please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Great pub for a quick drink before heading home from London Bridge Station although I do always end up staying longer than I mean to!
There is a brilliant open mic night on Tuesday with some surprisingly good acts.
I can thoroughly recommend the Waggledance on tap, delicious.
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Found this pub by chance trying to avoid the rain other day. Stopped for a pint with my mate Dave from work. Friendly place that thankfully has an outdoor area for smoking. Gets really quite busy when the office lot finish up but there's plenty of room to chat and quite a wide selection of beers. I'll be going back again.
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I stopped by the pub last weekend to have a quick drink with some friends I hadn't seen for ages. Turns out we ended up having more than just one quick drink and stayed there for the evening. We ate, the food was tasty, reasonably priced and served with a smile. There's even an outdoor area to sit, drink and smoke. Fantastic. Enjoyed the evening and recommend the pub for food, ambiance and a good evening out.
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We had a meal and drinks there last week Friday after work. The upstairs lounge was lovely and not over packed so made for a pleasant experience. The service was great and the food excellent. Great value for money and the beer batter fish and chips I had was awesome.
Unfortunately they were having problems with their ale lines so couldn't sample one. Pity.
Do recommend for good priced pub food and a quick pint.
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Went in after hearing about their weekly open mic night from a friend and found a great boozer to relax after work. friendly staff and good beer being my seller with red stripe on tap (awesome), the upstairs was decked out for acoustic artists (just for the evening) with quality performances and an abundance of styles. the back garden also meant no worries of falling into the road when popping for a smoke. well worth a look in if you in the borough high street area, tuesday open mic is top
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Went here for lunch the other Sat. Still a good pub with good beer......But!
£5.50 for a cheese and pickle sandwich that consisted of two slices of cheap, medium slice brown bread that had been toasted as they were stale, the thinnest piece of cheap cheddar and bog standard Branstons was not what I expected. Moreover, the other dish, Mexican Chicken, had way too much cheap, tinned salsa that was over sweet. Good pub, but need to sort out the menu, and also the toilets had not been cleaned for a week by the look of them!
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Popped in again a few weeks back - still like this place quite a lot, especially the little garden/patio out the back.
Decent range of Youngs beer served in good condition. Recommended.
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We used to love this place when it was non smoking before the ban, and you could always find a table upstairs. Now its a tad rammed and there is nowhere to stand really, unless you want to be stuck outside with the smokers.
Best thing are the plastic cows with your number on when you order, have to admit I stole one once, then posted it back!
Its great if you can book the big back table upstairs in advance. Really friendly and safe place, esp for in this area.
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Nice enough Youngs pub conveniently placed near to the station which I think is very thoughtful.
Wells Banana Bread beer is a guilty pleasure of mine and they do it here.
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Good Youngs pub just round the corner from Borough Market. Has been done up in the last couple of years, and although not a fan of pub referbs, this one is not too bad.
Has Youngs Special and Ordinary on, which are both kept well, to compliment the usual selection of others and softies. The Fentimans (sic) Ginger Beer goes down rather well with Mrse1 when she’s off the oil.
Major attraction here I feel is the rather comfortable upstairs seating, which is still in good nick from the aforementioned referb and always a good bet for a seat, as I’ve never seen it busy.
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I was here on Wednesday night and I liked it a lot. The bar staff were pleasant, reasonably quick to serve, and the crowd was friendly...mainly suits (nothing wrong with that!).
The menu looked good and reasonably priced, although I did not order anything. The drinks are not cheap but I did like the quality of my glass of wine.
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Recently spent the evening here for a friends leaving do and its an ok sort of pub. Staff were reasonably friendly and i would go back if thats any sort of recommendation. My only criticism is the lack of space in the main bar - large pillars taking up a lot of space made worse by some huge tables which restrict the standing room somewhat. Looked like they had a decent sized area outside at the back for smokers though..
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Caught by the old scam where a half of something non-alcoholic costs as much as a pint of beer, and you order a pint without being warned that it'll cost more than the GDP of Zanzibar... a round here was the first and only time I've broken through the four-quid-a-pint barrier.
It's OK other than that but stick to the booze, for God's sake, you could go bankrupt drinking orange and lemonade.
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Certainly better than the watering holes inside London Bridge station, but there are much better pubs nearby.
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Not impressed by this pub. Ordered food which took over an hour to arrive and tasted pretty poor when it finally did. Not cheap compared to other pubs in the area either.
