spend a lot of time chatting to each other, in Polish I presume.
The last time was a couple of weeks ago on a sunday at about 11am when i popped in with a friend for a bite to eat, as we were passing, there were 3 staff behind the bar, and about a dozen customers, and yet I had to wait a good few minutes to get our second drink as one member of staff was on the phone, one was bottling up and even though i had been waiting at the end of the bar nearest the high street someone came to the other end after me and was served before me, even though all 3 staff members had seen me waiting, obviously it was easier to serve the closest person. We had ordered 2 scrambled eggs on toast, which took over half an hour to arrive (fair enough if lots of people were ordering food, but we appeared to be the only ones eating) and then the food was cold. We would have had better food and service in McDonalds....and that is saying something.
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In response to paddygalore's FIVE messages, I felt I had to reply and put on record the truth and an accurate account on some of the staffing, particularly your comments about the Polish staff at the Moon and Stars.
I have used this establishment for many years and I can honestly say that the staff they currently have (including the existing English blokes) are the best that they have ever had!
With regards to your comments about the Polish girls this is totally incorrect and uncalled for. As I did not recognise your remarks and in case there were Polish staff I had not seen before, I put myself out and found out that there are six of them who work there; Katy, Maggie, Agnes, Marta, Ola and Gosnia. With the exception of one (who I think is rather shy) ALL of them speak very good English and fully understand everything you say; in fact a couple of them are now sounding like cockneys:-)
All of them work extremely hard and if anyone can find two harder working girls than Kasia (Katy)and Marta I would be very very surprised. These two girls never stop working, even if there are no customers to be served they are collecting/washing glasses or even cleaning the tables, bar or shelves. The other four work just as hard, but these two really stand out and would grace ANY pub they work in.
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Charlton Barry is correct on his comments.
I made mistakes on my last comments.
Why do they not have one dedicated till at the end of the bar for food only.
The rest could be used for drink orders.
The Polish girls have made it better, but it is still hard to get served.
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For years the vast majority of staff were paid what they were worth,......... correction.... some of them would owe the company money for the food and heating they used......LOL
On the positive side up to when I stopped using the establishment with the exception of just one or two the staff were really good. Although it is annoying when you are waiting that they go and serve someone who just turns up (a good barman/barmaid should know who is next) but the real person to blame is the bloke who has just walked to the bar, 99% of the time he knows he has pushed in!
When I used the pub, (up to about 3 months ago), you could order food at any of the tills, has that changed?
Has the dryer in the toilet been repaired yet?
Also one Saturday afternoon, about a month or so ago there were loads of police and ambulancemen in there..........what happened ?.................did one of the little children fall off the bar, or did one of the teenagers take a drug overdose :-)
I notice that the police then forced the pub to close.
Can anyone update me please
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You can enter The Moon and Stars and stand at the bar waving a £20 note for 15 minutes and not get served. Then someone will walk in and get served straight away.
Why do they just have one till for food only? is that too complicated?
One of the reasons the service is poor is because spoons pay £5 an hour. Would you work hard for that?
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Charlton Barry is right.
The Moon & Stars could do with a good deep clean, the toilets have the smell of a public toilet on a summer’s day, the area around the bar is sticky to the touch, real ales regularly run out and are not replaced. Sadly this is not a Moon and Stars peculiarity, more like every Weatherspoons.
On a positive note the beer, they do have is good and the staff are helpful and knowledgeable. The last time I went there the food was delivered promptly and was good.
I just wish they would charge an extra couple of pence a pint so the place could be spruced up a bit.
This is a good pub, that serves good ales and meals at great prices I don’t want to knock it, but it really does need 'prettying up' a bit.
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What a sensible and moderate chap cbarry is. It is a great pub overall; great kind of 'local' if you have a while to get served! Wonder who Capt Ashtray is ? One of the top pubs I have ever been in, the staff are perfect, its well organised and managed, always a fine selection of beer's in clean glasses, the toilets are immaculate, never any trouble and a haven for all folk who embrace old fashined values blah blah blah. Keep up the good work whoever is responsible for this bastion of quality beverage and service. It's Pukka!!!!!!
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A request by posters please.
Over the last week or so there have been about 6 postings removed by the moderator?????
I can only think the reason being for this is that some of the postings have been rather personal (even naming people - eg Capt Ash Tray, who ever he might be:-) and also the language has not really been suitable.
