please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Used to enjoy the quiz nights as it involved mostly Irish nurses who didn't know a great deal so was easy to win. The paddling pool parties were pretty epic ... well ... until one of the aforementioned nurses decided she couldn't be bothered to walk to the toilet & actually **** in the paddling pool. :(
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I've been going to this pub since it was the Lion. Now it's been done up and seemed to be nice enough when we first went back. However, today we had a really bad experience there and we won't be going back. We sat down at a table and were there for some time before being told that the table was actually reserved. There were reserved signs on a few other tables but not this one. Basically the manager had forgotten to put a sign on our table, and tried to shift us into a much smaller space where we would be really cramped. We said were weren't happy and were basically told tough luck. The word 'sorry' was spoken, but clearly not with any genuine feeling.
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only problem with this place is that the bar isnt big enough to accomodate the number of people it can hold leading to long waiting time at the bar.
nice outdoor area out back, split on 2 levels.
all in all a very nice place to drink, atmosphere friendly and lively without being overbearing.
one of the better options to drink in west hampstead and one to check out if not been before
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This Bar was once in my family as the Black Lion i used to see my God Mother who lived upstairs in the apartment every time i visited as a young boy i was given present of money me and my sister wood play in the dum waiter going up and down and getting told off , now i like to go for a pint when i come down to LONDON . i find the staff real nice ,all the family meet up as my sister still live in West Hampstead i now live in Hull .
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Like this pub in general.Food is good and drinks kept well.Decor is up market and staff friendly. Not my local but great to pop in for change of scenary . 7
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Big pub in the centre of West Hampstead. Quite a few high tables and sofas so no hassle of getting a place to sit, plus a small outside area if you fancy breathing in the traffic fumes. Owned by Greene King so the ale choice when we arrived was Old Speckled Hen at �3.30 a pint. IPA was back on by the time the second round was bought. Nothing wrong with the place but nothing too exciting either, so the same story as other pubs in the area.
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Actually the pub breaks the law in more ways. There are cameras in the gents toilets which you can hear periodically taking snaps. The 'pretty garden' is in fact a potential death trap given the number of young families that frequent the place (steep uneven unguarded steps- perhaps they'll do something about that when they get sued). I have more than once seen badly cooked, overpriced food returned uneaten. Service at certain times wanting, mainly because the robot of a manager won't muck in. Well worth avoiding.
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Yesterday was my first time in here for about 5 years and the place was unrecognisable. For better or worse I�m not sure as I was never a big fan as it always used to be full of pissheads and there was an air of depression. Maybe the refurb has swung the pub too far in the opposite direction for my liking.
Barmaid was friendly enough, but noisy outside seating with a bus stop 5 foot from the table we were sitting at. I did notice the beer garden at the rear a little later and it looked a lot more appealing than the position we had chosen, but alas it was a little late.
There�s not a great selection of draught and no real ales, but plenty of bottles and spirits which I�d imagine the usual clientele preferring.
This place is nice enough if you like gastro pubs, but I'm afraid it's not for me.
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For a pub to be rated by me they must first follow the law. The law I thinking of is display of prices. This pub does not display its prices. It does not matter how good or bad or pub is, if they break the law then they should be berated about it. The law is there to protect the consumer.
All pubs and bars open to the public must
display a price list of at least 30 items. That price list must be clearly visible and readable from the bar, even by a person in a wheelchair, the purpose of this pricelist being to allow a potential purchaser of drinks to make a informed decision.
I cannot recommend this pub as I cannot guarantee that the prices you will pay there are fair compared with other bars in the same area.
before buying.
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I actually quite like The 'new and improved' Lion. Agreed it's very 'City', but West Hampstead already has a few cosy coffee shops and other bars nearby so I think it's great for a change.
The food is always great and staff are friendly.
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I'd call this place sterile. True, the old Black was a pit and I guess something had to be done as it seemed to be attracting trouble too. Funniest example being when people piled out of the pub after Portunal beat England and attached Nandos opposite. The new incarnation attracts the young professionals hooting at each other. By the way, don't wear a hat if you go to the bar. They won't serve you unless you take it off. Seriously.
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If anything sums up the refurb - mad British populous, it's The Lion (formerly known as Ye Olde Black Lion).
Take something that doesn't need too much refurb, rip out everything and go shopping for the most BLAND, middle-of-the-road furniture and accessories (ie All Bar One) and invite all the BLAND, middle-of-the-road people to come spend their money here.
Whilst the "old" Lion was nothing spectacular, the clientele gave it some character. Where now it is an "eclipse nw6" knock-off (or fill-in your All Bar One postcode).
It's bright, shite and not quite right. In fact, there are no good pubs in West Hampstead (there are some good cafe/bars, but that's not a pub, it is London afterall).
While it has a decent back garden (when the heat lamps work), the real action is out in the front patio where you have views of Nando's pandemonium (the comings and goings and cars parking illegally whilst they run in and grab their hot and spicy fast food takeaway).
If you want decent pubs either make your way to the North London Tavern in Kilburn or The Holly Bush, Duke of Hamilton or Ye Olde White Bear in Hampstead.
I would give this pub a 4/10 (it only gets a 4 because it does have outside space otherwise it would get a 1).
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If only there were more places like this around here. Not too pricey for the area. Nice surroundings, nice people. If it had proper competitors the food may be a bit cheaper. Good service. Fair-sized beer garden with heat-lamps.
