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The Southwark Tavern, London Bridge
Fairly decent but trendy pub. Staff are not up to much - there seems to be a high turnover so a lot who are just being trained up. Excellent selection of bottled trappist/Belgian beers. Food is OK, and they do just about the best Sunday roast I've had in a pub, for about �8.50. Ask for horseradish. They've also introduced a few real ales on regular rotation. Nice little private cubbies in basement area. We do the pub quiz on Tuesdays, which is very popular so good prize money (�2 per person, winner takes all, prize regularly exceeds �120). However the music intro round is always far too hard and we lose on that. We use it in preference to the fairly shoddy boozers next to the river in the area, but there are better and cheaper real ale pubs about, e.g. Royal Oak and Lord Clyde.
22 May 2005 01:13
Fairly nice place for the location. It is big with tall ceilings, much of it given over to a restaurant section. There is also a semi-separate area with a big screen for football fans. Good range of interesting real ales (Youngs amongst others) and one or two nice whiskys. You can see the "cellar" with all the beer barrels in an adjacent area. Long bench tables with individual chairs, and the walls are white tiled like an old-fashioned butchers. I think it is a nice atmosphere but it is fairly odd so YMMV. I guess it is an old Fire Station, so that will give you an idea! I think it makes a better gastro-pub than normal pub. Didn't try food so no comment on that. Directly opposite Evans cycle shop, which is nice.
22 May 2005 00:55
My favourite pub. Excellent atmosphere and beer. Food upstairs is limited to fish which I don't eat, but that's no hardship as this residential street has at least four other places to eat. Excellent little waterside balcony which is a great place to monopolise on a lazy Saturday. They have games like Scrabble for when your parents are visiting. Stairs test your abilities, especially after a few. Interesting locals from barges on the nearby Basin.
24 Jan 2005 11:18
I live nearby and usually avoid this place - there are plenty of other proper pubs around. The excellent views are totally spoiled by an atmosphere that feels more like a Pizza Hut on Saturday afternoon than a pub. We try to avoid it unless it is a particularly nice day, or mid-summer when we can sit outside. Even then it is difficult to get a seat near the pub. They have Young's beer, which is good, but they don't have the full range, which brings me to my story...
A friend and I decided to go here and enjoy the view in spite of the atmosphere. We found a table and approached the bar. We chose from the 3 Young's beers available, but I lamented "If this was a proper Young's they'd have twice the range". Then, all of a sudden, the man next to me turned round and said "do you mind, I happen to be the landlord". I said "oops" but then greeted the opportunity to give some feedback with enthusiasm. However he continued with a brief tirade, which I mistakenly interpreted as humourous banter.
As time went by he became more serious and I asked... "are you serious?" and he said "I'm deadly serious". In essence he thought shouldn't have criticised his pub, even in a slightly oblique way (we were saying we liked Young's beer, but would have appreciated the full range). He said the staff were hard working and that I was wrong to criticise the pub. The last straw was when he said "you can't criticise people's race, sex or disabilities these days, so you're not allowed to criticise my pub". I said "so you're saying I'm being racist by criticising your pub"... and he said "yes!".
I was so shocked I laughed out loud. I realised at this point I was dealing with an ill-tempered bigoted fool, and after a short exchange of well-chosen insults, we left never to return.
Afterwards we were all quite shocked at what had just happened. We tried to work out why he'd reacted like this. There are all sorts of reasons - but little justification for a landlord to behave as if even the slightest criticism is a personal attack, rather than an opportunity to listen and improve. This pub will not be mourned. We always regarded it as a criminal waste of an outstanding site, an opportunity missed. We'll be buying bottles at Majestic and drinking it downstream this summer.
24 Jan 2005 09:33
The Hoop and Toy, South Kensington
I like this place. I've drunk there about 3-4 times for fairly long sessions at different times of day, all have been rewarding. Excellent selection of real ales from three or four breweries, enabled by the fact that it is a Free House. Good friendly service. The decor and layout are cosy, toilets acceptable. Never eaten there so no comment on that.
They are now opening to midnight every day, apart from Sunday when it is 11pm, under the new licensing laws. Halleluja!
24 Nov 2005 14:37