Lords Tavern, St John's Woodback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
First time in here for years after the SA test three weeks ago.
Jay28 sums it up perfectly - the only thing he missed was the cricket nerds that haunt the place -not the bulbous red nosed jowly ones but the crooked teeth ones who keep a scorecard and leer at passing 10 year olds.
There are much better pubs down near Warwick Avenue so there's no real reason to go in here unles you hope to catch a glimpse of a cricket great from yesteryear. I've seen people like Clive Lloyd and Mike Procter in here although they obviously do not fall into either cateory mentioned above.
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Hearing the Lords Tavern spoken of on the radio/TV one conjures up an image of merrie olde England, the hogsheads of foaming ale, the rosy cheeked and large breasted barmaid carrying slopping tankards to the wooden tables of roistering salt-of-the-earth types. The floor covered with reeds and detritus and perhaps a dog or two skulking around under the tables looking for tidbits. The roaring log fires with high backed chairs pulled up around where the Doctor and the Parson sit debating the issue of the day with the Squire over their long claypipes full of pungent tobacco.
Well, the reality is somewhat different. The Tavern is in fact a ground floor room in what looks like a 1960s office block (think concrete, steel and glass). You enter through patio doors into what can only be described as a trendy wine bar. Upon entering I was eyed over by a chap who I assumed was the manager/maitre'd and was grudgingly allowed to pass to the bar (although it was touch and go as my desert combat boots and jeans didn't really seem to be his cup of Earl Grey with lemon).
Most of the room is given over to a restaurant but there are a few tables for drinkers if you can get one. The selection of beers is fair, but leans heavily in the direction of lager. Two handpumps serve Marstons ales, which were not in great shape and the staff did not seem to have been instructed in the correct use of the handpumps. The prices are quite remarkably high with some of the lagers topping the £4/pint mark, very poor, even by London standards, as drinkers we really shouldn't be giving our custom to these profiteers whoch charge such a premium for grog.
Service is slow and gormless, most of the bar staff seemed to be skulking in some backroom or kitchen, there was a lad at the bar who served me, but the next few customers who came in after me had to wander round to the kitchen to ask to be served.
My dander was further elevated by a couple of pissed expense account twerps in MCC ties braying and giggling at one of the restaurant tables. Where do these arseholes come from? Are they vomitted out of some government laboratory in the City with their shining pates, jowls and double breasted pinstripe already fully formed? Never have I been so sorely tempted to walk over to a human being and administer an unprovoked kick up the arse.
So, Thanks Lord's Tavern, yet another illusion shattered. For those of you who don't want shattered illusions and empty wallets steer clear of this bar. I can best sum it up as "Run for wankers by wankers".
2/10
Jay28 - 20 May 2008 13:23 |
Someone took the character out of this place and replaced it with ikea style furniture. Good place to meet high maintenance SA girls though.
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I walked into this pub and felt like asking "do you serve working class people?" because it looks like hideously bland posh place. It's hard to describe - it's worse than a wine bar, it's worse than a gastropub, it's like a dull refurbished office with a few cricket pictures on the wall.
But then I went and sat outside on the patio and there's was some horrible family celebrating a wedding or funeral or something - hard to tell really. Their scummy kids were even pissing against the side of the patio, which in hindsight was a far more preferably option to having a drink there.
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I live around the corner from the new "Lords Bar and Brasserie" (used to be called Lords Tavern) i had only been there a couple of times in the last 4 years. The changes they have made are fantastic, and i can say this will be my local now. The food is supurb and the staff very professional and helpful. I couldnt fault this place at all.
Harry - 15 Jun 2004 13:50 |
This is quite possibly thw worst pub I have ever been to in my life. One thing St John's Wood lacks ina pub that shows the football, so my self and a friends walked down to tLords remembering that they have screens. They still, after the (to be fair not needed, and overly tacky) refurbishment, do have televisions. However the management and or Lords themselves are so arrogant in their manufacturing of a cricketing pub that they assume that people who like cricket will never want to watch England play football. This completely unceccesary attitude (the looks we got from the 2 bar staff when we asked for the footy to be turned on!) has done nothing to endear me to a pub that is ultimately souless, pretentious, oerpriced and not worth going into. If you're going to Lords - try the Duke of York; the Ordinance, or even (dare I step this far??) your local Wetherspoons!
Lee - 8 Jun 2004 17:10 |
Well I did exactly what I said I wouldn't do - I ventured back to Lords. It was Monday Bank Holiday and I was out with the family. The weather was nice so I thought - hey why not an expensive pint on the patio where they won't mind my nearly 4 year old daughter. There was a county match on the grounds but when I asked the barman if he knew - who/what/when/why was going on, I got a blank stare. So much for a pub that claims cricket as its mascot. I ordered the round of drinks after many deliberations since the above mentioned barman spoke very little English. A glass of wine and pint of San Miguel set me back £9.50. Didn't even have enough for a taxi home after that but then I only live a 10 minute walk away. I will not say that I'll never go here again since it is truly that close to my flat, but I'll pre-warn my friends to get ready to pay for the thrill of being right next to Lords since you certainly will not be paying for the service or atmosphere of the "Tavern".
LegalAlien - 1 Jun 2004 13:15 |
Due to the closure of Crockers, round in Aberdeen Place, I've tried Lords out a couple of times recently. Whilst needs must, I have already banned myself from going again! LegalAlien's quite right - shocking prices, change (an unlikely scenario) provided on a platter (Do they seriously think there's a tip in the offing at £3 a pint?), neat but characterless seating. One of my friends foolishly tried the Minute Steak Sandwich at just under a tenner - yikes - only to find they had complied with the Trade Descriptions Act - the steak was minute!!
I've drunk at this pub infrequently for the last 16 years and the truth is it never was any good and it probably never will be but custom from the cricket ground will keep it going until the next refurbishment. In the same neck of the woods, but not close, either try the pubs to the south around Bell Street and Lisson Grove (Perseverance etc.), or the slightly grotty (Fuller's?) pub in Marylebone Station, or go North to a distinguished but classy and pricey, The Clifton on Clifton Hill (check the road out it might be called Clifton Vale).
Simon - 22 Apr 2004 16:29 |
Answered my own question with a stop by the "Lords" last night. Couldn't have been more disappointed had the place completely burned to the ground. More than 12 weeks of refurbishment created a nice patio/terrace with "posh" coverings but also managed to raise the price of a pint to £3. Overpriced, overpriced, overpriced. The "Tavern" has no pub feel or tavern atmosphere and feels incredibly manufactured. The staff were unfriendly and the 2" "German" head on my pint set me cross to start. I guess once the cricket starts folks will flock here since there isn't much around but living up the street, I will certainly avoid at all cost.
LegalAlien - 6 Apr 2004 13:50 |
Anyone know what's going on with this pub? Currently closed for business with masses of work going on. Is it just being remodeled or opening as something else -
LegalAlien - 23 Feb 2004 09:29 |
The only cricket-mad pub I've ever been to, it's on the tv and everywhere you look, perhaps unsurprisingly, as Lords Cricket Ground is behind it.
Nice and clean, large and airy, tends to be full of Upper Middle Class Caucasians on test days - which wasn't when I went, hence all that room.
Drive past and check out how heaving it is when there's a game on. Only if you're that boring, mind you.
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