please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Typical huge Wetherspoons pub really. Bit grimy and dirty around the edges. Was there last night and the service was painfully slow. It would have been quicker to get a drink by raising the Titanic and seeing if there were any left in the saloon. Nice little suntrap of a beer garden though, although it's not particularly huge. Interesting mix of customers too, not just your stereotypical Wetherspoons regulars.
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I don't know why I like it, but I do. It's where joy lives. Bar staff are variable, however.
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I'd suggest any review dated before August 2005 is so far removed from the current effects of the two makeovers and change in customers as to be unhelpful.
Choice of beers and wines good, food good and its big pubby surroundings good. Apart from occasions when behind the bar appears to be like the Marie Celeste or a training ground for the terminally slow and bewildered, it's not bad.
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You presume correctly, Glasbowboy.
It's good - for a Wetherspooons.
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Visited this pub last Thursday during the Spring Beer Festival. A very good selection of real ales on and in good condition. Haven't been in here for about 3 years and it had definitely changed. Very much lighter and airy and as far as I am concerned a step forward from the original gloomy atmosphere that used to prevail. Also the food portions were better than usual for a JDW.
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Presumably this is the same Rochester Castle which was part of the gig circuit in the heyday of punk. I saw Tubeway Army support The Lurkers there and also The Cortinas, The Subs and The Jolt (I think).
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Alot different in there now all the smokers are up the back. Feels almost too clean, I was going to make a comparison (of the front bit) to the pembury down in Hackney but you will laugh and call me silly, but yeah, it's not got the atmosphere it once had.
anonymous - 24 Apr 2007 13:04 |
Since the sad demise of the Moon and Sixpence in Wardour Street, this is one of the best Wetherspoons I know.
It was already a popular boozer long before they got their hands on it, and for once they haven't fucked it up. It still looks and feels like a pub. There are the low prices you would expect, but the beer is usually better kept than in the average Spoons.
It's open late [Midnight Sunday to Thursday, 1AM Friday and Saturday] and the staff all seem fairly interested in serving their customers. The punters are a very mixed lot, a bit on the weird side, some of them, but at least there's a bit of atmosphere. Worth a visit.
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Not for the faint hearted the 'Roch', despite being a Wetherspoon, is about as close to a 'proper' Hackney pub as you'll get in the rarified atmosphere of Stoke Newington these days. Drawn by the cheap (even by Wetherspoon standards) ales and food, the old and weary, the disenfanchised and lost, plus the seriously skint flock to this house any night of the week. In the latter group are plenty of local musicians from punk to jazz, all stretching out meagre gig fees on the specials and guest ales. It's the place for meetings and discussion as there is no music though some of the regulars make up for it in sheer decibels.
A cultural experience and a must-visit for the discerning tourist with a taste for the 'Real London' this bar has been compared to those in Star Wars and Coogans Bluff.
Only the broadest minded of ladies tend to enjoy this place so cross it off your list of Valentine's venues. Mind you, the champagne's as cheap as chips!
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As wetherspoon's goes,not a bad pub.Nice conservatory at the back and an outdoor seating area.8 guest beers on when I was there and the ones I tried were in very good order.Again,most unusual.Then again,am I still asleep?
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Good points: No music or TV, so you can talk. Good prices on food (not all fried), beer and wine. Roomy and comfortable. No smoking area. Attracts great local characters.
Bad points: Untrained staff means long wait at bar. Screaming kids often running round on Sat / Sun lunch and afternoons.
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This pub is zen-like
People sit for entire evenings
Without moving once.
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Well it's a Weatherspoons so on the positive side it has cheap drinks. A reasonable selection of guest ales, inexpensive food (as long as you dont mind burger & chips). And, and... Well thats about it realy! So if your looking for a night out hanging with the local meths brigade or fancy an evening playing the fruit machines in a haze of roll-up baccy? Then this is the place for you.
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A fantastic pub featuring some of the finest characters in north London. Anyone who has met Don will understand. Guidance...
J - 5 Nov 2004 13:52 |
Formely the tanners hall, now a jd wetherspoons, great for cheap drinks, drunks and 2 meals for 1 £5. Does have a non-smoking area and 4 fruit machines on last count.
Jaysun - 8 Sep 2004 23:32 |
It must have changed a lot. In the 70s it was a music venue. I remember seeing The Lurkers (supported by Tubeway Army !) there.
George - 5 Jul 2004 15:38 |
Cheap drinks, full of old men, nice garden (although very little)
Siobhain - 18 Dec 2003 10:25 |
It's a Wetherspoons, so dead dead cheap, and about a dozen real ales on, and some bargain food. But unfortunately full of tramps.
Pauly - 21 Sep 2003 12:28 |
