BITE user comments - mhanley
Comments by mhanley
Had a couple of pints in there last night, neither of them being on top form. Unlucky choice, or is this a sign that being reviewed in the Telegraph spells the end for any pub? :-)
8 Sep 2010 16:21
The whisky is as extensive as ever, and the prices are still on the outrageous side. The beer last night was OK, but not as good as normal. Still, it was a quiet haven in a town otherwise mobbed by football-kit-wearing lads out to watch Scotland play Lichtenstein. A welcome oasis, as ever.
8 Sep 2010 16:20
Good news to report on the real ale front: the Ty Coch now has TWO ales on, both well kept. They tend to change around, but over the last few weeks they've had Boondoggle, Marstons Old Empire plus a variety from Purple Moose over in Porth Madog. Happy times indeed.
8 Sep 2010 16:18
Good pub, this. A good, interesting selection of beers, well kept and well served.
25 Jun 2009 10:29
Terrible place. It's supposed to be a BEER CAFE, yet the choice is worse than Sainsbury's! Four quid for a Duvel? Unbelievable. No idea if the beer is well-served though, because we didn't stay.
25 Jun 2009 10:26
Dreadful beer, tatty decor, friendly barmaid. Locals harmless and out to enjoy themselves. Rapper friendly.
29 Mar 2009 13:37
Wandered in here on a VERY rainy Saturday, just before lunch. There were a few people in, and the barmaid was very friendly - even going off to get a tea towel to dry my glasses! The beer was excellent, as you'd hope from Blindman's. The interior (new-style wood pub, chunky tables, leather seats) is not particularly to my taste, but it's comfortable and, above all, DRY :-)
29 Mar 2009 13:36
Popped in for a quick one on a dark, winter's night; what a welcome! Fantastic, chatty people. No real ale, which would normally mean I walked straight out, but in its stead was proper Thatcher's cider, nicely kept. Well worth a visit.
29 Mar 2009 13:33
So the real ale in here has sparklers on each pump. This is not normally a problem, because any barman worth his salt will remove the pesky things when asked. Not here. Not even when I repeated the request when he started to pull the pint. Not even halfway through when I told him to stop. "I can make it look nice," said the barman.
Look nice? How about tasting nice? How about having a good texture when you drink it?
Customer service like this deserves to be avoided, and it will be.
24 Mar 2009 14:57
We visited the Cider House part of the pub recently, which is a small side-bar and a haven from the rest of the pub. And the best bit? Around ten PROPER ciders on offer, including Thatchers and Westons, and all of it well kept. Excellent to find such a place in Southsea!
16 Jul 2008 11:14
The Robin Hood, Rowlands Castle
It's changed a lot, has this pub. The beer has improved dramatically, but it's still not consistent. The inside is now "trendy gastropub" but nevertheless comfortable.
16 Jul 2008 11:11
I popped along here the other night for a nice relaxing pint. Oh well, my mistake. Over three quid for a second-rate pint of Young's Special, and I even had to ask for it to be topped up!
Couple that with the appalling piped music which forced most of the punters outside INTO THE RAIN (well, light drizzle, but rain makes for a better story), and you have a very disappointing pub.
16 Jul 2008 11:09
OK, normally a pub with no real ale on handpump would get a dire rating from me, but...
This pub is unique. It's on the beach (literally, part of the tiny Porth Dinllaen village of about ten houses) and there's no way to get to it without walking. Following comments, the landlady has started selling local BOTTLED real ales (ie bottle conditioned), which I guess means I can give it a good rating with a clear conscience.
Anyway, the pub: you can sit outside at tables or on the beach and look out over the bay out to sea and to Snowdon in the distance, with the gentle waves lapping the shore. Quite lovely, and the village has the kind of micro-climate tourist boards would kill for. And if it's cold, then decamp to inside and cosy-up in front of the fires! The locals are friendly, and most of them are happy to talk about the place.
Oh, and it has live bands (the bigger ones will be on the beach) during summer.
13 May 2008 11:09
Offering a wide selection of ales and imported beers, this place should draw me in like a magnet... yet it doesn't. It seems to go for quantity over quality with the ales, which is a pity, and the bar staff were quite unfriendly. Mind you, the others in the pub more than made up for that.
16 Apr 2008 11:42
OK, so this is a great looking pub with remarkable gents' toilets, but what has it really got going for it other than that? The beer has been substandard every time I've been there, the food is disappointing, and the bar staff seem to find customers an annoyance. It's a shame.
16 Apr 2008 11:39
Back-street pub with a good selection of well-kept beer. The interior is one of most startling I have ever seen, and is worth the trip on its own.
