please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Good food all day, cheap beer- what you'd expect from a 'Spoons. Probably the best pub in Guildford town if you're in a large group and want to sit down together.
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A place I certainly enjoy to visit when I can. So many delightful ales to choose from and the food is good value too. Even if its crowded the chances are you shall find yourself a seat if you look hard enough. Well done Lloyd's.
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Despite being labeled a Lloyds 01 from the outside, the Rodboro appears to have more in common with a normal Wetherspoons (the 300th ‘Spoons to be opened so the sign proudly proclaims). The building was once the factory for Dennis Brothers who made specialist vehicles (Coaches, Fire Engines etc) and the building was the first purpose built vehicle factory in Britain. Whilst not particularly appealing from the outside, the vast split level interior has many interesting aspects with the main bar partly situated in what was originally an open courtyard, now glazed over. It may be quite cavernous inside but there are plenty of pillars and posts to break up the open spaces. The sunken corner sofa lounge will appeal to those who prefer to sink into luxurious leather. They generally have 4 standard ‘Spoon’s Ales + 2 guests - quality is fine but staff need to pay more attention in the short measure department. They can also be very slow at clearing tables and the food service can also be particularly sluggish, even when they are not particularly busy. Upstairs is a separate balcony bar albeit there is less choice on the ale front than the main bar. The Rodboro is certainly one of the more interesting and unusual Wetherspoons but is slightly let down at times by the inefficient staffing.
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Yeah, can't beat it. Its what you expect, its what you get, the food is alright, this isnt some posh restaurant after all. And you'll always find new beers to drink here.
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Just passing by, popped into the ol' Lloyds Bar for a quick half and a quick bite. Met up with old friend Stella (always a pleasure). The Indian curry was a microwave special, but quite palitable and edible, and it conveniently filled the required hole.
Pleasant enough early evening atmosphere in the "Rodboro" so i stayed for another liquid refresher. Bar staff forgot to lock a side door, so when i went to the gents toilet on the ground floor i ended up in a broom cupboard...! (I got away with it at the time, so nobody knows...)!
Nice 'daytime' pub, 6.5 out of 10. TJ
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Claims to be cheaper in the selling of almost all beverages than other Guildord bars and pubs. You can't beat that, the quality is not worse.
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What a big pub! I think SilkTork has summed it up nicely. Barstaff efficient enough. Plenty of room. But they didn't show live football, only 'Sky Sports News' when i popped in the other Saturday. Not sure i like the sound of the over-zealous 'door managers' in the evening though! Maybe i'll just stick to the George Abbott... 5/10 TJ
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Huge corner pub with acres of space on three levels. The building was originally built as a car factory for the company that now makes Dennis fire engines. The view from the upstairs window is of the concrete shopping centre and a dual carriageway, but the pub interior is stunning. Great choice of beers, excellent food, great seating, good atmosphere. It's a good place.
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One of the better Wetherspoons. Huge interior, divided up quite nicely on various levels. Usual choice of beers, decent services although sometimes the bouncers are a bit overeager.
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A very large Wetherspoon's pub near the station. The main lounge is on 3 levels and is dominated by huge pillars and large trunking for its heating/air conditioning. There is a first floor which is well above the main lounge and has its own bar. The beer and food is the usual Wetherspoon's fare but I had Woodforde's Wherry and Beartown Bear Ass which were both very nice. The pub is spacious and generally comfortable. When I was there, early Friday evening, it full of young people i.e. younger than me! Although it was dark and grissly outside, it was still rather dull and gloomy inside, some might call it moody! Very unusual pub which is well worth a visit.
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I missed the brilliant 'Peep Show' on Channel 4 (hooray for the E4 repeat) to come here Friday night (4 May). Bouncers gave me no trouble on the door and I headed to the upstairs bar, where I was served fairly quickly. A Magners cost me £3.10 and the atmosphere seemed relaxed, if not lively in quite bright surroundings. It was not too packed either.
The numerous tables and chairs away from the area in front of the bars meant that people generally stayed in cliquey groups once they had brought drinks.
There was, however, a few youngish female talent in some of these groups which made great "eye candy".
Unless you include the main area in front of the downstairs bar, there appeared to be no dance floor, which I found surprising given the commercial tunes being blasted out and the huge video screen showing the songs being played. Another surprise was that Lloyds shut at 11.00pm, unlike Flares or Yates for instance.
In short, this place is fine to start off the night in the Bridge St area of Guildford for some relatively cheaper drinks. Yet the layout of the place creates a cliquey environment lacking some atmosphere, which makes it difficult to search for H-Files.
