please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
The Swan is no longer as stylish as it used to be. The new decor makes it a bit of an "old man's pub" but the staff is really friendly and makes everyone feel at home. A nice neighborhood pub
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I wouldn't say it was dead inside or "awful", just a good deal quieter and more pleasant than before. Some of the pub's former clientele were of the rough and ready kind that looked for a fight after a couple of lemonades too many and, personally, I'm glad they're no longer around. It's got to be about quality custom as much as quantity, surely?
I think the music's quite refreshing! Where else could you have Pavarotti one minute and drum and bass the next?! The Old King's is more of a studenty pub; the Swan welcomes everyone as long as they're well-behaved.
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Awful inside.....Not too bad if you are sitting outside on a hot day. The Asahi on tap is pretty good.
However, the pub lacks any atmosphere and has gone to being quite lively to very dead. Music is terrible. I live locally and prefer to go to TOKH but this aint a lot better
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It's great to see The Swan come back from the abyss. It's turned back from the brink and is once again a pleasant place to visit. One thing takes the edge off things a bit for me though: I sometimes pop in of an afternoon for a quiet pint and the landlord is frequently three sheets to the wind! I realise this can be an occupational hazard but a) being p***ed in front of the public and b) p***ed during the day reflects badly on him and the pub. If he could ease up on the sauce, this issue would be resolved to the betterment of everyone.
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Yes, the seasonal beers are excellent and the quality of the draught ale is very good. I'm not sure it's a "weird" place though as it seems to be doing things properly i.e decent ale, clean, bright and comfy interior, efficient and friendly staff etc. The food's also good! It's everything a traditional boozer should be and the bar has been raised in Hampton Wick...
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The overall feel of the new place is definitely a bit weird - and I wonedr how succsful it is - which is a shame as many of the important things are now right, particularly the beer quality and the choice, Recently, this has extended to seasonsals such as Dragonsfire and Early Bird. I would return for those and very much hope that they keep the seasonal beers on!
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The pub's character has reverted to the quiet traditional boozer it used to be and the days of people urinating in hand basins, surly staff, fighting and drugs are at an end. Surely that's a good thing? The place before was well on the way to being closed down by old bill PERMANENTLY.
Sorry if the late hours rough-house you enjoyed of yore has now gone but the Swan has once more become a pub that one can feel comfortable in, enjoy a decent pint of ale (something that's improved about a 1000%!), some good food and be served by friendly staff.
I'd much rather visit the place as it is now than before when it was going to hell in a handcart. Clearly some are feeling put out that the grubby, noisy (and sometimes dangerous) Swan has gone. Times, places and people move on. It's called progress.
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I went in this pub a few weeks ago, and am not going to go back, I completely agree with what has been written. It looks worse than my Grandmas living room, The bar staff are unfriendly, the music is terrible and it doesn't give off a warm atmosphere.
The Old swan was brilliant, good music nice, Bar staff and there where many different people in there old and younger.
What you people don't realise is that lots of pubs have trouble thats England for you!!!.
The only 1 good thing I can say about this pub is that the Landlady was nice.
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too right ' googley_bear ' the old swan was brilliant , lively and fun , on a saturday night in this so called new n improved swan there couldnt have been more than 10 people , crap music , does indeed look like my grannys living room , i miss the old swan days of a good rave up on the weekend !! what has happened to this place ?!
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Can members of the landladys family and close friends pls stop logging themselves on here to write a load of crap on this web page about the Swan. Its RUBBISH!!
Tell me.... i have walked passed nearly everyday including on fri and sat nights and the place is completely EMPTY!!!!! If the Swan is now so great can u explain this??
All the regulars seemed to have gone over to the Kings Head (including middle-aged to older customers)
Lets face it, u made a big change and well done for trying...BUT it clearly isn't peoples cup of Tea...its either "lets go to The Swan" or "lets go to Grandmas"
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What a difference! it's like home from home, carpets, real fire, warm, friendly bar staff and management, darts ,pool table,and I even saw some people playing board games.
