please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Basically somewhere you are going to have a swift pint while waiting on your train. A lot of the (Keg) beers are over a fiver a pint.
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Oh, and with SSP's Bite Card (free) the 20% discount (at many of SSP's food and drink operations at UK railway stations) makes prices a bit more competitive.
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Much improved this year with the introduction of cask ale - usually at least two on: Fuller's London Pride, Greene King IPA, and on occasion Greene King IPA Gold.
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It's a nice chill out pub waiting for your train home.
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This station bar is now called the Beer House. As you might expect from a station pub, it has now windows. So it's a little dull inside. There are no cask beers, but a good range of keg beers and also a large bottled selection. Certainly a good place to visit whilst waiting for your train. But not a 'destination' venue. We left for the Harp instead.
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I dropped in the other evening to try the new format out: �4.95 for a very gassy pint of Brooklyn lager seemed a bit steep, and it tasted a bit metallic. Food-wise I went for the venison and claret pudding, and it was appalling. Dried out on the outside and rubbery on the in, and there was distinct absence of claret and for that matter venison - at least, not any sort of venison that I've tasted before.
Very disappointing, and when i complained the reaction was not terribly positive though I did eventually get a refund.
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Was the worst station pub in the UK. The refurb is nice, clean, and inviting. Twas rammed right up to last orders, which is a good sign. Beer pricy but that keeps out the tramps. A nice varied range of world beers and not the usual CAMRA approved 1970's cask blandness, nor the usual chemical laden chav's cat piss. Obviously an attempt to spread their net wide to see what sells and what doesn't. I can see the beer list being tweaked over the coming months. Hopefully some of the smaller breweries will showcase. SWB, Waen, etc.
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This refurbished bar has become very much an example of form over substance.
It is branded as a craft beer bar but has no real ale and no real examples of the beers that demonstrate the vibrancy that is the UK craft beer scene.
Instead you get a selection of yes a few of the more unusual keg beers and lager and a few very expensive bottled world beers.
If you want to see what the UK brewing scene is at take a 5min stroll to the Harp, you won't be disappointed as I was here.
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This place has been tastefully refurbed and transformed in to a specialist beer bar. However it is rather expensive (no bottles under �4 and no pints under �4.50) has no real ale (unless you count the keg Meantime Pale I tried at �4.75 a pint) and there isn't really anything special about the beer.
anonymous - 18 Dec 2011 21:25 |
if u dont like the pub dont drink in their simple and if you would rather piss on your own shoes and get a can of beer thats your own problem its a place for a quick pint before bunch of clowns you get on your train you
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Actually, Leekitts has done us all a service in that since his views of what constitutes a good boozer are obvioulsy 180 degress off from what the rest of us think in future if he posts that somewhere is good we can avoid it like the plague and, contrariwise, if he pans a place it is probably going to turn out quite decent. Anybody who thinks the Queen B is worth even Zero has serious problems of reality and perception.
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Need I say it? This place is junk - but of course should you wish for one more snifter before hometime you canne find a closer venue to gate 4!!!
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called in again and again found it to be rather good, if a bit excpensive. Im only posting this as i looked at the last comment and well "stoutchappie" must be a blind victor meldrew old fool. if you belive it thats bad why even bother. this place is a lot better but still not spot on but a great deal improved. going from your comments from all your visits your the kind of old nobody who is never happy and should just bar yourself from all drinking houses, SAD SAD SAD OLD T*@T.
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whats going on, at last it seems as though the place has turned a corner and is miles better than the last few visits iv had. lets hope the new manager keeps it up. I might now call in again.
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Rather than sit in the Boadicea, grab a tin from the Whistlestop, douse your shoes in tramp's pee, then go sit in the toilets. Far cheaper, better service, and a better class of clientelle. Not a pub to be recommended under any circumstances.
If you've got more than 15 mins, head down the stairs next to platform 1 and to one of the pubs along Villiers.
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This pub is awesome! It's got the regulars from the mos eisley canteena, 0% beer quality along with with the added attraction of no toilet! Come along and slum it today!!!