It is important that you continue to post YOUR TRUE FEELINGS about this establishment, but please express yourself in a more dignified way and manner.
By doing that other people can then see what this establishment is really like and hopefully the Head Office and Senior Management will take some action.
Maybe someone should forward this to them :-)
So please good people continue to report on this pub (good and bad)and then lets all keep our fingers crossed.
ps Has the hand dryer in the toilet been fixed yet??
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In response to XMandyX:-
I agree with your comments 100%; do I know you?
Regarding Big Ang; she drives the 358 bus, she NEVER worked for Weatherspoons, she was a customer who thought she ran the pub:-)
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In response to simbobs:-
You say it is the biggest load of crap you have ever heard, well you would know as what you have said is TOTAL CRAP. It is obvious that you either have bad eye sight or cannot comprehend what is written.
Firstly I or the other poster have not critised the staff, in fact it's to the contrary.
Because you and your wife use it a couple of times a week to get a cheapo meal (and free drink) does not make you an authority on the place. You claim that there is a great selection of ales, yes there are but most are never on or the pipes are being cleaned. How many times have they run out of Carling, forcing me and others onto the dearer lager (Fosters); or how many times have they run out of Fosters forcing people onto Carling only to find that then runs out. Once again I do question your eye site; look at the glasses are they that clean, also as stated by xmandyx are they putting the right ale/lager in the correct glass? If I order a pint of Abbots ale (subject to availability) I expect it in a clean Abbots glass. If I order a steak do I get a steak knife or a butter knife?
You also mention about the sound not being on the TV; well you are wrong once again. Walking by there last Saturday afternoon I could hear the sound of the TV.
I notice you failed to make any remarks about my other comments.
1 The furniture
2 Always running out of stock, even lemons
3 On their Monday club the special promotions (Fosters/Cider) not on......someone never ordered enough.
4 Cleaning the pipes when the pub is open
5 No proper air conditioning
6 Young children running/sitting at the bar. In fact the last time I was in there, one of the bar managers (the one with a cast and dark hair) had her children sitting on the bar whilst she was working.
7 Teenagers using drugs in the toilets
8 The hand dryers not working properly in the men's toilet You obvious don't wash your hands or you would know that both dryers do not always work properly and on one of them the button has been hanging off for at least three years.
My comments were based ( upto to 8 weeks ago )on my experience of years of using the place, nearly every day for 10 years and using it like a pub, not a childrens playground or a restuarant .
So please do not come on here and give people wrong information about this pub just because you use it now and again for a cheap meal. When they have sorted out the above problems, then you can say it is a well run pub otherwise I would suggest you get real or get out a little more.
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In regards to the recent comments I have to say they are the biggest load of crap I have ever heard. I have been a customer of the Moon and Stars for 10 years and believe that the pub is being managed better now than it ever has. Admittedly there were issues a while ago but these have recently been resolved. There is always a great selection of ales on, the beer has never been anything but chilled and the glasses are clean. Me and My wife often eat there on the Steak and Curry nights and we have never been disappointed.
I think the last two comments are very unfair as I know the staff work very hard and are always friendly and there is always a great atmosphere in the pub.
As for the Tv Screens, there is never any sound on so how can they be distracting unless you stare at them?
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Just stumbled across this website. I agree 100% with Carlton Barry his comments are spot on. One thing he failed to mention was the glasses. They are filthy, an absolute disgrace. Makes you wonder what it is like in places you cannot see.
Years ago in all Wetherspoons if you ordered a drink you should get it in the correct glass. Guinness in a Guinness glass, Abbotts in an Abbotts Glass, Kronenburg in a Kronenburg glass and so on. This is not the case any more you are just given the first glass (usually dirty) that comes to hand.
Since I split with my man I hardly use it anymore, but when I was last there (8 days ago) nothing has changed. Still running out of items NO LEMONS this time............there is a bloody shop over the road where they can purchase them at any time.
It is of my opinion that since Big Ang left you company to work on the buses this pub has rapidily gone down hill every since. Although she was a bit over powering sometimes she was the best landlady the Moon & Stars has ever had and kept the staff on their toes.
In fact I have to be fair and say the bar staff have improved considerably and seem to be a hard working group, especially that big gay hunk of a rugby player he is fab!
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This Wetherspoons pub in Penge must be the worst run Wetherspoons outlet.
Furniture falling to pieces!
ALWAYS running out of lager/cider/beers............including bottles, shorts and mixers.