No more loud music so you can't hear your self talk, but loud enough so you can hear it.
I,m a smoker and there's a decent size patio area with heaters.
And the food is great and good value I can strongly recomend the lamb and Mash.And the beer is 100% better, best pint I've had for a while
Well done to the new Managment
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what a change. a great place to go and chill out
great bar staff and managers you would not think you could change a pub in such a short time.
Have not tried the food yet but it looks great and all at very good prices.
well done to the new managers
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What a turnaround! In a few short weeks a pub some feared to visit because of the issues it had in the past now seems like a totally different place.
Gone are the bare boards and rather down-at-heel interior and carpet and a fresh new and traditional look has taken its place. Gone too are the surly, offhand staff!
If you've not visited in a while, do so soon as you'll see what I mean and hopefully be pleasantly surprised.
Just to update:
* Sky TV, Big screen - Sky no longer a feature and only one standard size telly in the back part of the pub.
* Pool table, Dartboard, Fruit machines, Quiz machines (Multi) - quiz machine no longer around (I think!)
* Food served, Sunday roast, Real ale - still all present.
* Outside seating, Function room for hire - use of upstairs room for functions no longer happening.
The pub has an over-25s rule, is quiet, tidy and clean. Students are conspicuous by their absence but then they're all around the corner at The Old King's Head anyway...
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You can't please all of the people all of the time but it was widely thought that the pub had hit the skids in recent times which was evidenced by old bill showing an interest, fighting etc.
I sincerely hope the new management can turn it around and I look forward to being pleasantly surprised if I visit it soon. Blonde2008: I did leave and drink elsewhere, fighting etc not really being to my taste for an evening's fun. Good luck to the new people there.
Ps Why did ALL the former staff choose to leave?
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By the way....
the new decor is a good idea but pattern hasn't been thought out properly.
Still doesn't make it cosy, what a traditional pub should be... still needs a lot of work!
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I totally agree with whats written below:
Out with the old and in with the new...
You get trouble wherever u go...its not called The Swan, it's called England!
A pubs a pub....nothing will ever change no matter what name is above the door! :)
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It's surprising how many two-faced people there are out there!
To put one thing straight: staff DID NOT get put on notice. They all chose to leave!
It's amazing how you use the term "XXX" to hide indentification - but to know some details so well and to your knowledge know "everything", you must of been quite a local, so the pub couldn't of been that bad huh!
Anyway....out with the old and in with the new and I we hope u all find a new library to drink in!!! ;)
Good luck new owners - don't be surprised if its a tough ride as there are so many 2-faced people out there.
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I used to work in this pub and reading your comments makes me realize how glad i am to have left. I admit myself that the Swan has slipped dramatically downhill over the years; but do yourselves a favour and stop complaining. Enjoy your evenings out.
At the end of the day, as long as you have good company it shouldn't matter if the place isn't up to scratch. If you didnt't like it, why didn't you just leave?
Lighten up and stop being so miserable.
Good luck to the new owners by the way!
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This pub is currently closed whilst there's a changeover of landperson and a refurb. It's expected to reopen - with a over-25s restriction - in around a month's time.
Whether this will mean the end of fighting chavs, surly staff, drugs etc is another matter but one would hope so! Maybe the beer might even improve but it's more likely that pigs will fly past the window...
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The pub's been on the slippery decline for quite a while and it's no wonder when the staff are rude, arrogant, the toilets are a disgrace - frequently wet underfoot - the beers are piss-poor and occasional violence seems to be the order of the day. It could hardly be more off-putting for those looking for a few quiet pints and a laugh with some friends. You can hear the place from the roundabout as chart music blares from the open upstairs windows of a weekend (I feel sorry for the local residents). Despite all the aggro the place gets, it must be coining it in which is why it won't close on its own. Whether it'll be closed down by old bill who often seem to be around is another matter though...
