please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
This pub was full to the brim with tourists on my visit, which isn't really surprising considering the location.
Greene King IPA, Pride, Bombardier, Old Speckled Hen and a lot of standard lagers were up for grabs from a friendly enough barmaid. There are two bars and the downstairs bar was hired out for a private function whilst I was there.
I’ve not really got anymore to say except that I doubt I’ll ever feel the need to go in here again.
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The Silver Cross is only set up for tourists, food portions are minimal and the staff, well they just don't know. The only good thing about the pub is the entertainment provided by the land lord and his better half..... Laugh they had me stitches all night long, but they didn't put their hands in their pockets onces........
TheDC - 11 Apr 2008 15:57 |
A truly awful pub. Its simply a tourist ripp-off factory. They are herded in the front in their droves fresh off the coach to experience a "traditional English pub", charged a fortune for drinks and awful food and then pushed out the door.
For those local drinkers, the experience isn't any better. The food is overpriced and comes in small portions. There is never enough staff working behind the bar and many of the beers on tap are often "off". The fact that they are so overworked probably explains their brusque attitude. Frankly, there's more ambience in your local Asda (and quite possibly better food and drink too).
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Vast Charmless tourist pub, the worst thing about working on Whitehall is all the tourist clogging up what could be decent pubs.
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Your last reviewer should have said:
"My recommendation is to skip the Silver Cross, and walk up Charing Cross Rd until just before Oxford Street. On the left hand side, down a small street named Goslett Yard, is a pub called The Royal George. Looks like a dive from the outside, though great beer (Grolsch on tap), good atmosphere and friendly staff"
Quite agree with this recommendation.
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I worked in The Silver Cross for 3 months in 2004 and judging by recent reviews not much has changed.
Some insider information:
- All the food was frozen and heated up when ordered. Meals were often delayed because of high demand and lack of staff.
- The beer lines were cleaned regularly, and we (bar staff) were told to pour with a reasonable amount of head (1cm). If you're not happy with the pour, definately ask for a top-up.
- We were usually very busy and understaffed. Each day large tour groups would come in and occupy the downstairs part for a quick set meal and 1/2 pint. This made the kitchen manic.
- Staff training was very minimal, though the job was easy to learn, and by the three month mark most people were fast in the job and could provide better customer service.
- Most staff left after a few months. Relating to the previous point, most of the time under-experienced staff were too busy and in my opinion probably the reason why staff came across as rude.
- The pub relied heavily on single-visit tourists. Americans are very good tippers. Most British waited for their 1p change. Still prefered most British as they knew the world didn't revolve around them. Actually Russians were best customers, best looking, and best tippers.
- On average about a bag a day was stolen from the pub, as pick-pockets prey on tourists. Look after your bag.
My recommendation is to skip the Silver Cross, and walk up Tottenham Court Rd until just before Oxford Street. On the left hand side, down a small street, is a pub called The Royal George. Looks like a dive from the outside, though great beer (Grolsch on tap), good atmosphere and friendly staff.
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I cannot condemn this pub strongly enough.
I am not a pub connoisseur, but I have eaten at enough to know what constitutes good food and service and nothing here even came close to that.
The staff member who dealt with us was rude and disinterested, to the extent that our order was taken incorrectly despite it having been read back to her more than once.
Upon receiving a barely warm starter (at the same time as one of our two main courses arrived), we began to eat and found ourselves picking around undercooked sausage and prawns that could only be described as 'suspect'.
When the second main arrived - a scampi and chips for my girlfriend - it looked suspiciously indentical to the cheese burger and chips that had been cooling on my plate for the last five minutes. After sending it back we were confronted by the same charming member of staff who had already undermined her earlier (baffling) arrogance by incorrectly entering a quite simple order.
We were tutted at and it was suggested that it was somehow our own fault that she had been unable to take our order properly. We asked if we could just have what we ordered - her response was 'not really', as it was 'too late'. We asked for a refund of the dish and were grudgingly obliged - although not without what had beome the customary tutting.
For our order to be incorrectly processed and the response not to be 'I am sorry, I will make sure you have your food as soon as possible' is bad enough, but to be treated like a nuisance for expecting the food that we paid for is nothing short of astonishing.
