Toby Carvery, Frimley

If you love your pub toilets, this is the place to go. The landlord is insanely passionate about the toilet experience and has made sure every last detail has been honed to maximum effect. What other pub has a fruit machine and a guest book in the gents? And on special occasions, the landlord himself will personally supervise your trip to the bathroom to make sure you fully benefit from the special event. Be sure to ask him how he managed mount the Karaoke machine above the gold-plated urinals; it's an epic tale.

No idea about the beer or food, never left the toilet. Best pub in the area.

24 May 2011 16:38

Ye Olde White Hart, Frimley

Excellent pub. It used to be a real drug fuelled hell hole, but they've really sorted the place out. I think the no shaven head and no visible tattoos policy has helped make the pub a really pleasing place to drink and dine. Well done. Great Twitter feed too.

24 May 2011 15:42

The Rose and Thistle, Frimley Green

I'm a Real Ale drinker, and when I find a drink I like, I tend to stick with it for the evening (I get a nasty head in the morning if I mix my drinks). However, this hasn't been possible down the Rose and Thistle on a Friday evening for almost 6 months*!

Take the popular Doombar & Tribute brands for example. More often than not, you will find that the taps will have little delicate signs on them saying; "coming soon" or "coming next". Coming next after what? The next lunar eclipse? All it really serves to highlight is the pub's inability to manage their suppliers in conjunction with the gregorian calendar. How hard is it to keep a regular supply of the most popular ales in stock which therefore brings punters and their money into the pub? It's not like the suppliers are ice-cream-vans which randomly turn up in the carpark for 5 minutes before vanishing, it's 2011 and communication has never been so simple and easy. Forward planning is the key!

That said, on those rare occasions when Doombar and/or Tribute is available on a Friday night I guarantee you that 2 pints will be the most you'll get out of them before they're "off". Knowing what they're like, I've even asked Bill before starting a session "Am I going to get more than 2 pints out of this?" and have been told that they'll easily last well into the next day. When they inevitably run out when going up for number 3 I question Bill on his promise, and his reply was "Naaaaaaaa gone".

Either the people who manage the Ale are complete idiots, or it's a classic pub con in which they get you in on the nice drinks, then force you to drink the money making varieties once you're underway?

Don't get me wrong, the pub is superb. Food is great, nice location, beer garden, toilets, opening hours. But the Ale management is so bad it makes you question whether the person responsible often forgets to get dressed when they leave the house of a day.

*to be fair, there has been one Friday night in 6 months where both Doombar and Tribute made it through the whole night

24 May 2011 13:09