please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Our final stop of the night was the White Hart. This is a very impressive building opposite Kingston Bridge. The interior didn't quite live up to expectations. But service was friendly and unlike other places, they were happy to serve us with a bite to eat, despite it being after 9pm. Being a Fuller's pub, the ale range was a little limited. London Pride & Swing Low were accompanied by Dark Star Hophead. The food we had was tasty and well presented. Certainly the better of the two pubs we tried in Hampton Wick.
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Dropped in for a Sunday lunch today only to discover they only had roasts on. Nevertheless very friendly staff and would head back another time to give it a whirl. Nice outside patio area.
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This is not a pub anymore! ! ! ! !
I spent over 2 very happy years living in Hampton Wick and I did regularly use the pubs except this 1 for the pure fact that this is not a pub. It's a hotel with a small bar at the front which gives the feeling of sitting in a hotel lobby having a drink whilst watiing to be checked in to your room.
I did come here a couple of time. I had a cold pint of Honeydew 1 hot summers afternoon outside the front. This would have been OK apart from the fact the front of the buidling faces a very busy roundabout with buses and lorry's going past in their droves. (Not the pubs fault obviously)
The other time I went for a Sunday roast which was mediocre for the price they charged.
If you want a nice pint and a good quality roast then turn left, cross the road and head to the swan. If its a beer outside(in a back patio garden backing onto the wall of home park) you want or a game of pool then turn right, cross the road and head to The Old Kings Head.
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Seasonal beers are back. I am happy again!
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And now nothing resembling a seasons for some months - only Gales Seafarers. Come on - we can surely fo better than that.
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It all went red . . . London Porter now seems to be up to �3.30 a pint. I wish I hadn't said any thing.
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I need to address my post of 15 May as prices ssem to have reverted to being more than reasonable: �3.15 for ESB on my last visit and �2.70 for London Porter. The latter is a bargain for so splendid a beer: I sampled the same in a Putney pub for �3.30. And the food, although not cheap, is also pretty good.
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Can't see anything I disagree with here.
a. Yes it was a great pub once. I used to work opposite- it was a regular haunt
b. The refurb ruined it as a venue and it is now nothing more than a hotel bar
c. The staff and manager are nice enough but act like they are in the hotel business not the pub trade
d. The beer is as good as you'll ever get. I DO have a Fullers fetish and the only reason I stop here (and I do about once a week/fortnight) is for an ace pint of Pride or ESB.
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It is way to expensive, but with the Forrester's pub being so unfriendly it is certainly a better choice.
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I know that beer prices have gone up but they are sky high here: I can get a cheaper pint in Central London. At one time, beer prices were relativelt reasonable here. The hike seems to be not unconnected with a recent change in local management.
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Yes, its days as a pub are long over but the ales are still worth going there for as they're in ace condition, if a little pricey. I was visiting recently and noticed that everyone present was drinking and no-one was eating! This isn't a reflection on the excellent grub, but shows how good the beer is. Recommended.
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While agreeing with the posts below, it is time to get over it and just accept that this is no longer a pub but a hotel bar. But it has three Fullers ales, usually including the seasonal. The beer is almost always in excellent condition and, against the odds, the place is back in the Good Beer Guide. London Porter has been really excellent of late.
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Roger is right as the place is a far cry from its former incarnation as a proper boozer complete with alsatians, large screen telly and copious boozing space. That, my friend, is a thing of the past where mucho cash can be made in gentrifying places like the WH. It should also be said that it now has the most expensive bar prices of any drinking gaff in the village and is mostly food-based. Well, you wouldn't come for the craic these days would you?!!
anonymous - 22 Aug 2007 22:59 |
I recently paid my first visit here in the best part of 20 years since I lived in the area and I can�t believe that I was in the same place. What was once a decent and spacious pub has turned into little more than a hotel bar. From the outside the place is very appealing with it large patio, mock Tudor gables and latticed windows. The interior is pleasant enough and comfy with flowers on tables and lounge areas although some of the cushions look like they had been made by the local women from the OAP home. The first bit of the pub when you walk through the doors is more geared for diners which immediately makes you feel a bit awkward if you are just here for a few drinks. The stone floor bar area beyond is the only bit of the pub that it felt right to drink in but was fairly small and I felt uneasy taking a seat elsewhere in case the tables were reserved for diners. The neatly uniformed staff were constantly prowling as if they were waiting for someone to stray into no mans land so they could pounce. The beers were pretty decent (Fullers range � ESB, Swing Low & Pride on my visit) but this is such a far cry from how I remembered the place that I wish I just kept the memories.
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What were Fullers were thinking of when the wrecked this pub by turning it into a hotel with the smallest bar/dining room in the world? In complete agreement with the comments below, particularly as to lack of soul. As it is, it is not a bad place locally to sample a pint of Fullers - at least the beer is usually in good condition.
