please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Went in about half past two on Monday afternoon. Just me and the barmaid in the front bar, nobody in the back. Place was dead. London Pride and Doombar on handpump. Tables laid for meals but nobody eating.
Now seems very much like the poor relation of the Prince of Wales. Hard to imagine that this was once so busy a local that it held an annual "Impstock" festival.
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A much-improved pub under the new ownership. I have been more in the last time than I had in my entire life before! Good food and ale.
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Warm welcome from staff and one of the finest Sunday lunches my family and I have eaten.
Will definitely be back very soon.
(Tri-Chevy Club UK)
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After a few more set backs.....Im glad to finally say.....................THE IMP IS NOW OPEN........
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When when when is this fine boozer opening again?
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The Imp is due to re-open on the 29th of July
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Yes this pub is closed. The regulars were told 6-8 weeks for a refubishment but they shut the pub down. However, the pub is now under refurbishment and is due to re-open in 6-8 weeks. Seems they are contentrating on a family feel. Doing away with the barn to make a garden, getting rid of the darts and pool table and concentrating on the food side of things. Who knows lets just hope this old place re-opens as there is alot of people that miss this boozer.
Will update as and when i get more info
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Closed!!!! says for refurbishment, however local newspaper reports suggest a bleak future for this pub,don't be surprised if it doesn't open it's doors ever again. :o(
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Well worth a visit. Good locals pub with a wide range of products, Pool, Games Machines, Juke Box, Sky TV and spotless.
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I have to say i am so disappointed to see such bad reviews. If people didnt already know the pub has recently changed hands and it was about time. The previous landlady (is that is what you can call her) treated more as a play toy then a business and ruin the place. Luckily for the locals the new licencee is brilliant and working very hard to get the Imp back to its former self as quickly as possible.
I may be slightly bias as i have been going to this pub for almost 15years (not the 2 years the previous licencees had it) and it is really starting to feel like the old imp again.
If you have made bad reviews i would really urge you to try again, the largers are on and the staff are not moody.
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It is unfair to review a pub on the night a new licensee takes it on but I'm going to anyway. Bleak d�cor with holes showing where TV and dart board had been removed, although the seats were pretty comfortable, the Gents was very clean but a little vandalised. Apart from a fairly standard keg range the choice was rather sad Andwell with Hogs Back expected soon. Two bars with a pool room and the toilet section between them, the front bar was deserted earlier but filled up later; the back bar, by the car park, was fairly busy considering it was close to opening time when I was there. Lively bunch of punters who would probably find the nearby Prince of Wales far too upmarket for their tastes. The staff had obviously had a very busy afternoon getting the place into shape for opening time and full marks for their enthusiasm and hard work, it's good to see any pub reopening. I haven't given a rating as that would just be too unfair but I would urge anyone to go along and at least see what sort of job the new team make of it.
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Ok....First thing is first. This is and has been my local pub for many years now. It saddens me to see it being mistreated by those who quite clearly didn't know how to run a bath let alone a public house. Yes the previous landlady and partner weren't much cop either. I have spoken to the brewery and they aren't in any sort of financial difficulties neither are they prepared to put up with tenants not paying their rent etc!! As I see it all of the regulars have been lied to and taken for a ride. How hard is it to sell beer????....Apparently very hard seeing as they never had any to sell. I love this pub and can only hope that the new landlady/landlord can do it justice.
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I agree that the pub has seen better days, and the brewery have done absolutly nothing to help. I have been drinking at the Imp for a few years and have worked behind the bar for the past year! On its better days is a fantastic boozer, but unfortunatly for various reasons the pub has been in decline, and i believe that the most recent land lady did well to keep the pub going at all following on from the joke of a couple that ran the pub previously. Like alot of pubs due to the recession, and pubs and bars lack of help the imp has now had to close it's doors. I truely believe the pub has the potential to be the success it once was and hope to be back behind the bar in the near future!
I truely hope that pending a fresh start under new management people will give the imp a chance and allow it to flourish into the pub as i knew it when i first started drinking there... something that i have no doubts is possible thanks to its locals!
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I agree with everything lovepubsme has said. The Imperial Arms is a former shadow of itself. It used to be such a nice pub and now its a run down hole.
I dont think the present owners give a damn about the place hence the lack of lager/ale and customers. Even when they do have lager/ale it just tastes awful. Not a pub i will be using again unless it drastically changes
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Used to use this a lot about 5 years ago and like lovepubsme I was shocked by the change. It's dead. What on earth has happened top the place. It was a lively local but now - nothing. I was the only person in the Village (front) bar and there were less than hallf a dozen in the back.