This may be forgivable but the attitude of the staff certainly isn't. They couldn't care less that we were waiting, nor would they apologise, nor would they let us speak with the manager. They actually told us that we were being unrealistic if we thought any pub in Borough would be able to serve food within an hour of ordering!
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Shame about the refurb but still a good place for a pint or two if the Market Porter is rammed. Have always found the staff friendly, and beer OK
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I couldn't agree more with porks, BothamsAshes and GrumpyDwarf. But this is what Young's are doing to their pubs. I'm afraid that the Bunch of Grapes is not an isolated case. If you have been to the Britannia in Kensington and/or the Dog and Fox in Wimbledon you will see even worse examples of sterilization than that inflicted on the Bunch of Grapes. It's a crying shame.
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Oh Youngs! What have you done!!??? This was a terrific, well run boozer - whether for a couple after work before the train, or a more determined effort. Whilst the odd "sprucing up" is a must, even for spot-on watering holes as this was, this one has gone horribly wrong. Sterile, characterless and clumsy (although now has one of the better outdoor drinking areas). Worst of all, it seems the landlord who ran a brilliant ship there has (been?)moved on and consequently waiting times (which were minimal, even at the busiest of times) have increased 3-fold. aaagh!
porks - 15 Aug 2007 16:57 |
TheBeerMonster and SonOfTheBeerMonster visited after the Tour de France hit London. The beer was good, and the service was very quick (okay it was a Sunday morning..). Decided not to sit outside, as the bar-b-que looked like a disaster with smoke all over the garden.
It's just by London Bridge station, and it's a convenient watering hole. I've not seen it in the rush hour, but early on a Sunday morning it's a very pleasant boozer ...
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Have to agree with Grumpy Dwarf, whoever was responsible for sanitising this place should be shot. Gone are the distinctive grape carvings above the bar, the snob screens and the old signs. Yep the beer's still good but there's now no special reason to visit, there are more characterful pubs near London Bridge. Nice one Youngs.
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What went wrong? They've turned a proper old boozer with character and a cosy - if at times cramped - atmosphere into an All Bar One lookalike, complete with stained wood and rows of wine bottles on shelves behind the bar. Shocking, some might even say criminal. The beer's still superb though.
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I concur with the comments about the beer, which is well kept. The place can get very, very crowded especially on a Friday after work and some of the regulars seem to take a proprietorial view of the space they take up which causes some friction, but the bar staff are always alert and getting served, even when some fat regular is propping up the bar, never seems to be problem.
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so busy ,can take an age to get served.
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Pretty sterile Young's pub, of the sort that is becoming more typical of the brewery. But it was comfortable enough and the Special was good enough. I think the main attraction is the outside seating area at the back, which was well patronised on a very warm May afternoon. I don't think I would go out of my to visit it again, but OK for a quick stop if you happen to passing London Bridge.
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Liked this place so much I missed my last train. Decent ale and service, pleasantly tipsy Irish OAPS singing the auld songs in the courtyard.
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nice pub - nice little space outside for enjoying the sun. Pub is convenient for Borough Market and the Old Operating Theatre Museum which is across the road and well worth a visit
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Just been done out, a great improvement on a great pub. It now boasts an expanded outside seating area. Still good beer. The service is still excellent as well.
tanky - 17 May 2007 15:16 |
I frequently visit this pub and would agree with much in the previously posted comments. The “Grapes” is well worth a visit. A word of warning it can get very crowded. On two recent visits, both Thursday evenings around 6:00, it was impossible to get in.
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Decent enough Young's house. Nice original 'Snob Screens' all over the place, and a bit of a self-conscious 'spit and sawdust' approach. Beer was OK - and got better as the night went on.
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A better outpost of the Youngs empire. An inviting pub set out on two floors, with the cosy upstairs in particular being an excellent place to a enjoy a Winter Warmer in a comfy chair next to a real fire. Would be a great place to take the missus I think.
Too leathered to make any notes about the beer range (so a ready-made excuse to go back), but this was certainly an excellent terminus for the Friday crawl and a great opportunity to wind down in nice surroundings.
A definite place to hit on a Borough crawl, and worth seeking out for a relaxing/intimate occasion.
