BITE user comments - ronmanager
Comments by ronmanager
I went here to end a Stag Night last summer and it was not bad for a Coronation Street style estate pub. Friendly enough staff and locals but quiet for a Saturday night. and it was open late as I recall.
It was all going so well until the Groom's brother dropped his guts and we had to make a sharp exit for health reasons.
9 Jul 2010 13:32
I've been here a few times and I have always noticed how friendly the barstaff/landlord are. It is a little off the beaten track so we've always managed to get a table, usually just inside the door. There is a very small beer garden/deck out the back overlooking the Thames and the out front smokers can also wander down the ancient path immediately next to the pub which takes you down an alley to some steps into the Thames itself.
The beer is standard pub stuff (I'm not a real ale drinker so can't comment on that) and the service is always quick. I've not tried the food either (but can recommend the Il Bordello Italian just over the road - if you can get in!)
9 Jul 2010 13:20
My goodness, what a delightful pub this - so out of character with the West End as a whole. I can't remember what the lager was - mono brow or something that sounded like that but it was perfectly palatable. My Guinness drinking friends had no complaints either.
However, what makes this pub is the friendly staff - very jolly they were, even when ushering us al fresco rabble out of the road and back onto the path for the 5th time.
If it had a late licence I'd be giving it the whole 10 but a very well justified 9 from me. Good work.
5 Aug 2009 12:41
I've been coming in this pub for years. It used to be good - very good in fact (but a LONG time ago - mid nineties). But gradually it has got worse and worse. It smells in there for one now there's no smoke to disguise it. Also the aircon is so cold you can tell where the units are by the empty tables beneath them.
The bar staff are often a bit full of themselves except the new ones and there are always a lot of new ones if you know what I mean. They don't stay long.
Friday and Saturday are no go days due to the drunk spiky haired louts and WAGs that are swaggering about. They also turn up the volume on the one CD they have during these times. Talking of which, forget watching the football in there any more. They do have Sky but it's 'company policy' to have the volume off completely and continue with the muzac mentioned above. Company policy - stupid company.
Strangely we still seem drawn to the place (probably with memories of better times) but after a couple it's off to the Crown or the Hare and Billet for some hospitality.
So if the owners of O'Neills read any of this, pull your finger out - a rating of less than 5 out of 10 in Blackheath village is shameful.
28 Sep 2008 14:44
The Hare and Billet, Blackheath
Agree with all the good points below and it is open late on Friday and Sat to midnight. Woohoo! It also has a very hurriedly built smoking den out the side that had the startings of a roof but is instead just the joists followed by sky!
5 Jun 2008 17:16
A beautiful location in St Katherine's Dock and most people can't believe this place exists when they first go there. A really nice pub when it's not too busy. The beer is expensive but not too bad - Expect �3.50+ for a Guinness. Alas the outside closes at 9pm I believe and that's what the bouncers are for. People live round there and the marina is peaceful so you can't really complain.
The bar service has improved no end over the last few years and the toilets always smell of pilchards...
5 Jun 2008 16:34
The Horniman at Hays, Southwark
I once managed to get served here. People still write to me about it.
But seriously, I wish they'd have just one bar person doing all the suit's credit card payments. And then the rest of the staff serving us normal human beings who take cash into the pub and therefore don't hold everyone up with pin numbers and receipts and all the rest of their city b****it.
5 Jun 2008 16:28
Definitely a good pub for watching the footie, the screens are high up, large and numerous. The beer is average and reasonably priced. Staff are OK although the kitchen couldn't tell the difference between chicken and tuna when serving a sandwich last night.
However, the decor is like an airport pub - fake. It's built into the corner of a modern office block and therefore has zero ambience. Gets busy on Friday nights and when there's an England game on.
22 Jan 2008 16:14
Stayed in the very charming 'old-railway hotel' next door for a weekend and never actually went into this pub. The reason - doesn't open until 6.30pm and shuts at 10.30pm - on a Saturday! Also, there's a brass plaque outside announcing that 'no motorcyclists' - that's a bit of a sweeping ban isn't it? Looked like a nice pub from the outside but clearly the landlord is a bit too far up his own ar5e. The food menu is well expensive too, from what we saw.
18 Jun 2006 21:20
We went there on Sat evening for the Liverpool v Charlton game (bear in mind this is a stomes throw from Charlton who are the local team.) Already busy but we got a nice seat ("a seat in O'Neill's" I hear you cry "in view of the footie?! Can it be true") at the door end of the bar. Then just before the game they switched it over to RUGBY LEAGUE! Who watches rugby league? So we all had to traipse over to the Crown yet again to watch it amongst the drunk, punchy pensioners. Sort it out O'Neills.
Slightly improved since the refurb but they let far too many in on Thurs-Sat evening - it takes 10 mins to get to the toliets.
6 Mar 2006 18:05
I hope this pub does recover as suggested because it has been appaling over the last couple of years.
The table service is always welcome and I suppose alleviates the bar queues. One thing though, why have the live music on Sundays? We always leave when they arrive because you can no longer engage in conversation because it's so loud - Thursday night yes, Sunday no thanks.
I go there a lot and I couldn't point out the landlord/manager - the staff seems to rotate continuously.
19 Jan 2005 10:38
One year ish since my last review. Still a great pub. Bar staff are nice
Bouncers are OK too (so rare)
Beer cheap (not horrible Sam Smiths either)
Quick service
Open late at the weekend
Pool table
You can get a seat.
Cashpoint across the road
Taxi office opposite (through the tunnel under the station)
Comedy upstairs on Saturdays.
We took 11 people there on Saturday and they all thought it was great (especially being open until 2am.)
18 Jan 2005 15:21
Nice bar off Bermondsey Street not too far from London Bridge Station. Zero decor but open very late with free entry. A good place to know when last orders rings in the regular pubs round there. Staff always seem cool eve when you are trawling up late with 11 other people!
21 Dec 2004 16:38
The Old Fox and Hounds, Croydon
Trivia: Electric Light Orchestra played their first ever live gig here in 1972. Worth popping in for that alone isn't it?
16 Apr 2015 13:35