BITE user comments - Schwalbe
Comments by Schwalbe
The Peveril Of The Peak, Castlefield
I was last in here in 1972, finally found it open again after many failed attempts. Lovely multiroomed interior, four cask beers, including 7 Brothers from Salford. A great place to spend a quiet hour.
9 Sep 2015 21:07
Called in for Sunday lunch, which was good value, clearly home cooked and not the usual microwaved pap. Two cask ales, a Wye Valley and a Holdens, tried the latter which was excellent. Clearly still a locals pub and the food has not taken over. Efficient and friendly staff. Well worth a visit
22 Mar 2015 20:37
Splendid pub. Slightly down-at-heel furnishings, excellent range of beers, the three I tried were well kept and the friendly barman knew his stuff. Pleasant way to miss a few buses while sitting outside.
24 Apr 2013 20:16
More a restaurant than a pub, food prices certainly way above pub prices. Very good it is, though I don't think they would welcome a group of beer drinkers out on a crawl.
19 Feb 2013 21:39
The Sun on the Hill, Birmingham
Now called the Sun? Four cask ales, unusual for what seems to be a music based venue. The Purity Mad Goose was excellent. Food also seems good, freshly made and reasonably priced.
18 Feb 2013 22:44
The Nell Gwynne, Covent Garden
A welcome antidote to the tourist hellholes around the Strand and Covent Garden (or Covenant Gardens as an American outside a cafe in Leicester Square called it). The interior is really gloomy (because it is down an alley surrounded by tall buildings) and the journey to the toilets is fraught with danger: stairs almost vertical, steps at the bottom raise the floor level at the same time as the door height drops so going for a pee is like getting into the engine room of a ship. Good beer and welcoming vibe though.
1 Oct 2012 14:16
The Blacksmith's Arms, Rotherhithe
Called in while staying at the Hilton. Licensee was welcoming and friendly without being effusive. Only cask ale was London Pride, but it was good. Offered a refill as soon as I finished the first, decided to eat so a tab was set up. Thai food was excellent. Much preferable to keg beer and corporate food at the Hilton. Highly recommended.
17 Jun 2012 20:55
More a restaurant than a pub, but the food is very good. But beer at London prices (�3.20 for a pint of Brakspear!) and the house wine is �15 a bottle. Not a place to include in a city centre crawl.
23 Dec 2011 10:30
Walked past on afternoon of 3 December: definitely open again
22 Dec 2011 20:43
The Charles Dickens, Southwark
I can't make my mind up about this pub. The beer is well kept, if a bit pricy, with a good variety that changes regularly. The food is fine and good value. But the bar staff don't exactly make you feel welcome, and, as others have commented, the place is oddly lacking in atmosphere. I keep going back though, so it must have some charm.
4 Dec 2011 20:46
Splendid local, with good atmosphere, well kept beer and a sense of its history: the outside is magnificent, photo on the wall shows a party of customers going on a trip in the 1920s and it is unchanged. The inside looks as if it hasn't been 'improved' either. Highly recommended as an escape from the madness of Borough High Street.
19 Nov 2011 21:09
Pleasant and comfortable oasis from the bustle of pubs on Borough Higg Street: but �3.80 for a pint of Flowers?
19 Nov 2011 21:04
The Cheshire Cheese, Tower Hill
Beer OK, Food reasonable quality and price, but the volume of the music is intolerable. Each time I have been in here it has been pumped out at levels that would dictate the use of ear defenders if it were a factory. It really is that bad, making conversation impossible and communication with the staff difficult without resorting to shouting.
7 Nov 2011 09:50
GK have now rebranded this as a Hungry Horse family pub, with all that entails (for good or bad)
29 Aug 2011 20:51
Food OK, Doombar, Wainwright and Moor Northern Star on cask, Northern Star was excellent. Good atmosphere and pleasant surroundings. However on a Saturday evening there were only two staff serving at the bar and taking food orders. They were clearly struggling and there was a long wait, both to order and for the food to arrive. I saw several people give up and leave. This was when the pub wasn't busy, lord knows what it would be like with a rush on. Keeping the wage bill down doesn't improve the net profit if the turnover isn't there because you can't serve the customers.
21 Aug 2011 01:07
What a marvellous pub! Great mix of customers and a good feel to the place. The licencee was born for the job, within twenty minutes he found out my name, where I was staying and why I was in town, and all without seeming nosy. Outstanding range of local beers and ciders. Licencee knows his customers' tastes, and recommends new beers to suit those tastes. I will certainly be back.