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Had lunch here on Saturday, one of the regular places to go for lunch in fact as its just very cheap. Has the 2 meals for £6.49 on offer, which makes the most sense. The food is fairly basic but its what you'd expect from such a place.
Generally find the chips they sell here to be worth avoiding but maybe some people like them. Generally better in the daytime than the evenings, as i've said before the door people here are a bit funny
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Nice beer and good food. I prefer regular Wetherspoons to these Lloyds places, but still - it was better than the Edward's place near by!
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The bouncers could do with learning some manners. Getting shoved out of this place after showing valid ID, isnt friendly. They could at least give a reason why, but they clearly make up their minds and decide they dont want you anywhere near the place
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Before the evening crowds descend it's still just about possible to get served a well kept, well priced pint, and still make it to the bus. Luckily I've never found the staff rude and always been impressed by the trouble most of them take to actually fill the glass!
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Ok during the day when there arent a thousand people in a space big enough for a hundred, despite it being huge. Gone seriously down hill since it became lloyds. Rammed to the doors by 8pm most days. at 21.20 the music is turned up so loud you have to scream at the person next to you to be heard. Weekends are now marred by "theme nights", such as back to school....
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Food good value, fairly average though. Staff unfriendly and at times rude.
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Service can be slow when it's busy but the beer (and cider) is nearly always excellent and _very_ affordable. If the beer is off they'll change it, no fuss. It's close to both bus and railway. Food is good value. What a place.
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been herea couple of times. nice food and a good selection of beer. very spacious and like other comments HUGE!
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An absolutely huge pub and it's easy to see why it's such a big draw. Friday and Saturday nights are just a sea of people though if you're reasonably patient getting served isn't too much of a problem.
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Excellent value food and drink, IMHO far better atmosphere than most Wetherspoon pubs. I’m not convinced by the conversation to Lloyds, it used to get busy and noisy enough before at weekends and now with the music being blasted makes conversation hard. However still an excellent and popular pub.
anonymous - 17 Apr 2005 18:57 |
Top drinky, crazy low pricy. Excellent selection of real eh? such as Kabutz Ale and P45. Irresponsably low prices for double and mixers so feel free to get hammered, drive home and smack the wife around a bit. Good place to meet up withs loads of friend. Stringent door policy means that anyone attempting to gain entry without ID will be forcibly removed to Yates. On the downside has retained Weatherspoons policy of serving incredibly squashed food, on occation the height of food may rise above 1cm (0.326 inches). Morale: blow your wad on drinky
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Great place, fantastic drink prices! A lot better now it's Lloyds, now got music! Gets very over capacity on Fri & Sat because they have 2 entrances and no way to monitor numbers! They have a lot of bar staff at weekends so get served pretty quickly.
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Much more chilled now than when it was Wetherspoons. Food is now cheaper if you "buy one get one free" of which there is a decent selection. Unfortunately, the third person, or the person who wants burger, has to pay the full whack. Drinks are still reasonable though. TV screens are nice but there was something good about the old way with no music. Yet to visit on a Friday/Saturday night but I guess it's still heaving. Agree with Russ, I think it was better as Wetherspoons.
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No real change from the old version. More or less the same style of furniture. Can now get San Miguel in a pint format which is a bonus. Better TV screens as well. They do seem rather more strict though about how people behave
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Has indeed re-opened as a Lloyds. During the 2 weeks they took to refurbish it, they appear to have stripped out all the furniture and replaced it with near-identical stuff. They re-painted it in subtly different colours. They also appear to have replaced all the staff, with the result that nobody knows how anything works...
Drinks are priced similarly, but they have a new upmarket menu.
It now has music, which seems to have suceeded only in making everyone raise their voices more. With the result that you can't hear the music.
I think I preferred it as Wetherspoons...
Russ - 11 Sep 2004 23:10 |
Is closed at the moment for refurbishment. Rumour has it that it will re-open as a Llyods Bar.
gge - 25 Aug 2004 11:26 |
Good place for cheap drinks. a wide range for a pub (the widest range, of course, is from the off-licence but that doesn't stop you going to a pub every now and again. Quite a relaxed atmosphere but not too staid either. Just a word of warning: it can get very crowded, even on Thursday night.
Will - 3 Aug 2004 12:58 |
A nice spitfire. Drink spitfire all day here for a very cheap price. You can never get enough spitefire at wetherspoons
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The staff are really awesome in this pub.
Ali Howson - 29 Apr 2004 16:06 |
Cheap beer and very big! full of students.