I would advise anyone in the area to give this pub a very wide berth, and if the management happen to see this perhaps you should look for staff who have the temperament and wherewithal to do their job properly.
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A vile characterless place and an abomination compared to the dinky little place it replaced a few years back.
Just dire - short pints guaranteed. No No No
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Characterless 'olde London' pub aiming at the Trafalgar Square tourist market. Was sold a pint of 'London Pride' that somehow managed to taste of Greene King IPA - how did they manage that?
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quite an enjoyable pub I thought, very clean and friendly staff. Seem to cope very well with all the tourists that come in.
anonymous - 28 Aug 2007 22:43 |
Visited London for first time 2 weeks ago. Therefore, I suppose I am sadly referred to as a tourist, when I thought I was an American looking for a good pint and decent meal after a day of sightseeing! However, with not nearly enought "authentic" British pubs under my belt to compare it to(trip only 6 days), I rather enjoyed my experience there. (Guess it depends what you're looking for-after first 2 pints I wasn't looking for much!) However, I now know to keep my camera hidden and accent hushed(any other "tourist" giveaways???)
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Always seem to go here for someones leaving drinks. Went there this week and sat on the table round the corner from the bar alongside a window. After a while, after a few drinks, chips and mayo, someone asked why the curtain was drawn. Good point so the curtain was opened. The window was covered in bird shit and I mean covered. It looked like the mayo on the chips. Bloody awful place.
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Horrible horrible place - stay clear
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This pub proves the saying 'you get what you pay for' isn’t always true. It is more expensive than the Lord Moon of the Mall opposite, yet inferior in every way - including the food. The Old Shades is also just a few feet away and is again undoubtedly a much better bet – how the Silver Cross survives, I have no idea!
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An uninspiring and cold pub, beer wasn't too bad but nothing to rave about. That's about it really.
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a right hole,tourist trap,go to the Lord Moon over the road
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My wife and I visited this pub whilst on a weekend theatre break to celebrate our 30th anniversary during the New Year.The Bar staff (3 guys) appeared to be all Aussies?Seemed to be compitent enough and fairly good at what they were doing. The place was full of tourists/visitors for the New Year celebrations and the food service was VERY slow,however i was pre-warned that it could take 45 mins to 1 hour,which i accepted.Whilst we sat waiting we observed parties getting the wrong or incomplete order, no order until prompted on 1 instance a German guy tried at least 4 times diring our 2 hour visit and still had not been served when we left. My wife had ordered a grilled Salmon salad and found the salmon to be "CRISP" as it had been overcooked!? When we were asked if we enjoyed our meal we stated our displeasure and were told it was due to "extenuating circumstances" WHAT? They were being asked to provide a service they were employed to do! I said to the waiter to look around and see the amount of food that was being left on peoples plates.Surely an easy indication for any Cook/Chef that it is not upto standard?Perhaps your Mayor Ken should pay a visit and see what sort of message this puts out to visitors to our Capital City and country instead of paying a company 2million to come up with the name of his new offices, "City Hall" or am i misinformed??
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possibly the worst pub in Whitehall. People who moand about the environment will hate this place - there's more wood in this pub than in Epping bloody forest!
Staff are exlusively from Eastern Europe (i can remember, back in the day, when all bar staff came from the southern Hemisphere). This means that not only will you struggle to order a pint of Fosters in English, but also suffer the bar staff pulling crappy half filled pints. Even jokinlgly asking for a flake in your lager doesn't work in here! Oh, and the beer is truly awful!
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grim pub in all senses. takes ages to get served, its utterly complacent, the beer is rubbish, i've seen mice and rats in there, its full of soul sapping people. i'd rather cut off my own toes than spend an evening in here.
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Once an old, narrow, beautiful and unique pub, now a rather bland "concept" pub. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they knocked down the wall to the Deep Pan Pizza that used to be next to it and quadrupled the size. It's a shame - the Deep Pan Pizza probably had more character than the current incarnation.
The T & J Bernard concept has a lot to answer for, and not just with this place. Why destroy traditional pubs, to create a faux-traditional pubs!? It makes no sense to me.
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Just started a new job in the area. Group of us went over for a pint after work. Sterile, full of suits and tourists, warm lager. One of the group had her bag pinched so watch out.