Easily the most sordid and unpleasant drinking place in Hampton Wick. Avoid (unless you seek a fight, drugs, stolen goods, crap beer etc...)
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I went in there the other night. It smells of trouble. This does not reflect at all well on Shepherd Neame, particularly when just a few years ago the place was refined to the point of being at the other end of the spectrum. If there is to be a regime change, bring it on quickly. As it is, this pub's greatest contribution to the life seems to be the gaining of a CCTV for Hampton Wick - telling placed immediately outside this pub.
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Well, you morons listed below better enjoy it because The Swan is gonna change hands pretty soon. The staff are on notice and the brewery has first option when XXX sells. Looks like you'll have to go somewhere else for underage drinking, fighting and drugs. Good riddance to the lot of you.
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Peterpan overstates the case a bit but what he says is not so far off the truth. The place has recently gone over 21s only after the studes kept getting the place in to trouble with old bill. Man, the place is open until 1 a.m and there'd be drunken and rowdy studes LAYING in the street! Plod were hanging around outside like flies around a cow's arse! The beer's still poor, the place lacks character and the fighting's become the big attraction. How I LOVE the Swan!
anonymous - 12 Jul 2007 15:29 |
what a shithole and well worth a visit !
They say,
you can get anything in here from an ounce of black gold ( good price too ! )
to a nearly new sat nav ( they can be supplied to order )
lots of noise so take a megaphone with you when you order , they wont mind
and there will still be a fair chance that you wont get what you asked for !
The first thing that hits you when you open the door, is the stale smell of piss and the wall to wall sound that vibrates your pint and keeps a head on it , no matter how long it stands there.
You cant miss the women or should I say girls , the place is plastered with wall to wall sluts of all ages looking for a "nice guy" who can wine and dine them in the manner to which they are accustomed , Burger King etc .
Great fighting venue as well.
Not to be missed !!!
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I agree with joeysnail. It's not the best pub in the world, but not the worst either.
Very studenty, but that's not neccessarily a bad thing. And the service is excellent. A little grubby around the edges, but pleasant enough.
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There is a very fit woman who works behind the bar in here. As already said, good for football.
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Not bad pub, nowhere near great either.
Good to watch footy in, that's about it.
As mentioned below, don't order food. Very basic pub food, have eaten three times there, twice the chef/waiter couldn't get the order right. "steak sandwich" is brown rubber between 2 slices of no frills white sliced cotton wool. If you ask for "no dairy" it may come with cheese AND mayo.
You have been warned.
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This is the first pub I ever got served in, when I was about 16. I remember they used to sell Tetleys bitter at £1 a pint! It was very much a youth club back then, and a bit of a sh*thole as well. However, it has changed hands many times since then and is much better now.
I use this pub every now and then, only on Sundays to watch the football and have a game of pool. Nice enough crowd down there and the food looked terrific (didn't buy any, though!). Didn't see any coked up students in there, but then again, It was Sunday afternoon.
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Oh I definitely enjoy it mate! The Wick now truly has a diverse pub culture but at what cost?
A local told me last night that the students using the Swan are keen onn stimulant things not sold over the bar (as it were) and that plod were taking an interest on that score as well as the public nuisance being caused outside. Remember that the place is cheek-by-jowel with housing and it's not hard to see why some folk aren't happy with their 1 a.m licence. I'm not trying to stop people enjoying themselves but the Swan don't seem to care what their clientele are getting up to. Too busy counting the tenners I suppose...
anonymous - 18 Nov 2006 21:27 |
What's all this rivalry between T-Fosters and T-Swan. I've never known such childish behaviour from 'grown-ups.' If you you want to have a fight with each other why don't you just get it and over done with (I think anyone would pay good money to see that). Having frequented most of the pubs in this area from time to time - I always end up crossing the river the majority of the time. The Swans okay (yet quiet without the students - but good for the footy) The Foresters is fine if you 'fancy a posh steak' and the TOKH is fine if you want to see some live music, I just wish people would just stop posting comments about bullshit and try and enjoy a diverse pub culture in a very small area - you don't get much of that anywhere else (and to be honest not even in central Kingston) All this fucking 'Classy Foresters' (bradbus - tosser) and the 'More life... ' (anonymous below him) GET A LIFE and bloody enjoy yourself. After all lifes to short. Cheers.
