The Brewmaster, Leicester Square

Rotten beer, even worse customer service. I visited this pub for the first time recently, on a mid-week evening and ordered a pint of Greene King Royal London Ale. As many other reviews mention the pub is fairly typical of boozers around Leicester Square, i.e. it�s quite small with too many tables crammed in and the whole place (floors, tables etc) is slightly sticky.

It wasn�t busy however so there were plenty of tables free. There is some outside space mentioned on a sign inside the pub but it actually is an ally. The big problem and the reason I will never return was down to the quality of the beer and the customer service of the staff.

I have been drinking real ale for 15 years, and although not an expert, I am able to tell when I get a bad pint. It has only happened to me on a few occasions, I don�t know if it is because its stale, the lines haven�t been cleaned properly or the beer has not been kept correctly but their pint of Royal London Ale was rank. I have tried Royal London Ale on several occasions elsewhere recently and know what it should taste like. Fair enough however, a pub can serve a pint which isn�t right for some reason and it isn�t the end of the world. For example in the Lloyds bar up the road I once had a pint which definitely didn�t taste right so I took it back and they gave me another pint without any problem.

However, in the presumably ironically named Brewmaster, the young and stylish European barman assured me that he drank this particular beer all the time. He then took (a very small) sip and said it was absolutely fine and there was nothing he could do. I said I really wasn�t happy with it, was there someone else who could check the beer was alright. He suggested that I could speak to his manager, who was coming back to the pub shortly. Whilst waiting I spoke to one of the barmaids who was quite rude to me.

After about 10 minutes of hanging around, obviously without a drink, I spoke to the barman again to ask when the manager would be returning. Eventually he showed up, only for him to take (a very small) sip of the beer and declare that it was fine. I said that there really was something wrong with it however they were unwilling to do anything. I was left with no option but to leave a very nearly full pint of beer on the bar and leave the pub. I have never received customer service like it in a pub before and will certainly not be returning.

11 Sep 2010 13:38