BITE user comments - owenjones
Comments by owenjones
The Pilgrim Bar & Kitchen, Kennington
I nipped in here the other day to catch a bit of the cricket cheaply - there is a banner outside declaring "Great pint prices here" with pictures of John Smiths and Fosters. I don't like either but I'm skint so went for it. Great pint prices? Try �3.10. Is that a 'great price'? They should be reported to the ASA for that. A pint of GK IPA was �3, about standard for the area, but �3.10 for a pint of Fosters/John Smiths?
Otherwise the pub is clean, but then so is my bathroom and it has more atmosphere.
12 Aug 2009 14:12
The front room has somehow escaped the omnipresent Young's refurb, which is a blessing - a wonderfully pleasant place to drink.
13 Jul 2009 22:10
Am moving into the area and found a standard refurbished Young's pub. So good beer, edible food, reasonably good service. True the lighting wasn't exciting, and Oscar Wilde didn't make an appearance (see previous comments), but it did do the usual things a Young's pub does. Nice garden too, for a mid-junction pub.
11 Jul 2009 23:19
My experience of this pub tends to be in the afternoon in the front bar overlooking the green. Its all very pleasant, a mix of locals just having a drink. The Winter Warmer is spot on and the lady enjoys a good shandy so its a thumbs up from me!
7 Jan 2009 18:01
The Park Tavern, Finsbury Park
Possibly the least friendly pub I've ever been in. Avoid, yes, even in Finsbury Park.
15 Sep 2008 15:26
Went in here on a Monday night and everything was well. There weren't any annoying Tarquins, the service was good, the ale (Young's and Bombardier) was good. The nooks and crannies are great and it just seems to be a reasonable boozer in a beautiful building. The smell of the food in the dining area was very tempting, but I was drinking beer so stayed in the bar area.
The reviews below seem to give a very exaggerated/biased opinion on the pub based on what it used to be like. But it was a Monday night.
29 Nov 2007 12:15
Food still excellent, and the pub has improved markedly since the smoking ban and a slight tweaking of the speakers to allow people to talk without shouting. However, despite having the real ale pumps (Adnams and Summer Lightning), there has been no ale in my last SIX visits, at various times of day and week. The odd thing is the staff always think it is on, until I enquire and am informed its off. Is it off for good? Would be a shame as it was always in excellent nick.
11 Sep 2007 14:42
I believe the explanation for a lack of recent reviews will be due to the fact that this place has closed. I enjoyed the cocktails we had in here years ago though. But am not missing it.
6 Mar 2007 12:34
Hell of a lot better than either the Queen Adelaide or The Crane. Really good beer, seems to be benefitting from Young's move out of the area. I didn't have food but what I saw and smelt was very good. I think I saw Crispy Aromatic Duck!! Nice bar in the middle of the pub too.
2 Nov 2006 14:58
I'm sure I've been here when the beer tasted better than described below, but last night seemed to confirm that Young's move to Bedford has, and not too surprisingly really, led to a decline in its beers. I first ordered a Winter Warmer (a new barrell apparently) which was just vile, so went for the Special, which was limped and watery, not unlike the Queen Adelaide around the corner. Give it a miss. And the service is indeed maudlin, what a great word, and used here so aptly.
2 Nov 2006 14:51
The Queen Adelaide, Wandsworth
I hadn't been in here for years, it used to be a nice little boozer, quite quiet with good beer. But it looks like Young's move to Bedford really has affected the quality of beer and the Special has gone right downhill, I actually had to leave half my pint. Normally I would put this down to the pub, but I had the same watery unpleasant pint in the Crane round the corner. Not really worth the effort, disappointing.
2 Nov 2006 14:46
This bar is now closed. I'm not sure if the one reviewer here is talking about the same place.
30 Oct 2006 16:43
I'm a regular at the Spread, but in the last couple of weeks it's taken a real turn for the worse. The beer is still usually good, but isn't being served at its best, but the real problem is the staff. Most of the decent bar staff have either left or turned into customers and have been replaced by, um, how can I put this politely? some people who aren't very good. In fact they're useless. Doh!
26 Jul 2006 11:44
Came here a couple of nights ago for a quiet drink with the lady. And that's exactly what we got. The pub has wisely done away with the 'ABV' bar side of things, its sympathetically done out inside with really nice decor. No real ale though, and I can see why, there just aren't enough people coming to this pub. So come and have a drink here, what they do have is most of the lagers you are likely to encounter in any pub, some keg ales (Courage Best, John Smith's), nice wine, you know, the usual.
31 May 2006 12:50
Difficult to know what bars Mike (previous comment) has been to before but they must be unusually horrific - maybe the Intrepid Fox? - for this place to be described as 'amazing'...
Was forced to come here after a friend had to move her birthday party from a packed Salisbury to an emptier venue, and there's good reason why this place is emptier. The drinks are bland and ludicrously over-priced, whilst the veggie chilli looked more like supermarket sweet and sour chicken, shame it didn't taste as good. Also the waiter was so sarcastically chatty I wondered whether he was working for free because he was so lonely. Only come here if every other pub in the world has closed down (apart from the Intrepid Fox, obviously).
2 Dec 2005 14:33
6 St Chad's Place, Kings Cross
The food is terrible - if you want a dry, stale pizza with some tomato puree on top, then this is the place. The tapas is also pretty bland. Has some decent beers, but is quite a strange set up with the tables arranged a bit like a student common room, creating an atmosphere not quite up to the mark.
15 Nov 2005 14:22
Someone has finally decided to do the decent thing and bring the curtain down on R&P Camden. Last day party on the 31st May. I'll be celebrating somewhere else.
19 May 2005 17:19
This is an old man's pub par excellence. Geared towards the local Irish population, it has one of the best tv screens in Camden, huge and clear as a bell. There were two ale taps but I don't think they've been moved for a while. And no pub dog, so not exactly the best old man pub. Plenty of old men though. If you're an old Irish man reading this though, I recommend it.
15 Mar 2005 14:06
This is a real pub, but its not a 10/10 pub. More like 4/10. The beer when I was in there was on the off side of ok (is that what cask marque means?), there are flies, and there isn't much atmosphere. Better off at the Prince Of Wales around here.
10 Mar 2005 14:27
This pub is no longer the Hogshead, and has been run by Green King I think since late summer 2004 - I believe the manager mentioned below is still in residence. Its now called the Five Bells, apparently this was its name 100 years ago or whenever (so said the barman with the beard minus the tache). Its still the same as it was though, a few new tables, chairs, and classic pub carpet awaiting some spilt fags and beer. Guest ales aswell as Green King tend to be Youngs ordinary and HSB, if your very lucky there might be a barrel on a tilt behing the bar but these tendto be very hit and miss. And the quiz is still on Wednesdays with the fat bloke (hooray/boo - delete as required).
22 Feb 2005 14:32
The Railway Hotel, Cheam
I've been popping in here now for the last couple of months whilst my wife visits an osteopath. It's a great pub with a cosy, friendly atmosphere. The beer is always good but the Rosy Nosey I had last night was absolutely top class - I can't remember having thought a great deal of it before but here it was beuatiful, kind of auburn, malty and chewy and very, very drinkable. I wasn't the only one who thought so as a few were being quaffed around the pub - when it's snowing and settling outside it gives you a nice warm feeling.
21 Dec 2010 15:01