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This small and rather faceless station bar is situated next to Platform 1 at Charing Cross and has few redeeming features other than it can bang out a swift pint if you have 10 minutes to wait for your train and you can�t be bothered to walk down the adjacent steps where ther are 3 or 4 pubs within a minute walk. To its credit it does usually have a couple of ales on (Pride & Youngs) although quality can be variable and the prices above normal. The L-shaped interior is tidy enough and functional without being particular attractive or memorable. Service is rather impersonal as you would expect as a passing customer (do they actually get regulars in here?). A plasma screen is tuned to subtitled news channels and sport is advertised on numerous posters. No bogs � you need to use the pay toilets so a add an extra 20p to every other pint if you are here for a long session (like you would!). One benefit is that there is a small tucked away TV screen showing the train departures is handy on such occasions when there is disruption to services and you need to keep an eye on the indicator boards (not unlike last night - well you don�t think I went in by choice do you?). It won�t be the worst pub you will ever visit but its purpose for existing is rather minimal.
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Curiosity finally got the better of me and I visited here last night. I ordered a half of lager and handed over a fiver, �any crisps would you like?� No thanks, just the lager and maybe a smile. Nothing there!
I cheered myself up by watching BBC News 24 report on how we are all going to die in poverty.
An irate guy behind me that was being ripped off by the fruit machine shouted �You�re �avin a laugh aint ya� � My sentiments exactly!
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Awful, awful, awful like 95% of pubs in station in the UK
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The reviews of this pub really cheered me up. I probably went sometime in the 90s, but sounds like it hasn't changed. Those walks of London, maninly frequented by American's shold stop and experience a truly wonderful piece of British history/culture. What suprised me is that there is a worse place in the Traf Sq area than the Two Chairmen.
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Went in to see if it really was as bad as all that. It's really a station caff that sells beer and, as many people have said, there are several pubs down the side of the station in Villiers Street to start with as well as others nearby, so why would you not go there?
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only for the desperate but at least its an option for a quick heart starter whilst waiting for teh train
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worst station pub in the UK in my view, in the face of pretty strong competition.
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Why?!? As a couple of posts have stated, with a vast selection of pubs within close proximity, why would anyone in their right mind drink in this place?!? Even if you are waiting for a train, I'd suggest venturing outside the station......I decided it would be the ideal meeting place recently and regretted my decision immediately. Lack of atmosphere? Check. Limited selection of alcoholic beverages? Check. Still overpriced? Absolutley. The pub also seems to be on the same route as the dribble bus, because the majority of patrons seemed to be struggling with simple tasks such as speaking. Please don't go here, you'll just encourage the place to stay open longer.
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Dire. A big zero. Step outside the station, there are so many good pubs within 2 minutes walk.
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I have only been in here once but i stayed for more than one drink so it couldnt have been that bad,or could it,I was drunk at the time.I will go back again and see if it is as bad as everyone is saying because I found it ok
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Arrived at Charing Cross last week just in time to watch my train depart from the platform, so I thought "What the hell, why don't we check out The Boadicea?". You see, every time I travel through this station, I glance at The Boadicea, and snicker at the ridiculous advertising.
First of all, it claims to be a "Traditonal English Pub". Now typically in London, that never translates to meaning "A Traditional English Pub", it actually means "Tourist Trap". However, this is not a touristy pub, as it's in a railway station that only deals with commuter lines. Saying that, it still can't literally be a traditional English pub, as a traditional english pub isn't typically found in a rebuilt railway station, next to a Burger King. Bemused curiousity about what they could possibly mean eventually got the best of me.
The second item on the advertising is "Fully Air Conditioned". To me, this negates the first point about it being a Traditional English Pub. A true Traditional English Pub is uncomfortably humid, and smokier than a Cypress Hill show. Still, as a non-smoker, this did sound mildly appealing.
Finally, the key advertising draw, "Real Ales". Could some kind of mini-Doric Arch/Head of Steam be hidden behind the concealling frontage of wood and frosted glass? I had 25 minutes to spare, and the spirit of an adventurer (not a good one, just a curious one).