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Large indistinct barn of a place, empties and full ashtrays all over the place. Seems to have a high turnover of punters just nipping in for a quick pint, use the toilet, or what have you. That said, there are plenty worse places around and the service and range of beers was better than in most places. Adequate if little more.
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OK I guess.
Food is pretty good though service was not up to scratch on day I was there.
Good mix of punters on the weekend too.
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I'm glad to see Im not the only one who remembers this place in its previous incarnation! In the days of the late eighties when a really good pint of draught Guiness was'nt easy to come by in London, the old cross did a great pint. It had a nice old style charm despite the touristy location and an interesting history. Hard to belive what is is now.
Although I would'nt disagree with most of the negative comments below, the range of bottled beers isn't bad and the downstairs area is quite comfortable.
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It's an after-work pub, full of sectretaries and suits.
It does the job OK.
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Horrible !! Keep well away - though its not as crap as the Moon on the Mall.
Plenty better establishments in the area.
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Now that you mention it, smelfungus, I seem to remember going in here many years ago when I was doing a walk from a Ghost Walk book that I have. It was a small narrow pub, certainly nothing like the current incarnation. I should imagine that the ghosts have probably found somewhere better to haunt by now.
ps - I'm not deliberatley following you around but if you see a suspicious character wandering around a pub on his own making indiscreet notes, that'll probably be me!
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RogerB, you're so right. I remember when this was a skinny little pub, just comprising the area in front of you as you go in through the r-hand doors. It was dark, reputedly haunted and really very pleasant in an old, dingy way. This place is now a monstrosity. I know why they've done it, what with the big 'Spoons opposite an' all, but - no no no. No. If I'm in the area I'll use The Chandos on the other side of the square, or the newly 'furbed Old Shades where they've pulled off the trick of doing it up without wrecking it.
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I have been coming here on and off for a few years now and every time I visit, the place just gets worse. The beer (Adnams) was almost undrinkable on my last visit and my friend even moaned that the Strongbow tasted dodgy (this would suggest the pipes are in need of a good clean). The service is shocking. I was charged an extra £4.75 for a Waldorf Salad when all I asked for was 3 pints and a bottle of water! It then took management intervention and 10 minutes waiting at the bar just to sort it out. The pub itself was probably once a small typical West End pub similar to the Old Shades or Clarence just down the road but in recent years it has obviously undergone major refurbishment with extensions tacked on in a fake traditional style and even the basement has been opened up to optimise the crowds. The result is a rather disjointed, cavernous pub with a very plastic feel about it. Regarding the previous comments regarding tourists, I agree that 50 yards from Trafalgar Square you should expect a large proportion of tourists and personally I have no problem with this, in fact I am delighted they want to be part of our unique experience of pubbing, however, there is a big difference between the tourists who venture in off their own back and the “Optional Excursion To A Traditional London Pub” brigade. The main problem with the Silver Cross is that they reserve massive areas of the pub especially for the tour groups so it is not unusual to struggle finding a seat whilst half the pub is closed off. At some stage of the evening you can expect a 50 strong coach load to march through the pub, fill the reserved seats, eat their fish and chips, sample a ½ pint “beer” and then disappear for the “London at Night Tour” as per the itinery, t-shirt in hand. Given that there are several more pubs of much better quality in the area, I do not envisage stepping foot inside the Silver Cross again.
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It'd all right but not a pub of choice. Plenty of nice pictures on the walls. 5/10
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There was a good choice of well-kept ales, and the service was friendly and quick, even on a packed Friday evening. However, the pub is a bit lacking in the atmosphere dept, probably because it is spread out over such a big area.
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If you are a tourist to London, avoid it. You will be treated to the usual 'pap-on-tap' (liquid & soluble) and you will 'pay through the nose' I can assure you. I am an ex- Civil Servant who found himself in this pub more by circumstance than intention.
Biker - 31 Oct 2005 09:17 |
Does the job when you want a beer after work.
gumpy - 30 Oct 2005 17:41 |
Decent pub, with decent food. Packed with us Civil Servants from 5-7 Mon-Fri. Other times it's fine though. However, there are better pubs on Whitehall.