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Situated very near London Bridge station, The Bunch Of Grapes is a Young’s pub very much in keeping with others run by the brewery. I paid a visit last Saturday (6th Dec) and my time spent here was pleasurable enough. I liked the wooden feel and thought the lit candles on the tables made for an intimate and relaxed drinking experience. The selection and beer quality was good, but prices were a little dear and I did find the piped in music to be bland beyond belief. Get past these couple of niggles however and you’ll find here to be a pretty overall decent venue for a drink or two to escape the hustle and bustle of busy old London. Recommended.
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Hadn't been here for a while as it seemed to be going downhill last time I visited. Pleased to say that it seemed to have improved. Friendly atmosphere and efficient staff - even though the pub was busy.
The Winter Warmer wasn't bad either - more like I remember it from last year than some other Young's pubs.
I'll definitely pop in again when in the area.
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Visited early evening for a couple of hours and found the Young's ordinary beer really fine. Good atmosphere in the place and pretty full. Staff friendly and worked hard to keep the place tidy. Sadly too cold to go outside into one the more unusual beer gardens in London.
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A much quieter lunchtime sanctuary than the pubs across the market. It’s Youngs, so it must be good? Their Ordinary was like drinking chilled lager, the beer dead and void of taste. Switched to a bottle of Special and had to direct the bar staff away from the chill cabinet towards the shelves. I appreciate they’re attractive, reliable and polite, but Youngs cohort of Eastern European staff have been weaned on Polish Spirit, they don’t appear to understand what beer is about; thought it highly amusing that I’d want to drink ‘warm’ beer. And the food, what that about? Who eats this garbage these days? It’s a sacrilege, so close to Borough.
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Very decent, well run Youngs boozer. Well kept Young's range, polite and quick staff, genuine atmosphere. Landlord who knows how to run a pub. Worth a visit. Or two.
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Nice traditional Young's pub, always good beer nice food as well, in warm weather there is a little garden out the back that is very pleasant to sit in. Well worth a visit.
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Seems ok but it was closing (at 4pm) when I arrived on a Saturday so only had time for a half.
anonymous - 3 Jan 2006 13:27 |
What a pleasant change, a pub that does what you expect a pub to do. That is to say, keep and serve good beer!. A couple of pints of Youngs are most welcome at the end of a hard days work, and the BoG is the place to drink them!
anonymous - 13 Dec 2005 13:40 |
Youngs Ordinary was in fine form on my visit yesterday - in contrast to the rather insipid offering from The Wheatsheaf from where I had just come. Its also 15p cheaper in The Bunch of Grapes. Will try to come here more often. Recommended
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Good 'old fashioned' boozer. Well kept Youngs (should think so too!!) Good location for Borough Market. Would certianly visit again.
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Friendly atmosphere, landlord welcoming. Perfect location. Reasonably priced. Well worth a visit
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I agree with previous contributors - it's a nice well run reasonably traditional pub quite convenient for London Bridge station - hence full of homeward bound commuters.
Beer was in good nick. There's an impressive Bass mirror on the rear wall. Nice to see the picture on display of the Queen Mother pulling a pint - all Youngs pubs used to have this picture - but it's becoming a bit of a rarity to see it now as you go round the houses
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Nice youngs pub, good place to go if you're gonig to borough market or london bridge. The beer is very good and they have a sizeable range of youngs bottled beers (available to take home too). Prices not bad for the area.
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Fairly standard Youngs pub (not a bad thing) but the beer is well kept and the licensees/bar staff are exceptionally friendly and obliging. The food is good too. Does tend to fill with the after work crowd but I don't think we should find that desperately surprising! One of the best pubs in the area if like me even the thought of going into an ABO/P&P makes you want to hurl yourself off the nearest tall building.
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Visited last Friday. A good pub, reasonably well-kept Youngs Ordinary. Mainly city types in for a swift pint before their journey into the weald of Kent.
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Thanks Anja for suggesting this quirky boozer, it certainly is a cosy place with friendly (albeit eccentric) staff. I heartily recommend the Bunch of Grapes for lunches, with prices from £4 for decent home-cooked fare, and beer in a condition you would expect from a Youngs pub.
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One of our office locals, and probably the favourite if we just want a regular boozer.
Friendly staff, good service and well-kept beers, Youngs seem to have kept an eye on what's important with this traditional cosy pub.
Mike Hughes - 14 Mar 2004 13:46 |
Great Youngs pub with good staff, cosy, intimate beer garden and good clientele. Worth a visit.
Anja - 17 Oct 2003 14:22 |