On my approach to the bar, I was optimistic. Sure - I had to pass a few of customers who looked like they'd slipped their minders' attention, but it's the kind of location I'd expect to find them. On the handpulls they had Courage (would have been my first guess as to what they'd have) and Davenport's from Birmingham, something I'd never seen before. "Hazzah!" I thought to myself, this place isn't 100% sh*t after all.........until I was informed by the barmaid that the ales were off today. Obviously in the rush of serving all of the 5 customers in the place, there's no time to take the clips down.
"Would I like something else?". After some deliberation over which remaining option was the least non-drinkable, I selected Kronenbourg. That's off as well. "Would I like Grolsch?" Not particularly, but it seems to be the only beer they have in stock.
So there I sit, in the "traditional English pub", drinking a beer I didn't really want, in a pub smokier than the waiting area in front of the platforms (air conditioning didn't seem to be on either), with Neil Diamond blubbering on the jukebox. It's a shame Dante never had the chance to drink here, otherwise his vision of hell might have been completely different.
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After several years of carefully avoiding this pit that painlessly fails to reach even the traditionally low standards of BR-era station drinking holes, just one quick lapse on a Friday evening meant that I found it to be... just the same as ever.
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I am quite shocked to see this place got 3.5/10. Maybe some aliens (or ozzies) landed and thought this was the perfect english pub.
DO NOT GO HERE, it is awful. go down the steps on the left hand side to the real world where you can find pubs without Hobos and Lushes grabbing a half pint of rancid sherry on a sticky floor while dying of passive smoking...
The Black Hole of Calcutta is a very valid illustration 0/10...
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Come on guys. This pub allows one to experience the meths drinking culture of the area in a safe environment.
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Splendid little hostelry serving a fine selection of well kept, traditional engish ales and exciting foreign lagers. Staff are exotic and imported specially from all parts of the globe just which ensures every drink you order will be substituted with some alternative, presumably from their homeland. If nothing else, this place is worth a visit just to see the unique airconditioning system which seems to fill the whole place with an overpowering aroma of vomit, urine and sweat. My favourite little corner of London.
Not!
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A pit stop before catching the train back to the Dartford badlands (thank f**k i saw sense and moved away). Anyway, it's just as the previous reviews state and rather like Margate, in that it's a nice place to have a very qick pint, but you wouldn't want to have a session in there!
Though, and i wonder if other reviewers would concur, that train station barspubs have a certain ambience all their own - for good or ill.
Mind you it's not as bad as the Oast house in London Bridge - that place has no bogs!
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I always think of it as The Calcutta. As in The Black Hole of Calcutta.
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What I'd expect of a station pub. It's alright for the odd light ale, and if you're waiting for someone before going on, or waiting for a train it's not bad. Wouldn't spend too much time in here, but the pint of youngs (I think it was) I had was OK, if maybe a little flat. Wouldn't come here for a session, but for a livener it's alright.
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Agree with poster below, good jukebox mind !
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I've popped in a few times, mainly when waiting to meet people before we go elsewhere. It's your typical station pub, overpriced, too small, etc. Though, at least it has fairly decent music most of the time.
HTM69 - 31 May 2006 19:52 |
Walked past it last week - smelt and looked as though the entrance was being used as a public loo - it was quite rank. Saw a member of staff step over it without any apparent concern.
Places like this give the Railways a bad (ok worse) name.
As I said before - AVOID !!!!
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Exactly what you expect for a small pub in a station if you really need a drink theres plenty of bars and pubs a minute away
juzza - 31 Mar 2006 14:16 |
So you've had a night out and you've got the choice between the platform and this gem.... get over it, go inside, and the wait for your train will fly by. It's a station bar, they're not meant to be nice :-)
anonymous - 28 Mar 2006 22:37 |
Often go in this pub on the way to football as I travel into London via charing cross. Okit ain't the greatest pub in the world but for a quick pint when you get off the train it isn't that bad! I will admit that the staff aren't very good but as I say earlier, for a quick pint on the way home from work, this place isn't bad
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Should be shut down !! Total shite. Filthy dirty (both the pub and a lot of it's customers) - staff couldn't give a toss (except into the beer perhaps) - didn't hang around to taste anything by way of drinks - getting out was a much better idea.
