The Travellers Friend, Woodford Green

Oh dear. Here we have another cowardly twat that thinks it's jolly good japes to slag of both customers and bar staff alike behind the anonymity of this site. Does it not occur to him/them that the site is meant to report on the pub, the beer, the service and the general ambience without reverting to wild accusations and hate filled rhetoric based on nothing other than misguided perceptions and snap judgements. Keith: may you disappear up your own orifice in the most hideous manner and reflect on your inept unprovoked attacks and disgraceful behaviour. I truly hope you have abandoned all desire to revisit The Cricketers and The Travellers Friend ever again given their inconsistent ales, poor and wanton service and staff and the appalling appearance and debate of the customers they entertain.

20 Feb 2015 20:01

The Travellers Friend, Woodford Green

Morrisey; to quote you, or should I say to copy and paste, "Yes, er, something a BIT suspicious about the sudden wave of angrily defensive posts that have appeared post-24th November 2013.

You know, it does seem a bit fishy that ‘Linney’, ‘wanderingstar’, ‘Troye72’, ‘The_Real_Customer’ (anything but ‘real’!), and -- perhaps most suspiciously of all ‘Beergoggles69’ and ‘gimmebeer’ -- all suddenly appear out of nowhere unanimously in support of the new management.

Even if these six accounts belong to different people, they certainly read like they’ve been written by the same individual, and I hope the author/s and new management are not one and the same. If ever there was a case for deleting a pub’s B.I.T.E reviews to date, the Travellers Friend is a candidate. The posts and history of ‘Beergoggles69’ et al, give the impression that the current owners are directly, or indirectly, attempting to correct the imbalance here, rather than letting customers do it".

My comments are that of my own and I can confirm that I have only one user name as more than would appear to be trite. I suspect I know who wrote some of the posts, but it is only a suspicion so I will say no more. I have not been on this site since my last post, but was advised yesterday to look at it again due, I presume due to your post. Furthermore, please be advised that my posts have been written long before Andrew and Scott took over. Yes, I am very firmly behind the new management but can assure you I have no connection to them or the pub other than being a regular.

Glad to see that you are enjoying the new look TF as you call it. 100% upgrade of everything about the place and still the big push is yet to come. Nice to see a younger set of customers of both sexes and a family friendly beer garden. Scott is better than he was but is still crap behind the bar, (his passion is to manage and look after a great and varied beer selection which he does very well), but the rest of the staff are terrific. As a team, Scott and Andrew are great foils to each other and appear to work well together in all things. Long may it continue and I wish them both well for a long and prosperous future.

2 Aug 2014 09:29

The Pineapple, Brimpton Common

Lovely old pub, even lovelier if you are under five foot. Beware the beams. Very welcoming staff behind the bar, good range of real ales on offer. A plentiful enough menu but we opted for the special.
Finding a heavy old, but comfortable table, we awaited our spinach and cheese fish cakes. Upon arrival they looked lovely. However, as soon as I cut in, I found it to be full of peppers which neither my college or I can eat. The staff were very apologetic and took the food away without murmur and offered us a different fishcake. These arrived soon enough, but were a bit lack lustre. Shame. But for peppers, or a better description on the menu, it would have been an enjoyable visit.

7 Jun 2014 11:08

The Travellers Friend, Woodford Green

At 16.30, it was announced the new beer garden was open. At 17.30 there must of been fifty people in it. At 18.30, a large gathering of well over a hundred were enjoying not only the late evening sun shine but the well thought out and creative design of the marvellous to behold lawns, planters and furniture. Yet again Andrew & Scott, hearty congratulations on a great effort.

7 Jun 2014 08:05

The Travellers Friend, Woodford Green

Fantastic St Georges at the Spivs tonight. Well done to all involved. Great Jazz band, value for money fish & chips, great effort from all the staff and well done to Jo and Natalie for getting stuck in when needed. A truly proper pub. Andrew and Scott; you should feel rightfully proud. Anyone that slags the place or the staff and punters off from now on can EFF OFF; you and your supposed custom are not wanted or desired. Take your diseased utterings elsewhere.

23 Apr 2014 23:45

The Travellers Friend, Woodford Green

Oh dear, how sad. What a pair of moaning minnies Roger and Danny are. The irony is that they are the ones doing all the moaning. They are happy to hurl personal insults about regarding staff and customers, all of whom I find quite easy and pleasant to get on with regardless of appearance. Their facts are quite some way off the mark too, and appear to be more assumptive based; presumably, on ignorance and lack of intelligence/understanding/knowledge. I suggest they crawl back under whatever miserable rock they crawled out of and stay there. Certainly not ‘Spivs’ people. Hurrah for the fatties, the unwashed, the incessant moaning, the swarms of nippers running around the place and not forgetting the Avon lady.