The drinks are usually quite warm (well not as cold as they should be through a cooler), especially the lagers and cider. As for the real ales, I am afraid they are not always looked after, also mostly luke warm.
They have a Monday club (this is the day when some of the beers/lagers are cheaper) but they are usually not on offer as the manager never or forgot to order enough.
Cleaning the pipes when the pub is open and customers are waiting for that drink.
No proper air conditioning...........smell your clothes after spending a night in there!
Young children (under 11's) running round the place and even at the bar (sometimes even SITTING on the bar) whilst they are being served.
Full of late teenagers in the evenings, drug taking in the SMELLY dirty toilet. To my knowledge the hand dryers have not worked properly in the mens toilet for over 3 years. They do not always pump out hot air and one of the machines has the starter button hanging off for three years now.
As for the food, yes it is reasonably priced, but the amount that goes back is unbelievable!..............cold; undercooked etc
When Wetherspoons started up it said it would never allow children in the pub, it would never have TVs in their pubs, it would never have music in their pubs............how things have changed.
Since they installed the TVs (about 6 weeks ago) I have and never will go back in there. The TVs are on all day and are very distracting! Yes I could sit somewhere else but where?........it means sitting up in the restuarant area as ALL the stools around the tables are usually all occupied from time of opening to closing. Rightly so these stools and tables are very popular, as it is away from the TVs, so as they are popular what do they decide to do.................. yes you have guessed it........they have removed some.
My comments are up to 6 weeks ago as I now use other establishments including the Goldsmiths.............so I doubt very much whether anything has changed in the Moon and Stars since my last time and final visit there.
Any case apart from the above everything else is ok and yes the staff are very friendly and on the whole very good, especially the little Polish girl with dark hair; she is worth two of the staff that 'used' to work there.
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Yes nix10, the pub has got better and its unfair to staff there now to tar them with the old brush. I have been in most weeks recently and standards of service and pleasantness are good, if not better than many pubs around and certainly many Wetherspoons. The beer range at the festival last week was excellent, and your steaks are better quality and certainly considerably cheaper than ANYWHERE else. Don't despair, we must be fair, you all do work hard I can see that, and if customers are pleasant to you we always get a good response. Its very evident to me that the (not so new) manager has turned this place around. Thanks.
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i must say i am rather disappointed by some of the reviews that have been left. i actually work at the moon and stars and have done for the last two and a half years, so i have worked there in the time that most of these reviews were left. i am not going to pretend that they are entirely unjust, but the current manager, who has been there for a year has really turned the place around, not just for the customers (as i have been told) but for the staff also. granted, there have been some utterly diabolical staff that that been and gone (thank god) but to honest, we've had a team there where every member has been there for at least 3 months and are mostly bloody hard workers. to tar everyone with the same brush is unfair. there ARE staff that care about providing good service and please don't think that that is always easy. please don't forget that the industry in which we work is long, tiring hours, for a ridiculously low wage, and yes, sometimes we may lose our patience. but to be fair, it is EXTREMELY frustrating when you do have dozens of thirsty customers "waving fivers under our nose" screaming out "pint of fosters please love" when you are quite clearly serving someone!!!!!! would you like it if we waved signs stating "yes, thank you, we know you are waiting"???? we are not perfect, and we cannot always know exactly which person is next, particularly as the bar is long and you cannot see all the way across it at anyone time, so all we can do is tell the truth and ask "who's next?" after that all we can do is rely on the customers to tell the truth.
as for the claims that there is never any beer, i'd like to disagree. for the most part, there are at least 10 different beers on at any one time, in no small part due to the manager having trained other team members, including myself, how to clean the lines and prepare the beers. if, at any time, you ask for a beer that is displayed and you are told that it has "just run out" i'm afraid you'll have to assume that it is genuine, as the manager absolutely insists that we have no pump-clips left bare, so much so that we now have duplicate clips to ensure that the customer is not mislead.
if you have come to the moon and stars, and had a bad experience, i can only apologise, and implore you to revisit our pub and give us another chance. the majority of our regular customers have nothing but praise for the changes that have occurred in the time that i have been there, so i hope that you wont be disappointed!!!!!
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Given that its a Wetherspoons and its on Penge High Street the odds of this pub being better than being poked in the eyes with a sharp stick are slim. The decor is ok, and they have a nice selection of beers - but dont expect alot. Crap staff.
