O'Neills, Soho - pub details
Address: 33-37, Wardour St, London, W1D 6QT [map] [gmap]
Tel: 0871 951 1000 (ref 644) - calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras
Piccadilly Circus (0.2 miles), Leicester Square (0.2 miles), Tottenham Court Road (0.4 miles)
London Charing Cross (0.4 miles), London Waterloo (1.1 miles), London Waterloo East (1.1 miles)
Chain: O'Neills
Pub facilities/features:
- Sky TV, Big screen
- Fruit machines
- Food served
- Late licence, Wireless internet access (provided by The Cloud), Disabled access
Are you the Licensee? Click here.
> Current user rating: 4.6/10 (rated by 87 users)
> Hotels nearby: Search
> Local guides: London pub guide, Central London pub guide
other pubs nearby:
Waxy's Little Sister, Piccadilly Circus (0.0 miles), Blue Posts, Piccadilly (0.0 miles), Crooked Surgeon, Leicester Square (0.0 miles), Hogshead, Leicester Square (0.0 miles), brb At Soho, Soho (0.0 miles) - see more nearby pubs
user reviews of O'Neills, Soho
please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
5 most recent reviews of 77 shown - see all reviews
| Ok, been to this a few times so though Id comment;l 1) When the top floor is open, the place is brilliant. superb live (cover) bands, great atmosphere, quick(ish) service. Unfortunately, the top floor isnt always open, they then move the band to the middle floor (more of a wrap around balconey overlooking the bottom bar) which makes the place cramped and a poor night out. Also middle bar is slow for service. 2) For the people insuating racist bouncers, the head bouncer is African, as are many of the other staff. all are polite if you treat them with respect. Yes, I have not got in before, and I will probably get turned away in the future. What you have to remember is this place is in Leicster Sq. You cant treat it like a pub. ensure you have ID. Ensure you are dressed smart. Ensure you are not in a big, male dominated group. Want a tip? Chat to girls in the que, offer to pay there entry (£6) get there names before you get to the bouncers, and tell them you are a group together. Works every time. Get knocked? Chances are you will get knocked from everywhere in London 3) Full of drunk foreign tourists. Go up to the beer garden, chat to some girls, and you will leave the place a happy man! If you are looking for a decent place in London with out the pretentious twats you get in the clubs, go here. Just have a back up plan incase you get knocked (Walkabout, Temple) godson - 4 Sep 2011 15:45 |
| I picked this pub last week as one that was easy to find, large, and central for a meet-up with my friends. I'd been there before for similar gatherings and all we wanted was somewhere simple to meet up after work; nothing cool or fancy. It's a chain pub in the tourist-trap part of town - how much easier can you get?! The first friend there was refused entry for no apparent reason as the bouncers would only let him in if someone else in the group was already in. Needless to say this is completely illogical as somebody in the group has to be let in first! I suspect if the first one there had been me or the other Caucasian female in the group, we would have made it into Fort Knox. Sadly, this was not the case and it ruined our group meet-up. Bear in mind that this was a quiet Monday evening at 6p.m. and we were not looking to get raucously drunk, nor were we a crazy hen or stag party. My brother-in-law has also been refused entry for the same 'reason'. I'm all for 'right of admission reserved' but it all seems a bit random. I can say to O'Neills there are 4 people who will no longer frequent your pub but too bad this review won't get into a guidebook for tourists who happen to stumble off Leicester Square. Please choose another random pub in the area instead. AliciaM - 21 Mar 2011 14:36 |
| K I've changed my mind on this bar now. I posted on 8 Aug 2010 that the place had 'got better', but frankly I've just seen too much weird stuff happen there now to recommend it to anyone, Of course any bar or club has the legal right to turn anyone away that they think might genuinely cause trouble of some sort. But its so unusual to be turned away with no explanation, that its really an inexcusable insult. I've now seen this happen at this place, for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I saw one couple turned away, they looked well dressed and nice people. Completely humiliated without reason in front of an entire queue of people. I've seen it myself to many others also almost completely arbitrarily from what I can see. I was behind one group and they were just treated terribly, they were happy, well dressed, ready to have fun night and spend some money, just ruined afterward. So it really seems to be up to luck whether you will get in or not. So your decision to go there is dependent on whether you are willing to risk having your whole night ruined by this kind of treatment. Why is this happening then? The only explanation I can come to is that the door staff are INCENTIVISED to turn people away. Randomly if necessary. Why would they do that? I've no idea, certainly doesn't make business sense. But maybe they are trying to set up some sort of exclusive feel to the place? And its really very far from that -its the classic O'Niells, stale poisonous beers, with the small advantage of a band playing. The whole thing has a taste of very bad spirited Management. Lucky enough to be given the opportunity to manage a bar of this size in Central London, but unqualified in terms of basic human values, and respect for others. You can't fail to make an enormous profit in this location. They do lose business during the week though, thats undeniable. I'm not going again for a long time. Marky2 - 19 Mar 2011 18:59 |
| Avoid like the plague. Though that shouldn’t be too hard, seeing as my experience seems to reflect a lot of the problems faced by others who have made comments. Approaching the entrance on a quiet Monday evening, the bouncer stopped me, asked me if I was alone. I told him I was meeting some friends inside, but I wasn’t sure if they were they yet as they had told me they were running late. ‘I’m not letting you in unless you know for sure you have people inside’ was the response I got. I explained that I’d probably have to check, but he was having none of it. Seemingly realising that his reasoning was on very shaky grounds, he then decided to ask me for ID, which as a 30-year-old and looking clearly older than either 18 or 21, I no longer carry. ‘Not letting you in, you don’t have ID.’ At which point, I told him this was ridiculous and stormed off. I then went back, as this was absolute nonsense the way I was being treated, especially seeing as the pub looked to be fairly quiet. He refused to answer any more of my questions, failed to give me a valid reason why I had been denied entry, and so I feel compelled to let others know. I was dressed in my office work clothes, wasn’t rude and can see no real reason why this ought to happen. Don’t waste your time. manb - 15 Mar 2011 13:48 |
| In response to the last poster dee1ite. I went there last weekend as saw hardly a single black person in the entire place. No one. Which is obviously a really unusual thing. But it is an indication of the kind of atmosphere and weirdness of the place, which is undeniable. Problem with your theory is that the door staff, at least one, maybe two of them, are black. So I don't know how that works in practice But if I were you, if I were treated like that, or denied access a single time I would never give them my custom again. Marky2 - 11 Mar 2011 20:18 |
see more reviews |
