please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
THIS PUB IS NOW CLOSED!!!!
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Don't think it was ever the Old Haberdasher, it's been the Rosemary Branch since Victorian times. It obviously needs a new name because of its poor reputation. Isn't there a Haberdashers school round here somewhere?
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This Enterprise pub is having a new start and work is well under way with a totally new interior etc. It will be the Old Haberdasher which I think was its name many years ago.
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It looks as if the Rosemary Branch will be getting a new landlord!
The To Let sign is finally down, so we can only hope that the new tenant will tidy the place up, sort the beer out, put a stop to the undesirable elements conducting, ahem, 'business' from the premises, and ensure that the road isn't shut down again following yet another mass brawl.
If the place goes back down the karaoke, budget booze, 80s disco route I'm sure it'll be turned into flats in 6 months time. It's never worked, so how about a nice pub, with proper food and decent ale for a change?
The place has been practically empty ever since the local police pulled a four hour shift down there in mid October last year, so this is the perfect time to make some radical changes to the place. Fingers crossed!
d_n_a - 14 Feb 2011 11:15 |
I come to this pub regulary sometimes by myself to use the wi-fi to do coursework and sometimes with friends for a drink because we get a discount on drinks for being students..result! The fresh chinese food is amazing and their chicken wings are the BEST! I bought a friend who was a vegetarian and we saw a wide range of vegetarian meals. I definatelty have recommended it to my classmates the best chinese in the area. I find the pub to be different from any other around the area and i love the candles in the evening. It makes the pub so mush cosier! I love the beer garden when it is a lovely sunny day and me and my frends definately enjoyed the reggae night the other night! The staff are cheery and the service is always good :-) :-)
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I wen't in there a few days ago just to give the place one final chance. And walked out within fifteen minutes. The Pint was flat, The Glasswasher looked Broken and the Pint Glass looked filthy. I gave the Pint a skip and asked for a Gin and Tonic the Lady behind the Bar had no clue what Tonic was. I mean if you don't know what Tonic is don't work behind a Bar., but knowing the owner who has ran this establishment down for the last few years it came as no surprise.
I advise people to avoid this Pub if you easily get stressed by terrible Service and seeing a once great Pub be run as a Carry On.. Did I mention its PREMISES liscene is being reviewed for CONTINUED CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES and PUBLIC NUSIANCE... When will Enterprise Inns learn to get rid of Incompetant Lease Owners..
NOT DRINKING THERE AGAIN UNTIL PRESENT OWNERS AND FAMILY ARE EVICTED...
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Vincent Phung is still running his Illegal Partys yet again upstairs till 4am on week nights. I'm amazed Lewisham Council/The Police have not shut The Gourmet Bar LTD down. The new Decor and Music Policy is Good, its just the fact Vincent and all those Relatives he keeps in rabbit hutch's on the top floor of the Pub are still there. I do wonder why Enterprise Inn's aloud such an Idiot the Lease on the place in the first place. Vincent is hated by the entire Local Community, and really has no clue about running a pun.
I would not eat the food there because I have seen a visiting Rat enter the kitchen on several occasians, or was it the Chef as it seemed so homely. The new Bar staff are Polite, but as usual Vincent seems to be annoying all the new customers and making them leave.
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The Pub looks as it is having a refurb at last, the tacky signs are down and its being cleaned up. If they replace the Barmaids, get some quality Seating and turf out all the Chavs this will go back to being a very Busy and Pleasent Pub. The Music has to change a bit of the old New Cross Ska, Rock, Indie, Goth, Electro is what is needed. Rumour has it thats what's coming.
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Well, I don't know what the hell is goin on in this pub, seems like the idiot Vincent has finally gone. Thank God.
He absoloutly run the pub to the ground along with the idiot staff he had hanging around him. Annie Claire and Rhani and it seems the pub is still holding on to the sisters Bobbie and Rhea. That pub will never be any good with them hanging around.
They give out free drinks and are always loud and drunk when they are not working. Their language is so rude rude to the customers swearing. I don't swear and it is quite offensive. Staff shouldn't got on the fruit machines but Bobbie is always on the machine, and it ain't fair for the customers when she is seen winning the jackpot.
Seems the new bosses are great, just gotta keep it real and they don't turn out like Vincent.
Belinda has been a great manager at the pub for a couple of years. She left for a while but I noticed she was back here the other day.