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It's a Wetherspoons, so the experience should be unrelentingly grim but they occasionally have some not bad ale, there are pleasant little cubby holes to hide in and the local history posters on the walls make you think of Penge as a bastion of gypsy queens and canal builders rather than a bum hole of a town stocked full of ghastly fat tracksuits shoving burgers down their pie hole. So not as bad as other Penge pubs but only really worth drinking in if you've just been shopping in the Sainsbury's next door.
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I genuinely believe that this pub is trying to restore its reputation and popularity because it has not always been as bad as recent reviews report. Happily the bar staff are again attentive and pleasant, the tables are tidy, and the food is good. But the beer range is a sham. Several times now the tempting dispaly of pump clips have no beer behind them. Only a couple of beers are available as the others have "just gone off" they try to make us believe. When challenged you soon discover that the beer has never actually been available in the first place. Its like a holiday in Bulgaria in the 1970s - a four page delicious menu but all they intend to serve is a basic pork chop. Why doesn't this pub offer a range of beer for sale - beats me!
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The range of ales was excellent but my pint of Summer Lightning was rather "green" (i.e hazy in appearance and with an indistinct flavour) and as I neared the bottom of the glass I noticed lots of "bits" floating in the beer suggesting the lines hadn't been cleaned for far too long. I've never much cared for the pub for similar reasons to those already outlined by other reviewers but the beer quality was always fairly good and it's close proximity to the bus stop for my journey home and the lack of appealing alternatives was enough to retain my occasional custom. However this was the second or third time running I've found the beer to be below par. Not good at all.
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All the comments about poor service and uncoth customers are true but it's the best pub in Penge, sadly. This is partly due to price (Wetherspoons) and partly due to the incredible choice of excellent ales (er Wetherspoons again). A big pub, it usually has about at least a dozen ales to choose from and I've not had a bad pint yet in many visits.
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This pub is sometimes a disgrace,the tables in the dining area are reguarly cluttered with empty glasses and used food plates and sometimes 7 or 8 tables which is an absolute disgrace for a dining area,several times I've seen people go to the bar to gat a member of staff to clean the tables so people can have somehwre to eat in a clean area.The only thing that keeps this pub going is the fact that it sells cheap drink for all the geriactricts that visit the place as the place is so boring that the locals have called it "GOD'S WAITING ROOM".The staff are a shower of pompous gits who have the believe that we really need them to have a drink and every silly git behind the bar has a manager badge displayed on their chest.I also noticed that there is a constant flow of different bar staff,are they getting sacked? or getting sense.......Paddy on the Green
Patrick - 11 Jul 2004 23:27 |
I've drank here for a few years and in the pat few months it has gone really down hill,it's common place to see tables full of empty glasses and food plates because the staff have no interest whatsoever.The bar is constantly full of spillage and the place is just a kip.The pub badly needs trained bar staff who know what working in a pub really involves and not just hanging around waiting for the last bell,The pub at the moment is really a disgrace
alan kelly - 4 Jul 2004 00:01 |
I have never endured such shambolic service like it anywhere before. You'll see 5 of the little barstewards flirting and having a giggle early evening in the right place when no sod needs serving, and then 1 of them at 10 o clock when there's a swarm of thirsty customers. They just love to leave all frustrated fiver wavers standing like lemons with no regard for who was at the bar first. Every single member of barstaffs badges displays 'Manager'- What's that about? 3 brain cells between them and 1 of them is on the blink. Shouting and swearing across the pub at the top of your voice is completely acceptable in here (oh and that's amongst the staff too). On the positive side, you'll lose weight wasting away at the bar, the prices won't burn a hole in your pocket, and they do a right good frosty badboy pint.
Onya Bakqubitch - 6 Feb 2004 13:17 |
This pub is probably the best in Penge. It is a good place to go for a beer and a chat as there is no jukebox (Wetherspoons policy). Quite a mature crowd, so not the place to go if you really want to go wild. Also, the parking at the back is handy and it has three fruit machines if you fancy a gamble.
Sean - 14 Nov 2003 09:59 |
I have to take issue with Ian . I agree on one point service can be slow, but the beer is usually excellent and the company in the No Smoking Area is very friendly
Brian - 28 Aug 2003 13:28 |
Another wetherspoons pub, but this is the worst one I have ever seen. Slow service crap food holes in the seats.
Forget it!
Ian Muir - 23 Jun 2003 00:18 |