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I'd say it was a good jumping off place to start a night on the lash, especially when the warm weather is on us. The outside area is especially popular then. What the place lacks is atmos and character. It's difficult to imagine having a really GOOD time there because the atmos is so flat and polite all the time. That's down to the amount of people eating as opposed to just drinking and there being no pool table, jukebox, telly etc. There's nowt to stir people into drunken singing! That said, it's a nice place but, as Rex said, not a place to spend the whole night in...unless you like drinking in libraries!
anonymous - 26 Apr 2007 10:18 |
Definitely felt like what it undoubtedly is - a hotel bar, not a pub. But, having said that, the pint of ESB that I had was in top condition (I didn't try the other Fuller's ales) and it was served in a branded glass that looked like a pint version of the sort of glass you give a girl who asks for a half. Most odd, but made a change. Give me a straight glass any time.
Food was OK - the "crusty" bread used for my sandwich was ordinary supermarket sliced white, but got a decent portion of chips instead of crisps with it, so reckon I broke even. A decent enough comfortable watering hole for a swift pint and a bite, but not the sort of place in which I would choose to spend an evening.
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Must have been a duff night when beeronaught went in as its always got regulars in there and the staff are the best in the area by far. It has got a really nice atmosphere and the food is top notch.
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Soulless hotel bar rather than actually a pub. Fullers Porter was actually very good but the miserable barstaff counterbalance this. If there are pubs in Hell they will be like the White Hart.
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Stayed here New Years Eve. Dull, Dull, Dull.
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It's clear that Fullers think of these premises more as a hotel than as a pub, and as such this pub deserves to fail. It is very rare to find an example of a town pub that can have it both ways. There are better times to be had nearby, why spend an evening in a hotel foyer?
The beer is great, serving the fabulous Organic Honey Dew beer on tap. However this was served very short in a wide brimfill glass on the occasion I visited. Not the greatest of sins, but the bar staff refused to top it up on request which is unforgivable.
It is depressing to recall that this mediocre establishment once hosted a classic "Rock Raiders" club night each week in the early 1990s.
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A place to start your night out and probably no more. Fuller's ales in superb condition and interesting food at a price. Quite borgeouis as you'd expect. It rather lacks character now and is run very 'properly' so don't expect wild drunkeness and fun!
Have one or two here and then visit the real pubs of Hampton Wick.
anonymous - 14 Aug 2005 12:29 |
Dull and lifeless hotel bar, with not surprisingly, the consequent lack of character or atmosphere. Try elsewhere for a proper pub atmosphere
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the staff were friendly enough but it was a very small bar for such an imposing building. As it is a hotel bar, it was predictably quiet and lifeless. I doubt we'll be returning unless on a pub crawl.
Parkhillian - 15 Oct 2004 17:22 |
As Longford says, this is a nice place to start a pub crawl of 'the wierd wick' but dont be here for any long period of time as it will osmose your soul out of you.
Go into the Swan across the road instead unless you have a Fullers fetish.
Tom - 9 Jul 2004 16:58 |
Alas the White Hart, has had its heart ripped out.
The area thats left i reckon is a fifth or a sixth of the old bars size. Gone are the 2 great fireplaces (propper open ones), gone is the rear hall (where many a local band, and alternative DJs cut their teeth). Gone is its (admittedly ratehr shabby) rear garden which was cool and free of the back and forth of traffic the front garden suffers from. The Decor was mainly red brick or dark/warm colours.
In its place is a rather ok, if sanitised and plastered, hotel bar.
jon-paul - 6 Nov 2003 17:30 |
It was a large rambling Irish-run
pub. That changed when owners Fuller's decided it could be a hotel instead. The place was extensively remodelled and is really now a shadow of its former
self.
Basically it's a small bar at the
front of a large hotel. The staff
are most pleasant, the food also
(not your average lasagne and chips!) and the Fuller's ales in
fine condition. The place is almost always quiet and lacks both an atmosphere and much
character these days. A good place to start a crawl of Hampton
Wick.
Longford Collector - 4 Nov 2003 11:09 |
All the characters been taken out of this pub. Truly dreadful, like so many large town pubs.
Ratty - 30 Jul 2003 22:27 |
Good place for a quiet night out with a relaxed atmosphere. You won't get any larger louts here!!
Rachel - 26 Jun 2003 18:14 |
This is not a pub any more its a hotel
Thom - 10 Jun 2003 11:11 |
It's recently been refurbished, and this is reflected in the price - seven eighty for a pint of Carling and a large glass of chardonnay. That's taking the piss!
Amy Hamilton - 3 May 2003 17:30 |
Nice pub, near the Thames so good view...
Sherrie - 18 Apr 2003 23:21 |