Lee - 16 Apr 2004 20:32 |
Good if you're on a tight budget. Reasonably well run, but rammed with teenagers and students because it's cheap!
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As with all Wetherspoons pubs I've visited, this one is very good. Great choice of real ale at a very real prices. The food too is excellent value for money - I've paid a lot more for worse.
It seems that most of the other comments are from 'night-visitors' - but all my many visits have been at lunch time (only one negative point; there was an unacceptably long queue at the upstrairs bar - but service was quite quick after the order was taken)
Highly recommended!
Malcolm Cornwall - 7 Feb 2004 17:29 |
The place is big, which is about it's only merit other than some of the only reasonable beer in town. Takes far too long to get served though, the food is crap, it's rammed with teens, the bouncers frequently ID people in their mid 20's but seem to let in the kids, tables are never cleared fast enough and are normally sticky. Yuck.
ANoN - 29 Jan 2004 15:58 |
This is a decent pub in an attractive building, and the layout means you can get away from the masses even though it's such a big place. The vast bar means the bar staff are spread thinner than marmite and it takes an age to get served. Also, you will be barged about by ignorant teenagers - but at least they're all over 18, since anyone without one of the two forms of ID they demand will be eaten by the mad-eyed female bouncer.
The food here is excellent and cheap, and on a Friday or Saturday night the place is full of giggly young women and desperate young men all making lots of eye contact. I find that kind of thing entertaining.
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Cheep on food and drink, no bad music (well no music). Not easy to get served but can't complain for the price!
OpheliaImmortal - 23 Dec 2003 14:22 |
If you have a free evening go here and waste it trying to get served!
monty - 28 Nov 2003 16:30 |
This pub gets really full, but only because you cannot get served.
anonymous - 18 Oct 2003 01:58 |
If you want to fit in with Guildford teenagers, refer to this place as "Spoons".
Vindaloo - 23 Aug 2003 12:23 |
One of the cheapest pubs I know, especially on a Monday evening. Normally bulging with people on Friday & Saturday nights but otherwise a good all-round family pub.
James - 4 Aug 2003 00:32 |
Cheap beer, great variety, good food, though it can get very crowded in the evening. Best time to go there is early evening or lunchtime, when it's mostly deserted and the service is quick.
Russ - 2 Aug 2003 10:24 |
I forgot about the bouncers! Picture the scene, we had just beaten the Argies 1-0, the nation was in high spirits and I wasn't allowed in because I had a St Georges Cross on my shirt!!
Pitiful!
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very strict on the door, im 25, and the doormen can sometimes be a bit up themselfs, i have never been i.d in guilford (at least for the past six years) i have lived there all my life and most certainly look my age, but was told i didnt look 18.......dont think i will ever go back there again, even if it is cheap, it can be a bit clicky. Edwards is by far more friendly, all smiles on the door.
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This place can be a bit hit and miss. The trouble is if you serve cheap drinks you attract cheap pykies and this place is full of them early on in the evening, many of which have unsightly facial hair.
While I don't mind having a cheap pint, I'd rather pay a bit more and have some music and the absence of Old Spice.
Dispite what Ben says, service can be very slow as they decide to clean optics at the busiest times of the night...
Matt Le Ross - 6 Jun 2003 14:13 |
Not a very good wetherspons - service is slow, it's generally crowded and half the beers (and other drinks) are usually off.
Hannah - 5 Jun 2003 09:51 |
It's just another 'spoons!' Same as every other one. Cheap drinks, microwavable food, no music, and looks like an old man's pub! Not worth going to when you've got Edwards and Yates' on the same road!
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"Love it or hate it, this has to be one of if not the largest pub in Guildford." - I've heard tell it's the largest in the country.
Seán - 17 Mar 2003 09:24 |
"There is frequently more staff than customers (especially during the afternoon), but you still have on average a 10 to 15 minute wait to be served. Cheapest beer in town though." ---- I disagree, service is fast and friendly
Ben - 30 Jan 2003 18:57 |
There is frequently more staff than customers (especially during the afternoon), but you still have on average a 10 to 15 minute wait to be served. Cheapest beer in town though.
Harry - 25 Nov 2002 08:40 |
One of 4 pubs on Bridge Street in Guildford. Very popular on Friday evenings- you will be queueing for drinks unless you have your basic barging skills certificate. Try upstairs, it has more carpet than downstairs. Love it or hate it, this has to be one of if not the largest pub in Guildford.
David Miller - 11 Nov 2002 21:52 |
Is very big with mixed age groups. But lack of music makes it shit. Quite strict with I.D's- alot of students!!!
Charlotte - 18 Sep 2002 18:31 |