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the revamp has worked well.
sure it is a bit corporate but west hampstead had been missing a bar like this; with decent beer, reasonable food and a nice vibe (eclipse doesn't really count due to the prices and lack of draught beer). much busier than the old black lion, which didn't really reflect the area and people living in NW6, used to be.
mps77 - 30 Jul 2007 13:23 |
(Now called 'The Lion').
Packed as suspected on a Saturday night with the smokers taking up the outside section at the front & everyone else rammed inside.
A cool mix of people, a nice vibe & comfortable place to be.. if you want to sit outside while the few days of summer are here then it's advisable to get there early to nab a table & seats.
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Totally revamped & updated - I agree with grecian's comments below re booting out the previous regulars of the Black Lion, but yes seems to be much busier & I expect it'll be very popular during the Summer months as the beer garden was always really nice..
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Visited this place last night. It evidently has pretentions towards gastropub-dom (table service, glass frontage etc.) but ultimately is too corporate to be that convincing. The menu is really fairly standard pub fare - we had battered haddock and chips, and whilst reasonable it was not desperately exciting. Service was enthusiastic but could have been sharpened a little. IPA and Old Speckled Hen on tap but we drank wine with the food. On the plus side, they've done a nice job with the decor and I noted a beer garden out the back. I have slight worries about the way the "ordinary folk" (to be patronising) who used Ye Old Black Lion have been turned out in favour of the thrusting young twentysomethings of NW6, but you probably can't blame Greene King - this place looked far busier than the Black Lion ever seemed to get.
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Fantastic refurbishment,Great Food,Good Beer,just what West Hampstead needed.
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This has re-opened. I've not yet been in, but with glass frontage and a swish interior it looked more like a restaurant than a pub. I think it's called something like the Lion.
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This is being "gastrofied" concentrating on food (obviously, I guess). Will no longer be showing football. Another one bites the dust. Expect chalk board menus, broadsheets, premium lager with ornate pumps and basically the usual s*it. A troubleshooter landlord has been installed and by all accounts he had improved things over the last few months. It was always a bit of a dump but somewhere you could grab a quick pint. Be interesting to see where the locals will head now.
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Currently closed with a large skip outside. I presume this is the precursor to the renovation that Lyncroft alludes to in his below posting. If so, a great shame; hardly a good pub but a pub none the less in an area very poorly served for proper boozers.
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A little rough around the edges, but better than it looks from the front. It used to be a bit of an "old mans" pub, but has improved over the last year to include all types.
The pub's best asset is its beer garden and the fact it has Sky. The beers are OK and the food is acceptable. An average bar, but livable.
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Don't laugh but word has it that the brewery is going to turn this into a tapas bar. Dearie, dearie me.
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Very average on all the times I've visited. Given it's the only pub north of the stations in Whampstead I'd say it could do much much better.
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Been going in there on and off for 15 odd years though very rarely for the last 5 or so years. It's a different pub now. Went in there the other Friday night about 10ish. It was quiet, very quiet. In the old days you used to get a collection of West Hampstead weirdos sat near the bar. Drunks, oddballs, nutters, the lot. They seemed to have gone. The pub seems to lack any heart whatsoever. It's also very very bright. I guess West Hampstead's changed and with it its pubs.
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From the front this pub looks like any other but go through to the back garden and it is excellent. Big Screen, good crowd and now doing decent food. For a standard pub it ticks all the boxes.
Booze - 5 Nov 2004 15:44 |
Loads of token drunks! Gives the bar character! Nice beer garden and good Guinness in there.
David - 27 Sep 2004 11:08 |
The Old Black Lion is a great pub! All pubs have the token drunks, they add to the atmosphere of the place and they're all harmless enough!
anonymous - 16 Mar 2004 14:20 |
Not bad, especially when the football is on. Never seen so many drunks in one place in the middle of the afternoon though. Also one end of the bar is periodically taken over by Chelsea headhunters. Avoid.
anonymous - 27 Feb 2004 17:26 |
Sorry. In it last night for the first time. Never seen so many drunks at 7.30 in my life. Cheap drink, big screen footy, need I say more.
Gray - 19 Feb 2004 17:29 |
great pub to watch footy in. carlsberg at �2.25 could be colder, though, as occasionally it tastes more like bitter than lager. a couple of the girls behind the bar have a bit of unnecessary attitude. also, the back garden is full of kids smuggling in alcopops and showing off their bling in the summer, which isn't very nice.
ian - 4 Jan 2004 17:15 |
I find this a confusing pub. I have a great pint of Abbot there followed by a really bad pint a few weeks later.
Doesn't have too much atmosphere.
The only advantage is that it's convienent if there a problems with the trains.
Keith B - 1 Dec 2003 11:22 |
It has been trurned into an amazing looking gastro pub. I live nearby and it has become my local. They have kept the old gold gilt look which is superb to look at but it now has its origional wooden floors, various armchairs, an open fire, candles and it has a lovely new atmosphere. The new staff are friendly and the dimned lights and gold surroundings really give it a warm feeling. The music is soft housge/ garage and is soley for background reasons. I would definately suggest re visiting it - you will be pleasantly surprised!
S Lewis (Kilburn) - 29 Oct 2003 12:47 |
