please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
A note for whoever looks after this pub's website...the word is "Lager", not "Larger"!!
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This pub has a wonderful character, but like so many hiddens gems it's run by the wrong people, so what should be the heart and soul of an area remains at times like the Mary Celeste. As a result the staff seem increasingly frustrated and at times unable to cope when there is actual demand. Actually, Dickens used to live just round the corner, and I'm sure if he were still alive he would come in for inspiration. Well, if he could afford the prices!
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Tried my luck a second time. Met my daughter for sunday lunch here. Food was ok but the beer was still expensive �3.70 a pint.
Bar person / waitress needs to want to work here and cheer up.
It does have a very nice 1940's interior.
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Shameless manager: first he demanded for �4 for a pint. That pint was bad, so we had to return it. Then he was surprised that casks went empty. What a mess, not coming back.
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I went into the pub on a Sunday and found it very nice. 1930s music playing, friendly staff, nice decor, good food. It's a nice place for a Sunday lunch or to read the papers. Unfortunately it was somewhat spoilt when three families with screaming toddlers turned up, but those sort of selfish middle-class parents nowadays seem to treat pubs as cheap creches, and are ruining more and more previously good pubs.
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I was so annoyed with my evening at this pub that I just had to sign up to this website to tell it upon the mountain! - and to make things worse, I only stopped here an hour! - Maybe they were having an off day?
My night there began at around 9pm, I found the place really, really busy, upon going into the pub I was confronted by a short dark haired man, - whom I assumed was the landlord, as he seemed too officious to be serving behind the bar....I think he was looking after the restaurant side of the bar. He asked myself and my colleagues 'What do you want?' I found this question demanding, agressive and thoroughly unpleasant. Anyway, - I put that aside and answered 'A drink'. His reply was as follows 'Well you have to go next door, its as simple as that'.
This should have really given us the full picture of what to expect from this pub, and we should have known better in staying. As you can assume things didn't get much better when trying to get served. The bar staff seemed slow and inefficient, and once at the bar, I was passed over for being served about 4 times, with people that had been stood behind me getting served before me. When I mentioned this to the staff all I got was 'Well if you don't like it you can leave'. I appreciate they were probably under pressure to serve, but realistically I found the answer thoroughly unprofessional.
I didn't say anything, - I just placed my order and was handed back my change in such way that left me picking up some of my change, from the beer soaked bar.
In all my time living in London, I can safely say that I have never been treated as poorly as I was, that night. I work around the Lamb's Conduit / Russel Square and when people ask wheres a good place to drink....I tell them where isn't first.
I really hope nobody decides to go there.
On up side I'll give it a few points for decor, but thats about it
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Agree with the previous review totally. Loved the art deco style. Black sheep was �3.70 !!! OUCH ! 1 pint and gone.
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friendly bar staff, great decor, fixtures and fittings 30's/40's style.
even the pub phone has the correct ring. The downside is the price of the beer, Black Sheep Bitter �3.60. Just too expensive, even for central London. So i only had 1 pint and left.
Get the prices down and you will get more customers.
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I too had a great burger and chips here, plus a couple of pints of well-kept Black Sheep. Loved the 30s fixtures and d�cor, the candles, the tucked-awayness and the general vibe. Staff were friendly, and it was particularly appreciated after escaping the in-many-ways-dreadful Lamb. Only downside was a premature stacking of chairs on tables and upping of the house lights, when we were still drinking, way before closing time. Bit weird, that, and slightly undid their other good work. If it weren't for that, the Duke would get an 8 from me.
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Just a pub should be. Welcoming, accomodating, good beer and a great atmosphere
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Excellent place. Great food and the beers (Blacksheep and Adnams) washed down my lunch nicely.
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Just had one of the biggest and best burgers (and chips) I've had for a long time from this place. I drink lager so can't really say much about the quality of the ale (get over it!). Service was great, pub was great...great stuff.
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Great beer, great food and generally a lovely looking pub.
Shame they felt the need to kick us out at 2220 just because the pub was quiet. They were quite happy to take our money for some food but as soon as that was finished the pub closed!
Could be great but clearly badly run.
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Unfortunately my experience of this pub was similar to Strongers'. Waited at the bar for a while (more than a minute I'm sure) for either London Pride or Bombardier, but decided not to bother.
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An interesting corner pub on the ground floor of a building that looked to be about 70 or 80 years old. The pub itself is separated into two rooms. The front room (at the front of the photo) was very quiet when I visited (only 2 or 3 other customers) and had dark wooden floor and furniture including some high backed pew style benches. I have to say this gave it the feel of a Victorian schoolroom. The back room seemed to be mainly for eating.
This is a reasonable pub but far better to take the extra 5 or 10 minutes and walk to the Lamb or Calthorp
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Black Sheep and Broadside at usual high prices and well-kept. Have eaten here once and generally all right but not the most spectacular price/value trade-off.
