BITE user comments - montyl
Comments by montyl
I see an average of 6.8!. I'd like to see a 10 then. Great pub,good range of well kept beer.
12 Feb 2008 03:11
Probably the best pub in Dereham. Faint praise I fear. Mostly pleasant staff. Sometimes chavvy better at lunch time than the evening.
12 Feb 2008 02:27
An old haunt of mine in long distant days of youth. Used to go there every week or so but still frequently couldn't find it! Still a good pub when I went there just before Christmas 2007 but modern attitudes to drinking and driving might have doomed it as Alph River says. I remember it as getting so crowded on summer evenings you could hardly find room to lift an arm.
12 Feb 2008 02:10
If it wasn't real it would be OTT. Sam Smiths ("urged" I believe by the local conseervation lobby) to be blessed for keeping about 90% of the atmosphere that I recall from 30+ Yrs ago.Decent beer.Experincenot to be missed but pub easy to miss as nearly unsigned - when Nelly reigned there was no sign just an ancient rocking horse over the door.Modern version of that still in place plus discreet "White Horse Inn" over the door. If you are asking directions say Nellies not "The White Horse"
12 Feb 2008 01:50
Superb beer brewed on site-Worth a detour to sample. Far better than average food. Super atmosphere. Not the prettiest pub in the world from the outside don't be put off.
12 Feb 2008 01:36
My London local when I "cums down from Norferk.A proper pub to hide in away from all the tourist trash just round the corner. No pretentions music or slot machines just good beer, great selection of Scotch, interesting clientel great staff. Must be protected as a threatened species.
I visit 2 or 3 times a year and get recognised and treated like a regular. Used the pub first more than 30 years ago. Super pub then -still is.
12 Feb 2008 01:26
Its a great pub. Foods good, atmosphere great, beer superb. Don't be put of by location (on a busy bend opposite a garage) or the outside appearance.
13 Mar 2007 04:21
The Peasant, Clerkenwell
Tried a pint recently and just managed not to burst into tears. This is high praise indeed as I was prepared to be appalled. In the 60's when this was The George & Dragon I spent most of my grant and sacrificed a grade of degree here. In company with many City undergrads from up the street and a number of now eminent MD's from Barts I developed my life long enthusiasm for things alcoholic in these hallowed halls.
Nowhere on earth has more or happier memories for me so there are probably too many ghosts for me to be objective about the place. Judgement is clouded with wonderful recollections - old friends then young-the pervading warm almond smell of cyanide drifting in from the electroplating works across street-the near all night lock ins and the top quality lunchtime folk sessions featuring all the big names of the scene. Above all Ray & Doreen the late wonderous landlords who funded the concerts at a loss, frequently subbed hard up students and were then suicidily lax about chasing up the debts. Their comment when I visited them in retirement is a fitting epitaph to a probably extinct way of life "We had so much fun we just aimed to make enough profit to let us keep doing it".
With that proviso.The place seemed souless and lacking a real personality. The name change exemplifies the problem it seems inoffensive but random - so does the pub. It probably could not survive as the classic Victorian local boozer it was but I couldn't define what it has become.
To be fair it is still one of the better pubs in the area - the beer was excellent( much better than 1960's Truman's) the staff friendly (and decorative-sorry I'm too old to be PC)others spoke well of the food and blessedly no one has vandalised the magic mosaics of the old persona. Much worse fates have befallen other fondly remembered watering holes!
29 Feb 2008 13:57