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Used to be a good pub, but now you’ll find it packed to the rafters with students - most of them under aged drinkers that can’t handle their booze, start loud brawls outside the pub, smash windows and generally terrorise The ‘usually peaceful’ Wick. Not only has this crumby pub let itself and it old regulars down, but it's dragging down the neighbourhood too. No wonder the owner of the more classy Foresters slagged it off! The owners should perhaps practise some responsible pub management and turn away the ‘fast buck’, under aged students, in a bit to win back to the respect of the local residents.
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It certainly attracts a mixed clientele! It's now vying with the Old King's Head as the preferred 'after-the-pub' pub as the Railway and White Hart shuts at 11.20 and the Foresters at midnight.
One quirk of the place late at night: the music you hear are MP3s on a PC behind the bar and the same songs come up a lot so be ready for some Beatles mixed in with obscure techno tracks, Beyonce and Elton! As other pubs close, so the walking wounded make their way here (or to the OKH) so it tends to pick up after 11.45 or so. Unfortunately some are not able to hold their liquor too well and this has resulted in plod taking an interest late doors outside as it's very residential. If this persists I can see the Swan having its 1 a.m licence reduced to midnight.
Still, the place has a bit more life than the Old King's Head late at night. Now all they've got to do is sort out the beer quality...
anonymous - 10 Nov 2006 17:51 |
Well i love the pub, the barmaids are all friendly and the beer is good (got to love the Oronjeboum). amazing atmosphere during major sporting events, including the the World Cup, the pub was bangin, mostly thanx to me and the lads and of course all the fantastic locals, that remain loyal customers to the one and only decent pub, left in the area!
If a lively night isn't your cup of tea, then you can always visit The Swan on a week day, where it's calm and relaxed. it has one of the best pool tables around which is free thursday nights.
Cheers to The Swan for staying strong, and not leaving us with having to resort to 'Student Bars'. unfriendly welcome awaits you from cocky barman/barmaids just waiting for you to part with your money and get the hell out!
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Still featuring a good deal of live music (three bands covered by an admittance charge recently) and definitely a place frequented by late-night drinkers on their way home from more conservative places. Expect a mixed clientele with a large amount of studes spending their stude loans over the bar as it's within staggering distance of a hall of residence.
After recently being slighted as being "crap" by their rivals The Foresters across the road, something of a small feud has arisen apparently. It's somewhere to go when almost everywhere is shut, the other alternative nearby being the Old King's Head (if you like really quiet places at midnight on a Friday!).
anonymous - 26 Sep 2006 14:00 |
Comfy sofas, bare floorboards, good pub grub and very well kept Shepherd Neame beers.
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Now the place to have a last-chance drink. Large and loud music for the varied clientele. Pretty staff (nearly all female and blonde!). Fine if you're already tanked-up or too zonked to be bothered (Hand? Bothered? Me? Bothered?) to go anywhere else or go home. Atmos too flat to be silly. No-one over 22 need bother attending!
anonymous - 3 Jul 2006 23:20 |
the lads and i have been drinking here for the last 7yrs or so and its a great pub. its well kitted out for the world cup, two large projector screens on iether side of the pub aswell as four or five other screens dotted around the place. the atmosphere on weekends is bangin, its good to see a place pack in the younger talent as opposed to the other two pubs in the same road who's clientel id be embarrassed about if i was the landlord!
anonymous - 7 Jun 2006 09:36 |
Bollocks!
