The White Hart, Bishopsgate

After a pleasant Friday evening out my friends and I decided to have 'one for the road' before catching the train from Liverpool St. The range of ales looked appealing and we decided on a pint of Thwaites Nutty Black. As soon we lifted the pints we realised it was off. The vinegar smell was unmistakable. To the initial credit of the staff they agreed the beer was no good and changed the pints for something else without complaint.

However, as we stood at the bar we were astonished when the staff continued to serve the Nutty Black to other customers and continued to swap it for something else when it was sent back. I politely suggested to one on the staff that maybe they should remove it from sale but they refused to do so.

I asked to see the manager who was completely unapologetic for what appeared to be a policy decision of continuing to serve the beer. I guess they figured the transient nature of the clientele at 11pm on a Friday in a pub by a station meant they could offload some of the rubbish rather than binning it.

There are many things that pubs can do wrong but knowingly selling beer which is off is, in my book, just about the worst thing. Needless to say I will not be rushing back to this Nicolson's establishment.

29 Mar 2010 11:54