An absolute architectural gem, however.
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Adnam�s Broadside and Black Sheep Bitter on. BSB at �3.40 a pint is a top of the range price though. But on the plus side the young lady behind the bar topped up my pint without being asked to do so, which I regard as at least a sign of a well run establishment. Pretty good it tasted too. There were no TVs, jukeboxes, games machines or other unwanted machinery in evidence, and the music being played was some laid-back jazz � Satchmo and Ella I think � which is a welcome change from the mundane pop music one usually has to listen to. It�s still a two-roomed pub with a connecting door between the two bar areas. The back bar seems to be essentially a restaurant area, with the front room a bar area � though there was a group dining in this room when I was in. The floor looks to have the original lino still laid down on it, judging by the wear it appears to have suffered over the years.
This pub retains the d�cor of an inter-war pub (it is on CAMRA�s inventory of London heritage pubs), and although it has gone down the �gastro-pub� route, it retains enough of its �original pub feel� for me to be happy to pay a return visit.
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With not too many changes they could almost market this as a wartime theme pub. One dark Winter�s evening I was in there around 7.30pm, the blinds were drawn, the lighting was low. Whispered conversation came from groups of people huddled around rickety tables or sitting in booths. In the background the Andrews Sisters were imploring me not to sit under the apple tree with anyone else but them and Glenn Miller was trying to get me in the mood. I felt a little out of place as I stood at the bar on my own with a pint of Black Sheep, and eventually took Duke Ellington�s advice and took the A train out of there for fear of some sort of communal jitterbug session developing.
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Oh dear, I think that this may be the most pretentious pub I have ever been into. I was at the bar for a minute and was just about to leave, but unfortunately the barmaid caught me, I�m not usually upset to get served at the bar!
I�m not a fan of jazz or Art Deco so I was really onto a loser before I even walked in the place. I like to relax in a pub rather than feel like I�m on show for all around to judge and I like to have a wander around to check the place out and don�t expect to be quizzed about what I�m doing.
Standard and premium lagers were available alongside Broadside and Black Sheep, which was good, if not cheap.
I�ll not be returning here in a hurry.
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Food orientated pub, too full of posers for my liking.
Pub looks great and I personally liked the jazzy music.
Beer was average and had to be drunk outside because pub was rammed.
Visit for the deco alone.
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Beautiful pub, undrinkable beer. Great atmosphere, terrible service. When you have to actually scrape a nailfull of waxy dirt out of the INSIDE of a glass at the bar before the staff, I say staff, but these were obviously movie stars just here for the night judging by the attitude and incompetance, pay attention. I always thought that if you had the balls to charge �12.95 for a burger you'd have the sense to clean your glasses and/or beer lines.
Spectatular art deco pub wasted by the people working therein.
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Clearly not much of an emphasis on ale as both handpumps were off on my visit on a Saturday afternoon. The back of the place was reserved for diners, although the pub was very quiet. The food did look very good, but expensive. Not a bad atmosphere, but the main reason to come here would be the 1930s Art Deco interior, complete with original flooring and chairs- one of the few such pubs surviving in central London apparently. Worth popping in.
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Popped in for a pint last Saturday afternoon. Beer - Adnams Broadside - in very good condition and the bar staff helpful. Clearly very much a gastropub, but there was a separate bar for drinkers. The food and bar snacks seemed expensive, and a friend grumbled about the price of a pint of lager, but the real ale seemed reasonably priced for the area.
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Nice enough layout, liked the booths for sitting and eating/drinking in. Not a great choice of ales/lagers but could live with that. Biggest problem at the Duke is the food. Nice selection on the menu but when the food arrived, it was very salty and we felt a bit sore with the price we paid for that standard of meal. Very limited snacks menu. Friendly service but left early after blowing more money than we initially wanted to on a very poor quality meal.
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Food - orientated pub in a quiet Bloomsbury side street, but signposted from Guilford Street.
Retains many original Art Deco fixtures - and is worth visiting ( probably just the once ) for that alone - but this is not a beer drinkers pub and neither the Adnams Broadside nor the Greene King IPA ( its only 2 real ales apparently ) were available yesterday lunchtime.
I have not sampled the food - but it's pricey
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I booked at table at this pub for a work Christmas lunch. We had to pre-order the food and I wasn't expecting too much as you do at this time of the year. However the reception we got was fantastic, the food was superb and the service was excellent. The wine list was not extensive but we got a few good bottles to go with the meal. It was a really lovely little pub with a nice atmosphere and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone. I'm looking forward to returning.
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Shocking. On a recent visit, we turned up with 30 people with the intention of spending literally hundreds of pounds - at 4pm. The owner berated us for not warning him and told us that the tables were "booked" from 6. So, with two hours to go, you wouldn't think this was a problem - but oh no. We were treated to utterly vile service and looked down upon in every way. A shameful place that should be wiped off the map. Avoid.
