BITE user comments - Slipperduke
Comments by Slipperduke
The Junction Tavern, Kentish Town
This is a pleasant enough place, but it lacks a bit of character for me. Very much a gastro pub, I'm sure it's a splendid place to sit on a Sunday afternoon with all the colour supplements and a nice glass of wine. Doesn't really fit the bill for a few pints though.
Clean, friendly and utterly nice.
1 Jun 2006 20:39
This pub is sort of like the friendly, but mentally damaged, person who accosts you in the supermarket.
You'd never describe it as being impressive, but it's fairly harmless and clearly barking mad.
It's full of mad old Irishmen, mad old slappers, mad young chavs, mad young chavettes and the occasional bewildered looking stranger. They tend to have all the TVs tuned into Celebrity Ice Dancing and turned up and you can always hear someone screaming in the background for some reason.
One to avoid unless you're in a sympathetic and understanding kind of mood.
1 Jun 2006 20:37
This isn't just a pub, it's more a way of life. If anything ever happened to it, I'd probably hurl myself off a bridge, such would be my anguish.
If you were to offer me the choice of a date with Keira Knightly or Scarlett Johannson, I'd be a little hesitant at first and, in truth, I'd probably toss a coin. Either way, I'd take them to Quinns. Keira would love the exotic beer and I know that Scarlett has a thing for Dry Roasted peanuts, so she'd love it.
Anyway, top pub. Keep up the good work
29 Mar 2006 11:49
You know how every pub has one bloke who's just a complete shambles? You know the one; he wanders in smelling of wee, bumps into tables, barks at the barstaff and generally makes a nuisance of himself.
Every single person in The Halfway House is that person. If you are even remotely sane you just will not fit in.
It's an uncompromising freak show and it smells like someone died in there. They probably did.
Avoid.
21 Jun 2005 16:16
This is a little gem of a pub, with a magnificent selection of fine ales, cold lagers and pert-bottomed European barmaids.
I don't know about you, but that ticks a lot of boxes in my book.
27 Apr 2005 12:42
In an area teeming with morons in suits, swigging bottles of continental lager and braying about profit margins, this place is a godsend.
I always said that I'd rather stick plastic forks in my eyes than go drinking in a city pub, but this establishment has given me a way out.
It's one of those odd little gothic chain pubs, but it's awfully nice with it. Decent beer, friendly staff, nice atmosphere. What more could you want?
What's that?
You want to tell me about your profit margins?
Get out.
1 Feb 2005 11:54
This was surprisingly alright actually. Quite busy, but just enough room, nice and dark, good selection of beer and friendly bar staff.
Er, for once I've got nothing to whinge about.
27 Oct 2004 15:19
This place is huge. Just when you think you've seen all of it, you try and find the toilets and find another 200 seats hidden out the back.
There's nothing wrong with it, I guess, but there's not much that's right either.
It needs to make up its mind how it feels about sport. If it wants to show matches, then turn the volume on and do it. If not, can the bar staff turn the telly off? It's impossible to have a conversation while there's a random football match on in the background that you can't really get into because someone keeps playing Beyonce.
25 Oct 2004 17:32
Sweet Jesus, do I not like this. I can't say enough bad things about the DJ's, I really can't. I know that everyone has to start somewhere, but seriously, someone should check whether they know how to mix or not.
I lost count of the amount of times I was torn away from bellowing a conversation to my friend to marvel at the staggering level of incompetence being displayed on the decks. It's not rocket science, just get one song to blend into another by starting the latter on the beat of the former . Don't just play two random tracks and hope that it works. It was horrible.
I'm hoping that I can get through the rest of my life without having to return here, I really am.
And I heartily agree with Travis on the sofa issue.
25 Oct 2004 17:25
Hmm, I can see sides of Ruby's arguement, yet at the same time I have to agree with Travis.
This is a very 'nice' pub. There's no trouble, no sense that trouble might be approaching and, indeed, no prospect that trouble will ever stop in for a quick chat. This, along with the decent beer, nice atmosphere etc, is a good thing. I think we're all agreed on that point.
However, having said that, there isn't an awfully strong basis on which I can recommend it. It doesn't have any kind of personality, I can't imagine staying there for more than one or two drinks. Added to which it attracts lots of people who take their trainers off and sit with their bare feet up on the low tables, which is all very well in an Ikea advert, but frankly it's pushing your luck in a North London boozer.