Avoid at ALL COSTS !!!!
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Holy mother of God is this place complete pigshite.
As other reviewers point out you have to start off with a pretty low level of expectation for any pub within a railway station, but even the depths of THE most piss ridden sewer in the Philippines are a more appealing and, while were at it, a more hygienic, place to ingest a bit of liquid than this Christ forsaken crap heap.
For a kick off, this alleged �pub� is ALWAYS dirty (packets, food, muck, spit, gunk etc) and ALWAYS has a nostril slapping stench that nicely combines rotting monkey with piss soaked cabbage. The furniture and d�cor effortlessly matches this toxic ambiance thanks to a clutter of rickety tables/chairs and a suffocating interior kept permanently sweaty by the absence of any ventilation apart from the narrow door. To put it bluntly it`s like drinking in a wheelie bin after an elephant has offloaded a months worth of bowel movements.
The booze meanwhile isn�t any tonic to its nightmarish surroundings, limited as it is to two or three warm lagers that grate on the throat as they pass down straight through the stomach and right into the irritable part of the lower intestine. Still at least all guttural attention is distracted by the need to keep an eye on the serial beggers and loud mouthed arsewits who tend to make up the �clientele�, although in many cases they tend to be more polite that the �lovely� people who pass for staff.
I understand very much Bob V`s point about bad being good sometimes, but really that only works when there are some kitsch or camp element that allows you to prize out a couple of giggles.
But this place isn�t funny - its just plain nasty.
0/10 � and one of the worst pubs in the country.
anonymous - 9 Dec 2005 17:49 |
Tiny, scruffy with bad beer. I love it
anonymous - 8 Jul 2005 00:29 |
Whenever you go to an airport, the bars there are generally bright and lively places. I suppose this is to alleviate the fear of impending doom that nervous flyers, allowing them to have a few drinks to steady their nerves. If you're scared of travelling by train, don't even think about drinking in the Boadicea. It will only depress and scare you further. It's a truly grimy and depressing affair and if I were to die in a train crash travelling from Charing Cross, I'd rather my epitath didn't include the fact that my last hour on earth was spent drinking warm beer in this place.
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Darryl and Rob are right about this place! In fact all the reviewers are. And yet.....I still use it when occasion demands. (Albeit only for a quick one.)
Darryl hit's the nail on the head. "Reassuringly rubbish." Despite continuing unrest in the middle east, war in Iraq, the threat of international terrorism and economic and social problems at home,so long as the Boad or Kent Connection still stands, everything is going to be aaaaalright!
It's amazing how a typically dank and depressing station bar can make you realize that despite everything, things just aint that bad. It certainly is cosier and more characterful than the terrible Wetherspoons at Victoria.
A real institution. Long may it's awfulness continue!
Bob V - 5 Nov 2003 16:54 |
Almost a tradition in itself - Train station bars are the black hole of the drinking world. And this one is no different. I must confess to having spent time in this place. The beer is not as bad as one might think. It's just so depressing in there.
Rob - 29 Sep 2003 15:29 |
Always reassuringly rubbish. Good old-fashioned cruddy station boozer. It'll always be the Kent Connection, mind.
Darryl - 5 May 2003 23:49 |
Well, seeing as no one else had plucked up the courage, I swallowed my pride (well, Fosters...) and went in here on Thursday. It hasn't changed. An absolute hole.
Pauly H - 27 Jan 2003 17:12 |
Don't be fooled ladies and gents - this has now been transformed into a "new-look bar" called Boadicea. Not quite plucked up the courage to go in there yet, so anyone brave enough to do the hounours...?
Pauly H - 23 Dec 2002 14:52 |
Yes, it is the pub inside the station, and yes, it is seedy. "I'm waiting for my train" is not a good enough reason to go into this pit of despair...
Pauly H - 8 Oct 2002 14:36 |
If this is the pub inside the station, it's extremely seedy and small, attracts desparate commuters who can't handle the trains - good for people watching.
Corin - 8 Oct 2002 12:43 |