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For years this was a great little pub with a nice line in food. The downsides were that the staff were not always friendly, though this has been remedied recently. Unfortunately these days it breaks another of the golden rules of pubs in becoming a pub that is actually a restaurant. As such, mere drinkers can feel like we're in the way. I'd recommend it for a lunch if you're not paying as the food is very good indeed.
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Superb. Bit out of the way but all the better for it. We encountered no problems with the staff and the interior was well worth the visit. Hope it stays like this for a while to come.
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1930s pub with original features and a charming and cute atmosphere. The back room is particularly attractive, but is for diners only. Two casks on offer -IPA and Broadside in decent condition. �1.45 a half. Main downside is that the place is slightly tatty with a feel more of a village hall than a pub. Barman wasn't rude, but he was socially awkward. The place is quirky enough to be worth a visit if in the area.
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Not sure how or why I ended up in here as from the outside it's nothing special to look at. But I'm really glad I did. The Adnams beer was excellent and the staff were really friendly. The place was packed at lunchtime with people seemingly really enjoying the food. The clincher though was the pub architecture. Reminded me of a 1950s pub but with a serious Art Deco bent. Anyone know if its real? Overall a really pleasent surprise.
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I went there and although the staff were pleasant i shouldn't have to wait for my change while they take a phone call for 5 minutes. Great decor. Never been when they've been busy. Expensive looking food.
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I go to the Duke a lot, mainly for a drink but sometimes to eat, and I've never had any problems with the staff. They're rarely particularly friendly (occasionally they are) but noone's ever been remotely rude to me.
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I went there last week, admittedly just for a couple of pints on both occassions and am amazed by the comments regarding the staff, they were helpful and extremely chatty to me. Being away from home, having a pint to avoid the experience of your grotty hotel room, can be a depressing experience, but I left this pub feeling revived.
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We booked a booth for 8pm, only to come there at 7.50pm and find the booth occupied.. until 9.30pm. The staff was extremely unhelpful and didnt seem to care we had booked a table they had obviously given away. No compensation or apology was offered. The food was OK, nothing special really, can't even remember what I had. Good ambiance though. Might go there for a drink again.
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Classic Art Deco pub down a side street not too far from the famous Lamb in Lambs Conduit Street. Note particularly the classic red and black lino flooring and the 60's windows with the Ind Coope and Double Diamond lettering. Well worth seeking out just for being different. Food is ambitiously priced - Sunday roast was �12.50 - so you might want to eat somewhere else beforehand if you're planning a session here. Not really a beer drinkers pub, but the Adnams Broadside was on fine form, but then again at � 2.80, you expect it to be
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agree entirely with comments re staff - we wanted to eat there and were made to feel really bad about sitting at one of their (very uncomfortable) tables. they really didn't want us to have the table - it was bizarre and extremely rude. the food was good and the decor is great but just for the staff alone i wouldn't go back. try some customer service! please!
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Well, I am quite old fashioned, so I like the paintings in the Duke! good quality choice there.
but I must say that "the bar staff are brusque" is a wild understatement!
Their top lips practically curlk in disgust!
I think, if you aren't an obviously rich businessman, you are insignificant to them.
Also, when I discovered a hair in my pint, I asked for a new glass. The staff simply took the hair out, and whiped the hair off their hands on our table.
I pay a lot for a pint, and don't expect to see a hair in there!
I advise to train the staff again.
A smile really never hurt anyone.
BTock - 18 Aug 2005 15:45 |
I registered on this site, just to comment on this pub. I have worked down the road from The Duke for 18 months, and since it is our 'local', have been there many times. Every time I have been, the staff are curt and unsmiling. They border on extremely rude. You feel that even asking for a drink at the bar, is putting them out hugely. Twice in the last month, we have been served houmous that is off, and once had mouldy bread to accompany it. When we asked for fresh bread and houmous, we were grudgingly and slowly served. No apologies or offers of money back when the houmous was substituted with a bowl of olive oil. Service is slow as well as surly, and the food, while admittedly very tasty, is expensive. The decor isn't bad, although some of the paintings leave much to be desired, but to be honest, the unfriendly staff and hard chairs, make a visit there quite uncomfortable. I certainly have given this pub enough chances to redeem itself, and I think it simply gets worse. So in conclusion, nice expensive food (when it's fresh) but rude staff and really not worth the bother.
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A decent pub - I tried it out last weekend. The decor is good, although I was sorry not to be able to enjoy it more, as there was only seating left outside. I'm a bit of a sucker for anything Art Deco, so I loved the design of the sign.
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A quirky little pub, tucked down a quiet little mews near Holborn. Tricky to find but well worth it. Has a continental vibe about it, from the parque flooring to the pop-art paintings of movie icons around the walls. Nice looking restaurant area in the back room, but haven't yet tried the food. Well kept beer (Adnams Bombardier) and Sunday papers make for a nice social.
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