please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Now a regular meeting spot for QPR thugs before they go to their football match. Seen this clique come in and more or less take over the place thinking they own the gaff.
Not sure but I think they go in there after the match as well. Best kept away from the place on football match days.
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The General Smuts was a supremely scary place, located in the midst of the White City estate. Barely a night went by without a knife fight or someone being injured outside it. I used to work at the General Smuts at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall which seemed appropriate as its location made the staff feel as if they were in a West Berlin surrounded by the dangerous East Germany of the White City estate. Each night I would have to take a different route ot work, yet still regularly had bottles chucked at my head. The second largest pub in London, its bars curiously divided precisely on ethnic grounds, with the public bar always being 99% West INdian and the Saloon bar being 99% Irish. In between its two bars, there was an off licence which I used to run and quite successfully - by giving the customers charm, something that they hadn't had at the pub for years, I ended up with queues up the street for people coming in to buy their kids a chocolate bar along with their cans of hard liquor. The unique feature of the off licence was that even if someone had been barred from the pub or anywhere else, they were always welcome in the off licence. I had people attack the three inch thick oak pillars that divided me from the public with clubs and baseball bats on more than one occasion. On the most part however, people were keen to remain calm as it was the absolutely last place left for many alcoholics where they could buy their booze. One evening, they held a romany wedding reception - the evening deteriorated so badly that it ended with two van loads of riot police turning up to drive them off the estate like some Medieval army.
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It's open again. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a pub, a social club, a dancefloor or someone's front room. Maybe my drinks were spiked with mad hallucenogenics or something. Which for �2.50 a pint is exceedingly good value. I'll rate it a 4 as while it achieved the primary objective (getting beers in before rangers) I left feeling ever so slightly soiled.
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This place was always without windows. No sooner were they replaced when somebody would smash them again. Passed by recently and i had to be told it was closed down. It may be all boarded up but it always was. Some very rough locals but plenty of great people in the area too. Shame for them they're local pub is now gone. I would love to see it re-opened but can't say i can see that happening
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was summit in the local paper recently. They tried to turn the pub into an Islamic prayer room, but the 75-year lease states that it must be a drinking establishment! not sure whats happening with the pub now.
anonymous - 29 Jul 2006 15:28 |
Agree with Steve - looks like a nasty estate pub from the outside, but inside there is no problem. It was closed down for a while but reopened without having had a refit, by the look of it.
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Just wanted to say my grandparents lived opposite this pub and I can remember it when it was was always full. It was also used for filming tv shows by the bbc. The last time I went past there was about two years ago and looked derelict which was a shame. They used to have a real good singsong back in the sixties. Or so I'm told, I was one of the kids sat on the step with a Tizer and a packet of crisps. Happy times.
anonymous - 4 May 2005 19:48 |
I have been meaning to go into this pub for ages, but never had the courage, but finally did on Saturday. I am so glad I did - looks totally scary from the outside, but the only scary thing is how nice everyone was. Fantastic!
Steve - 26 Oct 2004 19:27 |
This looked like a very scary and miserable pub on the one time I popped in to drop off some flyers. I'm reasonably sure it's closed now. Probably fallen down.
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