There's something rather...underwhelming about the place late doors on a Friday. Loud dance music booms out to a half-full room of uninterested students and drunken locals who have ended up there because it's the last open place in the village. There's little atmos or feeling of it being a homely local. The old bill have started to take an interest locally too...
anonymous - 5 Jun 2006 21:22 |
quite frankly im bothered what the beer tastes like, im not bothered about eating the food in a pub where people are allowed to smoke, im not to fussed about the music, and i dont care if there is always football on the go, there are a certain type of people i enjoy hanging around, talking to,drinking with, and other stuff...... ;-) , if the beer tastes like shit and the food is served cold... the conversation is still great and iv met some awsome people around the wick who do a better job than most pubs!!!!! the swan,the forresters,the railway..... they're jst the building and the beer on tap, the people are who make the atmosphere!!! nuff said.
anonymous - 9 May 2006 06:59 |
I don't understand why people have given this such good ratings. Sports bar kind of place with mediocre food.
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Recently inherited the mantle of being the village's late house as it's licenced to 1 a.m Fridays and Saturdays and midnight on Sundays. This was quite a feat as it has housing right next door!
Ale quality not greatly improved but drinkable in a kind of characterless, throw-it-down-your-throat sort of way. It's now the place people head to when the village's other places have shut. Expect to see staff from various other pubs and restaurants as well as the odd tired-and-emotional person who has been on the sauce since early evening!
Still has a loud sounds MP3 system and even room to dance, should that be your thang after a few. It attracts some pretty women, students etc. All in all a bit better than it was but no cigar. Will have a run for its money should any of the others go for a later licence soon. Best night to visit: Fridays (as in the rest of the village really).
anonymous - 10 Feb 2006 11:47 |
Fantastic pub - pool table, jukebox, nice decor, good beers, big screen sport (1 TV and 2 projector screens!). They are refurbishing again and it now has a beer garden.
Food is generally pretty average but the Sunday roasts are awesome.
I just don't understand why people have given this pub bad ratings.
anonymous - 4 Apr 2005 12:56 |
Bland! Bland! Bland!
It was an old men's gaff, became a youth club, closed down, opened up, tried one thing and another, became a youth club again, tried something else and is now just a sad place with AWFUL beer. Truly some of the most dreadful beer you will taste in your whole life. AVOID the handpumps and stick to the bottled.
Bare boards, modern, stylish and ultimately really dull. Discos upstairs. Not good.
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The owners have gone to attract the youth pound. Its ok but not much atmosphere. Unfortunately they now also run the Adelaide in Teddington and the food is suffering but too early to tell if they'll change the pub too much, hopefully not.
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One of the best pub i've ever seen. I hadn't taste the yard of ale so i gonna come back
seb
seb - 3 Aug 2004 09:25 |
Nice pub, good food, pool table and all the sport one could ask for.... on non match days is even great fo non-sporty-types.
(Cracking barmaids generally too)
Tom - 9 Jul 2004 17:00 |
Does nothing for me I'm afraid. Very 'sports' bar feel which is not my kind of thing. Decent beer - Oranjeboom, Holsten, Spitfire - and the food's okay, but as other posters have said not much by way of atmosphere.
anonymous - 24 Mar 2004 13:31 |
It's better now they've got a pool table. My mates bird works there, if you go in say hi to "Katie" - she has blonde hair.
Ben - 10 Mar 2004 00:17 |
Live music on Saturday nights starting 29th November with Kico Cowans Afro-Cuban jazz quintet
free entry, should be hot and steamin!
Sat 6th December Derek Nash duo
Ann - 7 Nov 2003 13:21 |
New managers,
New staff.
excellent on friday nights (live Music)
Sky sports as well.. best in the wick
Paul - 8 May 2003 17:48 |
Sell Oranjeboum, so I like it.
Matthew - 20 Apr 2003 17:49 |
Smart bar that is pleasant enough to drink in but lacks any real atmosphere.
Angus - 14 Apr 2003 13:41 |
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