BITE user comments - alanwrigg
Comments by alanwrigg
Visited recently.
There are twelve pumps serving beer (real ale). Only one was in operation. Pedigree.
Do not go in this pub if you like beer as opposed to fizzy Transylvanian lager.
5 Apr 2007 22:18
Called in last Tuesday and this was so packed that neither a seat nor a drink could be obtained.
An interesting and varied clientelle, probably not appropriate for Church of England vicars and their wives and 16 year old virgin daughters.
Could smell the whacky baccy many yards down the road.
Unique might be an apt description.
22 Mar 2007 20:11
Within spitting distance of the M40: 0.8 miles from the services/ Travelodge.
Enthusiastic/ pleasant staff.
Well above average quality food, although personally I thought the beer- London Pride- was indifferent.
Elvis nights are a massive sell out.
Good local following.
22 Mar 2007 19:57
Most Wetherspoons are of a standard. One accepts that, possibly it is part of their 'charm'.
We ate here last week and the steaks were more than adequate and the young waiter enthusiastic.
It is a pity that his desire to please had not rubbed off on the bar staff or management, who were rude, surly and incompetent.
A pint means a pint not one and a quarter of inches of froth. I for one do not expect rude back chat from the 'supervisor' when pointing this out and their obligations under the law.
A VISIT FROM TRADING STANDARDS, PLEASE- SOON!!
Other than that it is grubby, and the Police were watchfully waiting outside.
What is wrong with Wetherspoons these days ?
22 Mar 2007 19:49
'God Bless Sam Smith' wrote one reviewer.
Actually, it is Humphrey now. If he was not so mean and curmudgeonly- refusal to advertise, including brewery name- I would have visited this pub 18 months ago when I was in Old Isleworth every weekend. No mean feat as I live in the Yorkshire moors.
Since I was blissfully unaware that the Town Wharf was a Sam Smiths pub I ignored it and visited the other, more easily found if rather sad pubs hereabouts.
Called in on Saturday to the top bar: judging by the layout food is important here: found the usual array of cheaper than norm brews, though not Wheat Beer: fantastic riverside location, which must be idyllic in summer: splendid leather seating. Easy access for the Twickenham international rugby union ground and to Syon Park, and not more than a leisurely stroll into Richmond Upon Thames.
Top banana- even if the p**ck that runs the brewery is too mean to advertise this jewel.
25 Feb 2007 21:16
North and South Wales Bank, Wrexham
I swear upon my mother's life that I was eating here one evening when an Irish tinker tried to bring a donkey into the place.
Surreal.
24 Dec 2006 22:08
Another cavernous building tuned in to serving an inch of froth on the top of your pint.
The bar service both times I have been in has been appalling.
24 Dec 2006 22:02
Large. Cavernous even, with a number of little rooms off.
Probably slightly better than the norm, but woeful measures- asked three times for one pint to be topped up ! Maybe that is why they can sell it so cheap ?
Parking tricky.
24 Dec 2006 21:55
The Flying Dutchman, Summerbridge
In Nidderdale, just down from Brimham Rocks, this is a pleasant stone built Sam Smiths pub, with a large lounge and a smaller public room, where darts are played, on a Yorkshire board.
Friendly locals, food, quizzes- so much to recommend the place.
29 Sep 2006 18:43
Up and down like a whore's drawers, but fair play to the place- what is it supposed to be ?
tourist 'classy' food emporium ?
tourist 'cheap' food emporium ?
hotel ?
tavern ?
shooting party drinking hole ?
local's local ?
It falls half way between them all and, quite naturally, somewhere local beats it into a cocked hat on each count.
For all that the victualling is OK and check out the maker's mark on the woodwork !!
27 Sep 2006 21:00
Little to add, except that it is not a hotel, despite the name, and the snug is quiet and peaceful, compared to the public bar.
Scaffolding currently makes reading the pub sign tricky !
27 Sep 2006 18:26
Basking in past glories, when it was push and shove to get a table for their amazing value steak.
All of the pub is devoted to food, which with current trade makes it somewhat desolate.
Pleasant duck pond outside.
Takes a bit of finding- turn at the bend.
29 Jun 2006 20:42
One of 2 pubs in the historic, with ruined castle, village (hence the pub name !).
If coming from York turn right at the other pub and drive for about 500 metres, The Castle is on the right.
Often busy, food driven local, whose cooking I can recommend.
Just a tiny area as well as the large lounge.
Pleasant to sit outside in the summer.
29 Jun 2006 20:37
Named after one of the most famous racehorses of the last century who, ironically, lost his only race at York !
Just outside the city walls and amazingly grockle free- since it is off the tourist route.
Pleasant lounge.
Cheap beer.
What more can you ask for ? Conviviality I suppose, well you can't have everything !
7 May 2006 20:09
Visited one luchtime, only six customers during the whole session !
Cheap beer by London standards and a pleasant postage stamp sized 'garden' for the warmer days.
God help you if you come by car. I overstayed the meter by 2 minutes (ie 120 seconds) and got a ticket !
7 May 2006 20:05
Heaving with people attracted by the cheap beer (not all of whom you would take home to meet Mother !), and upstairs and downstairs are often full.
Hell of a trek to the cellar for the gents.
Takes a bit of finding.
7 May 2006 20:01
I think the word atmosphere sums up Nellies: from the original gas lights, to the antiques/ junk around the place, the sloping floors and the numerous tiny rooms. To call it an identikit Sam Smiths pub is simply to misunderstand the place.
The locals are amazingly friendly.
It can be busy after race meetings and at weekends in Hull's universities term times, when the world and his brother descend on the place.
The beer is cheap and kept well.
A truly outstanding and interesting pub.
The Beverley ring road goes by the back door of the pub to clear up what two earlier reviewers mentioned. The bus station is next door for potential pub crawlers !
7 May 2006 19:52
Too far out of town it seems for most people. I have never seen more than half a dozen folk in there, but imagine that due to its location, overlooking the Thames water meadows it could be busy for sunny summer days and for their carvery on Sundays.
Beer is cheap by 'London' standards.
Most of the staff seem to be from the E.U and are more interested in their own chit chat. Their ability to serve the product properly could also be improved.
7 May 2006 19:44
The Angel and White Horse, Tadcaster
Must surely have one of the biggest open fires of any pub in the country ?
Usually busy, which is hardly surprising given the cheapness and quality of the beers.
Worth looking through the left hand side windows to see if the brewery's (white) shire horses are in the stable !
7 May 2006 19:35
Pleasantly located by the river, along from the mill pool. Lovely historic building. Mix of customers but usually busy. Never seeen the bottom bar open. Serves food but not sampled. It has a lot going for it.
7 May 2006 19:26
The Malt Shovel Inn, Oswaldkirk
Friendly and unpretentious country pub, with an interesting mixed clientele of locals and visitors to the area (edge of North York Moors). The pub has a small bar, larger lounge and separate dining area and pool room. Friendly hosts. Sam Smiths beers looked after enthusiastically. Good home cooking. Interesting interior and exterior (the side away from the road- former manor house ?). Pleasant garden for that one sunny day in the summer.
All round you will struggle to find better.
22 Feb 2006 19:31
Waggon and Horses, Alfreton
Busy, but not threatening.
Excellent choice of real, often local, ales.
As different again to what Wetherspoons stands for now throughout the rest of the UK.
I take my hat off to the management.
Wetherspoons has seriously gone off the rails and this place still seriously believes in the old fashioned virtues of good beer and pleasant service. MIND BOGGLINGLY SIMPLE.
5 Apr 2007 22:25