The Glasshouse Stores, Piccadilly Circus

Dreadful, horrible, miserably appalling place to drink!!

The pub itself is dank and dark, with awkwardly placed seating arrangements and a thin and impractical avenue between the actual bar and the rest of the "Pub". As seating was hard to come by, my party decided to see if the downstairs area was open as it had been roped off when we first came in. Seeing as the place was filling up (...though why it was still eludes me) we thought it was worth another look. Sure enough, the barrier had been lifted so we ventured downstairs to get a bit of elbow room (and a seat!!), only to be told off like naughty schoolchildren by (I presume?) the "Manager" five minutes later for venturing downstairs because, actually, it was apparently still closed... despite it having been opened?! ...no - I don't understand it either.

We finally found somewhere for the 4 of us to sit about half an hour later when a group of students got up and left... they too, looked like they'd been having the time of their lives. <-- that's sarcasm, by the way.

The bar staff (such as they were) were slow, rude, and clearly begrudging of having to deal with members of the public. The little guy who seemed to be in charge of this travesty of a pub, sighed and huffed and scowled his way through our orders, as if "Customer Service" was just some kind of abstract concept - nothing more than a thought experiment not meant to be applied to the real world as opposed to... you know - the norm.

During our brief (but all too long) stay in this dingy enthusiasm vacuum, we were told to "keep the bloody noise down", chastised for the odd swear word (...in a pub!! ...in Central London?!?!), told off yet again for watching a video on a mobile phone (with the sounds muted, I might add) and actually laughed at and deemed unworthy of custom because only 3 of our party were drinking pints.

We were made to feel about as welcome as a fart in a space-suit, to the point where we didn't even bother to finish our drinks, we just left... gladly.

The ONLY plus point to this social atrocity is that the drinks are pretty cheap but in all honesty, I wouldn't go back there even if the booze was free.

I urge everyone to avoid at all costs.

2 Nov 2011 15:31