Kudos to Andrew & Scott for the extent of the works to the beer garden, I’m sure it will look great when finished. Well done to everyone behind the bar for their good service and welcoming stance. (except for Scott who’s bloody useless behind it).

Now onto what this site is meant to be about, Great beers, wines, ciders and larger's. Great atmosphere. Nice to see two owners who care about the place, and are investing heavily and wisely to slowly transform it from it's current tatty persona to fully renovated traditional pub.

18 Apr 2014 12:49

The Travellers Friend, Woodford Green

Well, everyone seems in general accordance with regard to the new look Spivs. Well everyone but the deranged Clare and her husband and his apparent inability to deal with skid marks on the toilet bowl.

Setting aside her misguided and wholly inaccurate remarks that not one person has agreed with, (in fact I chide myself in even bothering to mention such innate ramblings); I think everyone is enjoying the new healthy atmosphere, the pleasant and friendly bar staff, the new regime of cleanliness and the diminishing fly count.

The quality of the beers are without doubt, second to none, certainly within an extremely wide radius, the variety of real ales, ciders and lagers has been greatly increased. The wines are really good indeed and come from the same estates that service high end restaurants all over central London but at very competitive local rates.

Even the bar snacks are top end, with superb crisps and peanuts that are far removed from the usual chemical infused retail offerings, and dare I say it, even the dreaded pork scratching are to be held in high esteem: these actually taste like pork crackling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now the till is ringing, the pub is full of laughter and good will and even Andrew’s sausages get sold on the few occasions that they don’t get nicked. Self banners from eight to ten years ago are reappearing with a few more grey hairs and larger bellies than they would prefer, but all are pleased to be reacquainted with their favoured old watering hole.

Moving onto the very delicate next stage: massive investment. Clearly the old girl needs more than a lick of paint, but how to do this without killing the golden goose, creating the much needed space, but keeping the character of the place, the unique Spivs bohemia and to finish up with what 90-95% of the customers are looking forward to will be a great trick to master. I for one will be very pleased to book a table on the opening night and look forward greatly to it, and realise; we are to go through a trying period of refurbishment that will be an absolute pain, but I’m sure, will be approached with the same Spivs conviviality, gusto and ribald remarks, complaint and criticism as is the norm.

For the few self exiles who haven’t yet ventured back, don’t be shy, bring along a couple of crisp twenty’s and an open mind, you might just find you’ll enjoy yourselves; and yes: I have got far too much time on my hands. Keep up the good work Scott & Andrew and their team and keep plagiarizing my business plan; it seems to be working well. To quote, “The pub is clearly past its prime and needs positive and assertive management, new toilets, new cellar, new kitchen, new glasses and a thorough going over both inside and out will be a much needed start. With a bit of capital injection and fore thought, the gold mine that once was, will resurrect itself from the ashes it now finds itself in and past regulars will flock to its call”.

14 Mar 2014 12:41

The Travellers Friend, Woodford Green

Far too much talk of free bar snacks and the like. The roast potato's are on the bar to show a commitment to customer service, loyalty to their customers and as a thank you to the regulars for their continued support. They are not there to try to gain entry into an Egon Ronay good pub grub guide.

In just three short weeks, we have a far cleaner pub, a far better atmosphere, far better service, some decent wines (the greater half loved the new sauvignon) and excellent beers and a greater range of bar snacks, a non stinking gents, and now, loads of Christmas decorations both inside and out and talk of bigger and better things to come.

Personally, I have great faith in Andrew & Scotts stewardship and wish them well in their future endeavours. They have sensibly not taken the bull by the horns and turned the place upside down over night, but are learning as they go, and identifying ways of bettering the place in all areas steadily and surely. They seem to be injecting every penny they are making back into the pub and have, I am sure, a commitment to reinvest again in time and put the pub back where it once was and should be.

This will be a long, hard and expensive road to travel, so give them a bit of support and encouragement rather than sitting around criticising and complaining.

8 Dec 2013 13:39

The Travellers Friend, Woodford Green

I was told this had turned into a blog. Nice to see my previous comment being taken as the business platform under giimebeer. I'm buggered if I can remember my old password or indeed what e mail address I used so hence the new tag. It was probably a typo as was my past tag. Gimmebeer was intended.

I'm sure things will resolve themselves under the new ownership, (especially as they have taken my business strategy the benchmark) but one things for sure, it won't happen over night. So to the moaners that have crept on here, TUPE off and give them a chance.

Gaybarhogger, why don't you give them an offer to bugger off if it concerns you so. The investment thus far has been immense and the further expenditure will also be immense. The pot ain't limitless. Fair call, keep Regan out of the place though.

Like the Cumberland. Like the new atmosphere/expectation. Like the bar grub. AND. There's even a new curb!!!!!

28 Nov 2013 21:49