BITE user comments - Whale_Jnr
Comments by Whale_Jnr
The Crown and Sceptre, Streatham
If you say so - that is certainly not how the customers or staff quoted by the local press saw it, who were keen to understand what was happening. Why would you deny the pub was closing with a few days to go ... http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2019/02/crown-sceptre-pub-on-streatham-hill-goes-out-with-a-confusing-whimper-as-locals-take-to-social-media/
Anyway if it has a long-term future then that is great news and suits everyone.
Visited on Saturday night and the place was buzzing, most tables taken. Impressed to see 9 cask pulls - 7 ales and 2 ciders. £2.40 a pint for guest beers, one was £1.99. Ales included 2 each from Cotleigh and Truman's. Very good value food even cheaper than Spoons in some cases - most main courses £6-8. Included a wide selection of burgers and the return of roast dinners. We'll be back!
25 Mar 2019 15:39
The Crown and Sceptre, Streatham
Sold and closed by Wetherspoons last month amid a shroud of secrecy, staff apparently not allowed to talk about it etc.
Even more unexpectedly re-opened under new management just a week later according to social media and local press (Brixton Buzz) - new owners are LT Management. Not sure of its long term status. It has a brief Facebook page.
Look forward to seeing what the new version is like. If anyone else has visited I would love to know the type of beer range and prices!
18 Mar 2019 15:30
This pub is very much open; it is now run by gastropub chain Geronimo Inns who call it a "Pub and Dining Rooms".
Pleased it has survived, but from the menu expect to pay £14 for fish and chips or £15 for a pie.
Drinkers are welcome, Young's ordinary and one of the Sambrooks beers was on. Their website indicates a free drink is available by joining their mailing list if that's your thing.
Seems perhaps ahead of its time for Tooting Broadway (which is not quite Clapham yet...), will be interested to see how it fares.
I actually went in there after seeing it on a list of local pubs with a dart board, but that is of course long gone. The only "games" were a couple of toys to keep young children amused.
27 Feb 2017 13:05
The Long Room Bar and Hotel, Tooting
Prices are creeping up - since my last review in the autumn the £10 Thai main courses now £11.50 and the £4.10 beer is now £4.50.
Still worth a visit but hoping the prices are not going up much more.
27 Feb 2017 12:56
Visited this pub last Friday before nearby football. I think three ales were on, I had the "Prince of Wales Best Bitter" which was Caledonian House Ale (4.1%) badged for the pub, tasted good, and only £2.90. Another Caledonian beer was also available.
Two rooms and bars with locals chatting in each. Doing reasonable business at 7pm on a Friday. Front bar has a dart board and juke box. Various "seasonal" rugby decorations adorning the place. Blackboard indicated a quiz night and an upcoming mystic/seance evening (ooer....).
Recommended.
27 Feb 2017 12:53
Charles Wells branded pub (image 2 appears more current)
No real ale, Bombardier on keg was, I think, £3.60.
Busy pub with a good atmosphere early on a Monday night.
25 Oct 2016 14:53
The Long Room Bar and Hotel, Tooting
Recently visited twice. A good pub for football during the Euros, has plenty of space and several screens. Also has a decent menu including enormous portions of excellent Thai food - better value than other pubs with Thai menus that I've visited in London.
Yesterday's three beers were Sambrook's Junction and Wandle and Wimbledon Brewery SW19 Summer Ale. The latter was £4.10.
Recommended.
8 Jul 2016 10:54
Went here with some colleagues on a Friday night recently - a chain bar of course but reasonable overall. Never took long to get served - also pleased to get a cheap pint whilst others indulged in 2 for 1 cocktails etc. Greene King IPA (£2.85) was on though the other pump, London Pride was off when I was in there (for comparison Corney & Barrow charge £4.95 for a 500ml bottle of ale round the corner).
Not an ale lover's paradise but suited our needs on that occasion.