Beer was OK (not good - just OK) but I've known more cheerful atmosphere in the waiting room at my local Crematorium.
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Closing down anytime soon?
I�ve popped in a few times over recent weeks having lived out of the area for some years, this once brilliant pub was my local throughout the 80�s & 90�s.
What a shock I got when we walked in for the first time recently��..
The first thing I noticed entering the front bar was the lack of ANY optics on the back drop and no customers, I genuinely thought the place was closing down!
Things got a little better when I walked through the pool bar, nice to know something�s haven�t changed although the table with broken baize looks like it�s the one from all those years ago when I was a regular (fond memories indeed). We were going to have a game but the cues were in worse state than the table.
Moving in to the back (sports) bar we were relieved to actually find some customers, finding beer however was proving a little harder! Out of 5 draught lagers only one was available, also �sold out� of Cider and only one of three bitters was on. So we settled on Stella A and a pint of Guinness.
Despite the advertising for Sky & Setanta, several people came and then quickly left when they were told �sorry not working� by the miserable faced bar maid who was wishing she was elsewhere and not all sorry for the lack of the football people had come to see.
When I popped out side for a smoke I bumped into a familiar face from the past and asked where all the locals were? It appears most if not all the front bar customers and half the sports bar regulars now drink in the Prince or elsewhere. Apparently the new owners appear to have spent a little on patching the place up but have since lost all interest and prefer the local night clubs to their own venue. On a plus note, it was good to see the car park finally got resurfaced.
Back inside I couldn�t believe the state of the toilets, although I was told they had be re-done back in the spring. It was obvious that a cleaner had not attended them for days if not weeks judging by amount of grime around the sink and floor. No toilet rolls or hand towels, hardly hygienic at all.
If I have ever drank in a pub that is clearly waiting for its final curtain this is it! IMO this should not be allowed to happen, this pub was once the very corner stone of the North Farnborough community. I can not believe the brewery allow this to happen, I know they can�t tear it down and put flats on it because the building is listed so why can�t they invest in the place by putting someone in who gives a damn and breath some life back into the place??
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went in here today for the first time today after living in the area for a year, good pub, friendly and has sky sports, darts and pool. good real ales and clean environment. one of the best in the area.
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Very quiet on a Friday evening, in complete contrast to the prince of wales nearby. The Ale tasted ok here to me, interesting decorations around this pub as well, not sure why they have the old fasioned tennis racquets.
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We have recently taken over the pub and are really trying to improve the standard of beer and service. We have got 3 ales on perminately and we are looking to expand our range of guest ales which at the moment include london pride and hogs back and next week we are introducing Summer Lightning. We have major refurb plans due to start in the next 5 weeks and we will be reintroducing sky TV in August. Feel free to pop in anytime and let us know if there is anything you feel the pub needs we are open to all suggestions
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Last time we wnet there was something not nice in my beer, some sort of new lifeform that had bread in the pipes I think!
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Just been taken over by a new couple so hopefully they can improve it a bit, but would take a lifetimes work and about 50k to get this place decent.
I love ale but when i occasionally drop in to the imp i drink lager... if a warm, cloudy and generally nasty pint that has been sat in the lines all day because nobody drinks it is your sorta drink then you wont be disapointed.
Most of the staff are nice but a fair few arrogant pricks for locals unfortunately
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What can you say about the 'pimp'? Well, the lagers excellent but the real ale is almost always crap (hell of a shame), the regulars are superb - always good for a laugh and a joke, the staff - once you get to knoew them - are tops!!
I love this pub, it's like a home away from home (which is, incidentally, just down the road!).
Doesn't compete with the more popular 'Prince' around the corner but both are going for different clientelle.
Is a bit threadbare inside - needs a refurb! - but hey, I like a lived in feel in a pub! At present is up for lease but we'll see what happens there!
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Beer quality has been poor the last few times I went in this pub so haven't been back. Always seems quiet.
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I have very fond memories of his pub from the early eighties, it became my favourite watering hole. People like Roger Hsrris ( now sadly gone) the thain brothers stu and steve, chris mac, steve, steve wylie and many more, the beer and atmosphere was always excellent. The trouble with a lot of summaries of pubs is people judge it on one visit. This was always a top class pub. If anyone reads this and remembers me Tim O'Connor my e-mail is [email protected]
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This is a pleasant and usually fairly quiet pub. The main bar, with Sky TV and jukebox, is the busiest. There is a pool table but it is rather cramped. The quieter bar always has at least one snowy-haired local staring at anyone who comes in, but they don't usually cause any trouble.
Jason Holdcroft - 15 Jan 2004 15:17 |