16 Apr 2008 11:37
This is a marvellous place, well worth seeking out. The beer was on top form, and the pork pies are unbelievably good.
16 Apr 2008 11:35
The Fly in the Loaf, Liverpool
Fantastic looking pub, with very good beer and friendly bar staff.
16 Apr 2008 11:34
Beer substandard, and possibly the worst chips in Kent. Rapper sword friendly.
30 Jan 2008 14:21
The Beacon Hotel, Langton Green
Good beer, excellent interior. The people in there when we went (Sunday lunchtime) were very welcoming. Rapper sword friendly.
30 Jan 2008 14:20
The Ragged Trousers, Tunbridge Wells
OK, the pub itself is no very appealing to me, but the beer is perfectly acceptable. Rapper sword dancing friendly.
30 Jan 2008 14:18
The Tuckers Grave Inn, Faulkland
Hadn't been in for a while, so we decided to have a pint or two of Thatchers last weekend. Good choice: this is possibly the best-kept cider around, not to mention to exemplary Butcombe bitter. Proper people in there, too, so you can actually have A Conversation in a pub, which is becoming all too rare. And where else would an occasional visitor be included when the birthday cake was being doled out?
17 Oct 2007 16:35
Quite superb. An excellent selection of (mostly) well-kept beer, plus proper cider and perry! Good session on Wednesday nights, including random sword dancers from time to time. What more could you want?
6 Oct 2007 11:31
Excellent pub, excellent music. Herbie is a mine of fascinating stories about the music world! And look out for Sandra, The Best Smile In Hampshire...
20 Feb 2007 09:38
Fantastic place, second best in Bath. The beer changes regularly, with Brand Oak Bitter (BOB) and Butcombe being normally available. Almost always has mild, stout or porter too, and sells Budvar on tap.
The people in the bar room are always ready for a chat, and there's a non-smoking room too.
Not particularly keen on rapper sword dancing - we've managed to dance here only once in fifteen years.
I can't stress how worthwhile a visit to this pub is.
6 Jul 2006 13:56
Nice pub, nice people, nice beer. Am I damning the vaults with faint praise? I don't mean to. This is a very pleasant and lively pub, lots of people chatting and generally having a good time. The beer is very ... nice; nothing special, certainly nothing bad.
Rapper sword friendly.
6 Jul 2006 13:49
Probably the finest pub in the whole of Bath, lacking only proper cider. The beer - Bellringer and Bass, amongst guests - has never disappointed, and the welcome is genuine and very friendly. Very keen on rapper sword dancing too, and didn't even mind when we pitched up to dance (without notice) with a film crew from BBC West.
Very, very good place indeed.
6 Jul 2006 13:44
Quite why we went in here I have no idea, and I have no intention of every going in again. The only decent this was the Erdinger. As to the rest... well, you could be anywhere in the country. Very disappointing.
6 Jul 2006 13:41
Excellent pub, great beer, good music. Can be very, very busy when a band's on, but that's why you go there. Oh, and it has a stage suitable for rapper dancing.
6 Jul 2006 13:37
Well worth the walk up the hill out of the town centre. The beers were well-kept, the locals were friendly, and the pub itself has some really lovely rooms.
6 Jul 2006 13:31
I was working in Perth for a week last year, and this was the best pub in the city. Four ales are available at any one time, made up of three guests and the ubiquitous Deuchars IPA. All were very well kept. The landlord is a gem: on my second visit, a couple of days after the first, he proudly offered me his two new guest beers... sadly, they were from Smiles (Bristol) and Bath Ales, both beers freely available in my local area. He was so disappointed with this that we spent a very pleasant half hour going through his distributor's list, picking some more interesting ones for the future.
Oh, and this was before the smoking ban, so some kindly old sole showed be the correct way to smoke a pipe. Mind you, I've not done it since :-)
6 Jul 2006 13:30
Popped in here with a couple of friends the other day. Very good to find Harvey's Mild in London, and even better to find that it's kept so well. The pale ale was good too.
28 Jun 2006 09:08
The Tuckers Grave Inn, Faulkland
The finest cider in the Somerset, and the beer's excellent too. Very friendly regulars make this a Proper Country Pub(tm). I can think of nothing wrong with this place, unless you like your pubs shiny, glitzy and full of eighteen-year-olds sullenly drinking themselves into a stupor.
28 Jun 2006 09:05
The Babbity Bowster, Glasgow
Ridiculously over-priced! The beer was reasonably well-kept, but at �8 for two pints (one a lager) I can't recommend the place any more.
As to the "no hand pump" comments, I believe these are electrically-pumped real ale, so not keg.
9 Sep 2010 10:40