The White Lion, Sawbridgeworth

We recently had our xmas party here. We got there quite early so it was pretty empty. We all put our coats and bags in a seating area, admittedly there were a lot of us, so we took up a large area. Later on when the pub got busier the landlord decided the bag and coat situation was a matter of life and death and threw them all on the floor. Bags and belongings went missing, but we weren't bothered because we knew it was such a huge inconvenience, so much so that he had to do it rather than have a word with us first.

Like I said there were a lot of us, one round came to over �200. I was given a G&T when I had actually asked for vodka and lemonade. This could've been the fault of the person buying the �200+ round, or the bar lady, I don't know, but when I asked if I could have a vodka and lemonade instead, she told me we would have to pay for that as well. Like we hadn't put enough money behind the bar. She also told me that I did ask for a G&T. I have never liked G&T, I hate it and would never ever order one, so was very annoyed that she was accusing me of this.

The only other time I've been to this pub was about 15 years ago and me and my friends got chanced down the road by some nutter throwing pint glasses at us. I won't be going back in a hurry.

19 Dec 2011 15:10

The Alwyne Castle, Islington

All I can say is WASPS!!! Far too many bloody wasps! It has a fairly decent beer garden, although it does have the feeling of being a bit like a car park and it's right on a busy road, but as London beer gardens go it's not too bad. I've been there 3 times during the summertime, and the last 2 times it was ruined by the amount of wasps attacking us. The only reason for this can be the place is not clean enough. When we have been there we have noticed dirty plates and glasses left on tables for far too long. And because of this, both times we finished our drinks and moved on to the next pub.

15 Dec 2011 13:25

The Sun Inn, Nazeing Common

I use to go to this pub about 15 years ago when it was run by Ron, and always had a good time there. During the summer I decided to take my girlfriend and parents one hot Sunday as it's a great pub in the summer. The place had changed a lot with a conservatory and larger bar area. Straightaway I noticed the service was pretty poor. There seemed to be enough staff, but there were also a lot of people waiting, most of them not seeming to care who was first and waving their money trying to get served before everyone else. I waited patiently but after 5 mins grew very annoyed. Mainly because the staff didn't seem to care, or take into consideration who might have been next (my biggest pet-hate of bar staff these days). I finally got served by the manageress who obviously realised how long I had been waiting and how unhappy I was. But even then it took quite a while to get my drinks and order food. We sat out the front which had a few too many wasps flying around (a sign that the place isn't as clean as it should be). We ended up waiting about 45 mins for basic pub food to be delivered. The food was quite nice, but the whole experience was let down by our only visit to the bar. It's a shame because it used to be a decent boozer, but now seems to have got a bit above itself, attracting too many people and not knowing how to cater for them all.

15 Dec 2011 13:15