Do: Go there for a quick drink with your girlfriend before heading over the road to the nice little Italian restuarant.
Don't: Go there with your flatmate to drunkenly discuss Southend's promotion hopes, your ex-girlfriend and how great lesbians are.
25 Oct 2004 17:16
Ye Olde Swiss Cottage, Swiss Cottage
I can't really put it much better than Muff really. It's not terrible, but I don't recommend sitting outside. I feels like you're having a pint in the slow lane of the M25.
25 Oct 2004 17:06
Hmm, Overloud, souless R'nB? Rammed to the point of bursting with tracksuited, white trainered, gold sovereigned Neds? Yup, that'll be the 317.
Absolute arse. The only reason I'm not giving it a '1' is that there are lots of TV's for the football.
This area is an absolute barren patch for pubs. My advice; get a bus, go somewhere good.
25 Oct 2004 17:03
I love this pub. I love it like a very fluffy puppy that's so soft and adorable that I could just stare at it all day. It's warm, it's sweet, it's got good beer, nice staff, good lighting, decent neighbourhood. In short, there is nothing bad about this pub. It's brilliant. Top of the list. King of the Hill. Pick of the Pops, Up there, Up where? Up there, my friend. At the top. Yes. Very Much So.
12 Oct 2004 13:28
I almost burst into tears when I walked back in here. This place used to be the Mecca of the Essex music scene and a mandatory stop-off point for any band on the way to the top. It used to have personality. It used to be Somewhere.
It's not now. It's another chain pub, with lots of pool tables, and lots of tellys and nothing to distinguish it from the vast majority of the other pubs in Chelmsford If you like that, then good luck to you. Me, I'm just glad I left Chelmsford when I did.
17 May 2004 16:04
This has got 'Could Do Better' written all over it, I'm afraid. In this kind of location, you need to have landlords/managers who actually make an effort. Whilst there isn't anything horrifically wrong with this place, I can't think of any reasons to recommend it, barring Jason's point about Weng Wah.
17 May 2004 12:50
The Haverstock Arms, Belsize Park
This is a cracking pub for a Sunday afternoon in front of the football, but I can't think of any reason to go in there at any other time. It's not the most welcoming establishment in town and they have the nasty habit of leaving all the tellys on at full blast regardless of whether or not anything is on. However, if you just need somewhere to go at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon, this is arguably the best in the immediate area.
17 May 2004 12:46
This is Sleb haven for any Heat-ophiles out there. It's not a bad pub, but it falls in the 'not quite a pub, not quite a restuarant' bracket. It's alright, but it hasn't got any real soul. Something that won't be an issue for you if you're quite happy to sit and stare at 'people off the telly'. However, there's nothing offensive about it, it's friendly and clean and it gets the job done. Just don't go asking for autographs.
15 Apr 2004 16:54
This wants to be a really classy nightclub, but lets itself down by begging people off the street to come in. Too many drunken suits hiding wedding rings in their inside pockets and trying to recapture their youth by garbling nonsense and beer fumes at 17 year old girls. The club looks nice enough but it needs a quick kick up the arse and a drastic identity change.
26 Feb 2004 14:03
The Duke of Devonshire, Balham
God, I remember this pub being great. They used to have a back room that stayed open til 2am. All gone now, though. Some bright spark decided to make it look and feel like every other pub in the country. Nice move, Einstein.
Rubbish.
16 Feb 2004 15:59
As it's impossible not to find on leaving Tottenham Court Road station, it's a good place to meet people who are unfamiliar with London. This, however, is the only good thing I can say about it. It doesn't have a single redeeming feature.
11 Feb 2004 17:37
Lovely little pub. Ignore upstairs, head straight for downstairs. Really good Guiness, friendly staff and somehow manages to stop short of being patronisingly 'Oirish' (see O'Neills)
11 Feb 2004 17:33
Full of tourists and surprisingly expensive, this really shouldn't be a good pub. However, a combination of friendly punters and a jukebox wedged tightly in the back end of 1995, salvages its reputation. A good warm-up pub for a weekend night-out.
11 Feb 2004 17:27
I used to love The Wag Club. Ecletic music, vibrant punters, it was a fantastic night out. This, on th eother hand, is absolutely dire. A pointless stronghold of shiny-shirted Essex boys and brain dead Mancs throwing crappy Guiness down their necks in some kind of banal tribute to a marketing man's vision of 'Old Oirland'. I got dragged in here once and it made feel dirty. I'd rather eat my own kidneys with plastic cutlery than have to spend another minute in this despicable hellhole.