1 Nov 2013 14:31
I've visited this pub about 7 times since the start of last year for planning a couple of country walks. Your experience and enjoyment will vary depending on whether you are a food customer and whether it's nice enough to sit outside.
When you can sit in the garden which has 20-30 tables, drinkers and eaters all seem well catered for and I found the waiting staff attentive too.
When it's too cold or wet for the garden, the inside is a dining room area (the right hand side, as you enter) and the bar area has about another 8 tables. As the dining room gets busy with Sunday lunch guests and even the bar tables are scattered with "reserved for diners"/"reserved at 2pm" etc signs, this is when it becomes clear that they actually don't like drinkers. You are not allowed to drink in the dining area under any circumstances, even after food service has finished. On my 2nd to last visit on a Sunday in September there was 1 non-dining table in the entire pub (which 10 of us crowded around) and the latest time even that was reserved for use later on - there are a few bar stools which I presume are the only safe haven from food reservations.
Sunday lunch is a big deal of this sort of place of course, and the landlady was polite in explaining that they really consider themselves a restaurant as this is what pays, but even amongst pubs I've been to like that, it's unusual for drinkers to struggle to find a single seat when there is probably room for 60-80 people to sit inside and eat.
The food is very nice - starters are �5-8ish and mains �12-18 apart from the Ploughman's which was about �9. Desserts �5.
Go on a nice sunny day and enjoy the garden, or go there because you want pub food. Drinkers are bound to get a warmer welcome almost anywhere else. As a walker with a group who don't all want to eat, it just about served our needs (and we didn't mind sitting outside under a heater for a bit with no tables inside) but if I were doing something like that again I would certainly try one of the pubs in Ide Hill instead.
21 Oct 2012 21:42
The Windmill on the Common, Clapham Common
I visited The Windmill to eat twice last year and I thought it was fine for somewhere to eat. I'm surprised to see every recent comment about the food below is negative - the roast dinner I had the first time was nice - admittedly �14 is top-whack for a pub roast. No-one I was with on either occasion had any complaints about the 2/3 courses they had anyway. On a Sunday afternoon without a booking they did say they needed us done by a certain time (90 minutes or so away) so they could reserve it for someone else - this was fine for us at the time but I this could have been inconvenient in some situations.
The beer was certainly expensive and on both visits was constantly being sent back to be topped up (whether at the bar or in the restaurant) - I wondered whether this was a deliberate ploy to squeeze a few extra pennies out of people who they guess don't notice or care?
It's certainly not aiming to catering for the traditional ale drinker - but luckily there are other Young's pubs in the area that still do (The Nightingale, The Grove).
1 Mar 2011 13:45
The King Henry VIII Inn, Hever
Visited this pub last weekend it seemed fairly quiet on a Sunday lunchtime.
3 real ale hand pumps all served Shepherd Neame - Spitfire, Master Brew and Amber Ale. The latter was �3.50 a pint.
The food menu was one of the longest I've ever seen in a pub and amongst the 30+ dishes were baguettes and jacket potatoes, standard main pub meals, burgers, about 8 different sorts of pizza plus roast dinners and other specials on a blackboard. Hunter's Chicken with chips and Roast Beef (�9.95 each) were both large portions and very good value. Chocolate fudge cake (�4.95) also recommended.
The staff were attentive and the food was delivered quickly, all in all a very pleasant lunchtime session. I'll be back!
1 Mar 2011 13:21
The Crown and Sceptre, Streatham
Returned yesterday for this transitional period of outdoor drinking only. Very busy outside grabbed one of the last available tables on a sunny Saturday but there was a steady turn over. There is a tent with 8 or so tables inside it for, er, rainy day drinkers.
3 cask beers available £3.00 a pint. Two from Southwark brewing co (the Mayflower particularly nice) plus Doom Bar. Cash and card taken.
Staff were rushed off their feet doing table service, but very friendly!
18 Apr 2021 13:24