23 May 2011 00:12
Reasonably priced accommodation with a good breakfast. Run of the mill GK pub , which makes it OK in my book, marred only by a foul-mouthed drunken scouser staggering around the bar. I don't need to travel a hundred miles to see one of those. Found him later urinating on the wall outside Nando's before he staggered inside, where i am sure he received a warm welcome. Made my night though.
22 May 2011 23:57
Now demolished and Tesco in process of being built. Few will mourn its passing.
27 Feb 2011 18:39
Ebels: People who live in glass houses.... it's 'haggard' not 'haggered'. And this is a pub review not site, not one for profabity and self-promotion.
8 Feb 2011 13:57
Small and friendly, good homemade bar food. Hobgoblin, EPA and Cocker Hoop on when I visited. Well worth the walk out of town.
27 Jan 2011 01:30
After a long walk on icy pavements found that it doesn't open until 5 on weekdays!
9 Dec 2010 00:06
After a long walk on icy pavements found that it doesn't open until 5 on weekdays!
9 Dec 2010 00:06
Friday lunchtime, fairly busy with the usual varied crowd. The mix of customers is part of what makes this such an excellent boozer. Excellent pint of Ascot Single Hop and a hot salt beef sandwich. I always try to make a detour here when in London, and am never disappointed.
5 Dec 2010 14:23
Modern bar, lots of smoked glass and industrail chic (bare brick, cast iron pillarsetc). Friendly service and good mix of customers. Recommended.
30 Aug 2010 21:45
I went in there once at 10 am (not for pleasure I hasten to add) expecting an empty pub: instead it was like a wild west saloon (complete with sudden deafening silence). Populated with the sort of people you would expect to find ina pub at that hour, and none looked as if they were recent arrivals. Awful place, the only saving grace is that it is keeping its customers out of other pubs.
14 Mar 2010 17:00
Can confirm Squirrel Girl's comments: good atmosphere. In how many pubs do you need to press a release button to get out?
10 Mar 2010 16:37
Basic city centre boozer, nothing to particularly commend or condemn it.
10 Mar 2010 16:34
Still closed and looking very sad, broken windows etc. Shame, iremeber it as a 'character' pub with an eccenric lecensee.
20 Nov 2009 22:30
Brilliant pub. As TheIrishC says, no frills boozer, the Guinesss is perfect. Rambling old place with 1960s decor including fluorescent strip lights, and some interesting reviews of the pub from local papers on the walls. And there aren't many pubs where you can see the cellar through the window of the gents!
Good atmosphere, will definitely be back.
21 Oct 2009 14:43
Very warm and welcoming with open fires on a wet October afternoon. 4 cask conditioned beers, one from Hilden and three English ones. Tried the 'own label' Hilden, very good. Food looked very good too, but more restaurant quality [and prices] than normal pub food.
21 Oct 2009 14:36
Great traditional pub with real ales but you can still take your mum for her Sunday lunch. Home cooked food and a warm welcome, highly recommended
15 Aug 2009 17:08
A little oasis in the Coventry desert, like going back fifty years but in a good way. Small, quiet, welcoming and with Albanian satellite TV for the football!
8 Jun 2009 11:37
Absolutely love this pub, do not miss it out of any trip to Belfast. How he produces food in the quality and quantity he does from that tiny kitchen is a mystery. The Ulster Fry for �3.95 will set you up for the day, come back later for the special: bowl of stew, wheaten bread and a pint of Guinness for a fiver.
5 May 2009 15:47
Called in while staying at nearby hotel: found it clean, with friendly staff but no real beer [real cider though, as befits its role as a student pub]. Got REALLY busy when the football was on, but at the final whistle it was is if they were all being sucked out through the doors. Food excellent and good value, and despite the huge numbers of students they were mostly polite and well mannered and didn't make our group of four fogeys [we must have increased the average age by ten years] feel out of place. A good find in a city that doesn't have much to offer in the way of decent pubs.
30 Apr 2009 21:13
What a wonderful articulate and trenchant review by brassica: it has the 'Fawlty Towers' effect in making you want to go there just to experience the awfulness. Going to Hillsborough next month and plan to enjoy the bar in the Hillside [the restauarnt there is much lile this one], but looks like the Plough is on the itinerary as well now.
22 Apr 2009 18:41
The Ostrich, Bristol
Like the last reviewer, I visited the Ostrich tonight after a long absence and found things had changed for the worse. Indifferent beer, limited food (essentially burgers and baked spuds), and one particulary sarky and offhand barmaid. Largely young and noisy crowd. The pub has so much potential from its fantastic location that is not being fulfilled.
12 Aug 2016 22:50