11 Feb 2004 17:20
This is a pearl of a boozer in an area not exactly renowned for classy establishments. The lager is excellent and it's rare I get the chance to say that. Normal West End prices, but that's to be expected. Perilously close to Chinatown, though, be careful where those post beer munchies take you.
11 Feb 2004 17:16
Full to the rafters of impossibly good-looking, orange people. Rather like Australia itself, I suppose. Not for the faint-hearted English, though.
11 Feb 2004 16:03
I won't beat about the bush, I was absolutely terrified when I walked into this place. It looks exactly how a pub should look, threatening and gloomy. However, decent beer, decent prices, good bar staff and not even a shred of false pretence means that this pub just keeps getting better. It's how pubs should be.
11 Feb 2004 15:57
This, for me, is the best bar in London. Hidden away behind the seething crowds of Oxford Street, it offers a much needed antidote to the trend for converted bingo hall Sports Bars. Bradleys is absolutely tiny and you need to get there early to grab a table in the basement. The jukebox is one of the best in London, the beer is beyond comparison and the atmosphere is everything you would ever want in a bar. If it has one downside, it's the amount of braying, Armani-clad morons who seem to have adopted it in recent months, but they quickly learn to stop banging on about their sales margins and just sit back and enjoy the place as much as the rest of us. Top Notch.
11 Feb 2004 15:39
The Cutty Sark Tavern, Greenwich
Fantastic pub, especially in the summer. Scores highly in every category you can think of. I'd be hard pushed to think of a better place to spend a lazy summer's afternoon drinking.
11 Feb 2004 15:33
The Twelve Pins, Finsbury Park
I'm amazed that this place has had such good reviews. I must have caught it on a bad day. Three times. I thought it was bleak, cold and utterly unloveable with a nasty atmosphere and everywhere, the stench of broken dreams. Not a fan of this at all.
11 Feb 2004 15:30
I like this pub a lot. Friendly staff, good beer and really, really comfy chairs. Well worth the ten minute walk up the road from the Bowling Alley. Especially as it means missing out on the dubious charms of 'that' pub near Finsbury Park station. 12 Pins or something
*wanders off to write scathing review of really bad Finsbury Park pub*
11 Feb 2004 15:27
Not bad, this one. There's a bit of character here, a few good pubs bands. Nothing special, but very good for Leytonstone
11 Feb 2004 15:05
Chav Central. It's a festering boil on the face of East London. Utterly devoid of character, taste or entertainment. Just a nasty little drunken hole. Avoid.
11 Feb 2004 15:03
If you drink bitter, it's stupidly cheap in here. However, like every other Weatherspoons, I'd beat myself senseless with a glass ashtray if I was forced to stay too long.
11 Feb 2004 15:01
I've got something of a soft spot for this pub. Located right next to a busy road, it's beseiged from the outside by people queuing for any one of the hundreds of buses that seem to stop there. Once you've fought your way in, however, you'll be pleased to find a warm, cosy establishment where it's not unusual to find punters playing Chess on a weekday evening. There's a couple of TVs for the football, but it doesn't dominate the pub and drown out the conversation at all. You're not going to have the best night of your life here, by any extent. But it's the kind of place where you might happily sit back, neck a couple of slow pints and resolve to do something more exciting next week.
11 Feb 2004 14:54
This isn't a bad little pub, but there's very little in it that begs to be mentioned. Leaving the TV on all the time is a strict no-no in any pub and the pool room upstairs feels like a different building entirely. However, the prices are fair, the atmosphere is easy-going and the clientele are endearingly random. It's crying out for someone to take it by the scruff of the neck and bring it up to standard, though.
11 Feb 2004 14:47
Tufnells, Tufnell Park
This place is really, really odd. It's like being in a Student Union bar. Lots of pool table, nice bar staff, big tellies, but not...I don't know...it just doesn't feel like a pub.
There's a few oddballs in there, but then there are a few oddballs in that part of London. I can't put my finger on it really. I suppose it's just dark, dingy and mainly empty. Though I should stress that I haven't been in there on a weekend. Maybe it's totally different...
1 Jun 2006 20:41