BITE user comments - toomuchgastro
Comments by toomuchgastro
Re the below comment, John has certainly not wasted his time on this pub... he's spent the last two years down the road on Battersea Rise looking after The Goat (formerly O'Neils)!
During that time The Hope fell to bits; the gents were nasty, paper was peeling off the ceiling above the staircase to the bar. I don't go in often anymore, but when I did go in on a regular basis (a few times a month) I would still not be able to recognise any of the bar staff. The women can't reach the pumps because their flab is hanging out and the blokes cannot serve you quick enough because they all wear their jeans round their ankles.
The makeover before this summer though has brought with it a grandfather clock and some curtains inside (why?) and, dare I say it, an improvement to the outside with big plants breaking up the space.
The Hope now has it's own website, with a good sprinkling of appalling grammar. If it wasn't for its location, I think JD Wetherspoon would have snapped up this site by now.
Maybe you should go and make up you own mind about this place. Oh, and as the "A sign" used to say outside, "We serve food dialy".
A pint in here is not worth �2.60.
2 Jun 2008 22:48
A great pub. So I understand they have already once turned away the Young's interior design crew, and the place is all the better for it. Perhaps the only change I have seen in there is the updating of the beer garden with the partly covered section and solid furniture.
Friendly staff. I never wait long to be served in here. Sometimes in Northcote road I think my thirst would be quenched quicker if I walked up the road to this pub.
2 Jun 2008 22:39
The County Arms, Wandsworth Common
A good pub, or restaurant with a bar. This was refurbed back in 2004 I think. Still looks good. The outside area is a pleasant place to be when there aren't any kids that haven't burnt off enough energy after being on the common.
It's a Youngs so you cannot buy three pints for under a tenner, but it is a good place to be. However, I often think in there that with Kronenbourg at �3.70 a pint, we punters would have paid for the refurb several times over by now!
The (over) friendly manager(?) is still there. This can be a refreshing change now, but not when he calls me his "bruver". I think perhaps he has been drinking the profits!
2 Jun 2008 22:35
Babel has been refurbished with lots of lamps hanging from the ceiling with reproduction 60s wiring and seating like a school staff room from the same decade. It's very dull and boring in there. Regarding a comment below about the toilets... the men's were long overdue a new soap dispenser! It seems that's all they replaced.
Like All Bar One opposite, they still try to attempt a table service only routine at given times during the week. THIS DOES NOT WORK IN THE UK! If there is an empty bar on walking in to an establishment, we will go and stand at it to buy a drink! We Brits have no time to sit at tables and be served, we are in too much of a hurry going nowhere!
2 Jun 2008 22:28
Apologies to the barman a couple of months back for calling him a daylight f***ing robber; it's just the first thing that came out of my mouth when I had to fork out �6 for two pints of coke.
If I didn't have my car outside and was not so far in to a few weeks of not drinking, I would have told him to replace one of the pints for a Kronenbourg for another 15p. Yes, it's a Youngs pub, but I've never paid so much for a pint of coke... even in Young's pubs in better areas!
It gets three for the standard Young's decor.
2 Jun 2008 19:40
I walked in here about a year ago (not for the first time) and thought "Brilliant, an empty bar!" Waited ages to then be told that table service is in operation. OK, so I sat down and waited a few minutes for the busy waitress to come and take the order.
This is one of those things that does not work in the UK... we're not used to it, and neither was the waitress. I watched our drinks sitting on the bar going flat.
I have previously spent two NYEs in this place. Not bad, but not great either. At least the first time around your entry ticket got you a vol-au-vent and an outdated bottle of Stella included.
Finally, the toilets in this place are shoddy. My advice is to go over the road to Iniquity, or along the road to The Fine Line... you'll be quicker!
22 Feb 2007 01:12
The Fine Line, Clapham Junction
I often meet a mate down here and because we are both driving, we drink coke. However, this place has to be the most stringent on Northcote Road for mixing syrup with soda water.
What really gets my back up is the attitude of the bar staff... one of them in particular, when you tell them that your coke tastes like fizzy water. They look like I've just told them that their mother has died. "Don't get that attitude with me sunshine". This half pint or pint of coke costs the pub three pence and costs me about two pounds, so don't get stroppy with me if I ask you to serve me another one or top up the syrup!
20 Feb 2007 12:16
Newsflash!
This All Bar One has had a spruce up, with a stripped floor and lighter coloured walls. Quite why they feel they need to print flyers telling you this, I don't know.
On the up side, a few of the bar staff have changed and can be surprisingly friendly.
20 Feb 2007 12:07
This is such a nice pub.
I used to be one of the younger customers here drinking coke with the family, but now go here a couple of times a week on the lager! Unlike the nearby establishments, the bar staff are friendly and welcoming.
Foodwise, I've only had the jacket potato with coronation chicken, which was good enough. The fire's also a good touch in the winter... just needs a little more attention from the bar staff to avoid going out, but that's a minor point.
Friendly bar staff, friendly locals, okay prices, lack of retro furniture and wooden floor. Keep it like that!
20 Feb 2007 12:04
This is my local pub, and I have seen lots of change here. However, I want to express my concern for the pub in its current state. I last visited a couple of weeks ago and was appalled at its appearance, and feel ashamed to now call it my local. Here are some points:
1. There is paper hanging from the ceiling above the stairs near the bar.
2. There is graffiti in the men's toilets.
3. There is often a bucket under one of the urinals.
4. The soap dispensers are now non existant, and so now is the soap.
5. The bar staff changes so regularly that nothing is done about the toilets even if you tell a member of staff.
I appreciate that this is a very oddly shaped building, being on an apex, but does the seating arrangement have to change so much?
The serving time is often a joke, especially nearer to last orders. The Hope did enter into the later licence laws, but soon withdrew that idea. Does the kitchen really have to stick out onto the bar area? When it was the old Hope, they were capable of serving food with the kitchen out of sight, allowing for a decent sized bar.
The bar staff know nothing about keeping an eye out for who's been waiting the longest, and if you're lucky, you'll be served by someone who doesn't look hungover and whose trousers aren't sitting around their ankles. Come on, we don't want to see your boxers thank you.
Overall, don't go to this pub... go to The Goat on Battersea Rise instead. Although you'll be boosting the profits of the same company (Mitchells & Butlers), you might be served by the only good barman the Hope ever had. Still, at least he had the right idea and went elsewhere!
20 Feb 2007 11:41
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The Fine Line, Clapham Junction
Looks like Becks has replaced Carling as the downgrade lager in this place. I now pay �3.35 for the opportunity to drink this stuff.
Again, three pints for under a tenner. You're in the wrong place. RE: my below comment about the price of the coke. Last week, a Becks and a blackcurrant & soda (pint of) came to �4.90. �1.55 for a dash of cordial?! I must be helping to pay for all those damn clocks on the wall. Turn it back to a proper bank I say.
2 Jun 2008 22:54