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well all i can say having eaten at Silver Cross Whitehall at least 4 times on different occasions is we have always been satisfied with he service , as for the "staff" all being foreign , well at least they have jobs and dont sponge off the government ! Also the pub has been described as "full of tourists" bloody hell its in London for Christs sake , i can say we will go back there because we liked it ! Ps a friend of ours came over from Brazil and we ate there ,, food was good,,service was fine,,atmosphere was as he described " very welcoming " say no more !
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The exterior of the Silver Cross is extremely enticing – a rich mixture of classic panel windows and a virtual forest of hanging baskets. Indeed you almost have to double check to make sure youre still in the centre of noisy London and not in some sleepy village.
However, once you step through the door that temporary illusion disappears, as rather than finding a nice little boozer full of smelly farmers sipping super warm ales, you are in actual fact faced with a pretty standard touristy “bar” cluttered with, for the most part, the usual formulaic crap (cheap wooden floors, silly regale on the walls etc). And in case you haven’t snapped back into reality, the pricing policy is blatantly dictated by that unwritten law of the capital – the closer you are to a tourist monument, the higher the implications for your mortgage if you want to sip anything other than oxygen.
Therefore, first impressions of this pub are not brilliant, as disappointment and annoyance arent the greatest bedfellows. However, there are some redeeming features that can, given time, slightly save the Silver Cross. Firstly, despite the wallet damage, the ale and general booze selection is far better than most pubs of this type. And the high prices – on the positive side – also means that the clientele tends to be chav and tosser free, assuming youre the sort of person that excludes civil servants and tourists from both categories (although in truth no set of people really seems to dominate). Finally, and best of all, the menu is not just extensive, but also pretty damn good – though be warned, its unsurprisingly a bit on the expensive side.
Despite its defects I`m therefore going to plumb for a 6/10 mark – a fairly good pub for what it is, but not particularly outstanding.
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Huge place, full of tourists, bit of a last resort on the whole.
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Bigger inside than it looks.
Staff handled our large group with little problem.
Drinks standard for the area. A nice pub actually, once the 'after fives' left.
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Service remains appalling too much of the time (although some individuals behind the bar do their best). This pub is only busy because they can rely on a combination of tourists and those Whitehall civil servants without the nous to have their promotion or leaving dos in a better venue.
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Nice decor and some of the staff were friendly...though others were frankly rude.
Just a shame about the dire service on the food side(which could have been left on the side for the HOUR I was waiting for it) and the obsession with giving you excessive head on any pint they serve.
Rob - 22 Jul 2004 13:38 |
I'll give it 3 for the half decent bottled selection which the ever changing barstaff/manager cant spoil.
In theory some good ales on tap but effectively they are for show only as they are always badly kept. I dread to think how many tourist theyve sent home thinking that real ale = vinegar on the basis of a visit here. truly Orwellian marketing statements on the walls claiming the pub represents 'authenticity' and 'tradition'. How the owners got permission to destroy an architecturally unique small pub and turn it into a faux 'olde worlde taverne' beats me (laws of libel being what they are)
Paul - 1 Jun 2004 14:02 |
Great friendly staff, Australian.
Fantastic food and value for money
Im not easily plaesed but I will definately go back .
tony clarke - 27 Feb 2004 18:28 |
there was a nice south american staff, very friendly but not any more, unfortunately
jon - 27 Jan 2004 19:34 |
Horrible fake wood drinking empourium. Bar staff speak poor English, no atmosphere to speak off. Although it's the only pub in the UK to be legally able to run a Brothel, thanks to licence given by Charles the first which has never been revoked!!!! Which is nice!
Rob - 29 Sep 2003 15:15 |
Went there last night, it was quite nice, but the bar staff were a little slow to serve you and it was 'service with a snarl!
Kate - 1 Aug 2003 11:18 |
They dont have Beck's on tap any more, unfortunately.
Zas - 9 May 2003 18:09 |
They have Beck's on tap! :)
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Huge pub split over 2 floors with plenty of nooks and crannies to tuck yourself away in - if you can stand the forests of faux-wood. Quiz machine and gamblers, music and food. Not bad.
Pauly H - 14 Oct 2002 16:54 |