She gets things done, the pub is usually very clean and presentable when she is here. The beer is fresh, glasses clean, toilets clean and no smells in the bar.
Please keep her here and sort it out. Give Belinda the position in the pub she deserves cos you'll never get another Belinda.
She used to arrange great party nights in the pub with dj's and syring shots for �1.00. Bring back those nights Belinda.
I used to go in the pub every weekend but now its only when I'm passing.
The pub wants to make money and bring in customers so sort it out and let Belinda do her job
Also put drink prices down or specials 3 times a week.
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This place has the potential to be awesome. Enough said.
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Updated: Used to be good now is full of chavs, pool table moved to a much better location. Beer garden o.k too.
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Great food - beer can be a bit hit and miss, but owner tries hard to please all! Worth a visit if you're in the area.
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Been into this pub a few times since moving to the area. It has great staff and very good food in the restaurant. It is resonably priced and the staff are friendly. It is a good local.
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Jamesdean it has to be pointed out that I am not staff just someone who used to absolutely adore going to this pub and having a laugh. It was a release to the end of a long working day and now it's gone to ruin. I now drink in the marquis or the walpole. I heard that Sherry is in a pub in Victoria called the Prince of Wales but I don't know where in Victoria it is. I myself was in the rosemary branch on Saturday too and I have to say I did really enjoy myself although I very nearly didn't get in cause it was tickets only... and there was no notices in the pub the day before to say so. That said the two lads that organised that night did a great job and the place was packed...maybe it's more of this that the place needs, kept out the rif raf too!!!!
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I must say that localrebel and newcross lover have alot to say on this pub and not many more in the local area. whats going on guys?! Maybe there are afew staff issues that need to be sorted out?! i have not been in here much since Jack Beards sold it on and Sherry left (i was a regular 5 nights a week) but am quite disapointed in the place. Havnt drunk in the Wickham in a while, probably start going back! I must say though i was there saturday night just gone and it was very busy. People having a great time.
Seeing as there are lots of people on there lately does anybody know where Sherry is now as i have not seen her about much??
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I agree with local rebel. I was there on st george's day too and I was well impressed.... free pie and mash. Belinda definately hit the spot with that one. If there is more of this kind of attitude I think I'll start going back there again. This pub used to be a great south london pub but when it changed hands to the new owner vince it all went down hill. But if there's more of the changes that Belinda's makin then I'll definately be back in... sure I'd definately be back in just to see her!!!!!!
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I was in the rosemary branch on st george's day. I have to say they put on a real spread and I've never seen the pub so packed, you couldn't even walk from one side of the bar to the other. I couldn't believe that Belinda was feeding everyone FOR FREE. This is exactly what this pub needs... Pie and mash and liquor; back to the south london traditions that keep the punters happy..... GET RID OF THE PIG TROTTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The manager (Belinda) at the minute with the dark hair is great. She also knows her job very well, infact she worked for Sherry when she had the pub. Every one knows Belinda and loves her, she is a proper local lass. We all come in to see her she is the soul of the place and you don't have to stand around waiting for a bloody drink.
I've followed her to every pub she has worked in and funny thing is she is still to this day wanted at all her old places of employment to go back and work for them.
Seems a shame she has been kept out of the pub for a while. When I've been in and asked for her I get told the same old bullshit, she's off ill or not in tonight. How strange as she was at on time seen here all the time doing her job. Now it seems others are taking over and trying to get her out completely.
Me and all my mates spend a lot of money in that pub and feel that Belinda belongs here. She is the main reason we all go in there anymore. If she goes we all go and then what will happen apart from the place falling to the ground and shutting down.
We used to have such good theme nights in the pub and was always busy, but now we be lucky to have music on any more.
I heard that Belinda is thinking of leaving altogether, so I like all of you who read this to join ranks and help me to make her change her mind.
Last note is the owner Vince hasn't got a clue what we all like in this pub, it certainly aint the young girls cos they aint got a clue and have the personality of a dead worm.
All they do seem to do is suck up to the chinese or what ever they are and hover over the till whispering.
How childish is that.
We are men who love the older woman (sorry Belinda, no disrespect. I mean we love a woman who is older than us). Its most mens turn on if I'm being honest.
Vince get your act together and sort it out, cos you aint doing anything for us men. You gotta be sick to be hanging aroung such girls. It aint like you a young boy anymore. Get a grip and stop thinking with your WHAT'S INSIDE YOUR ZIP.
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I went into the Rosemary Branch quite recently having not been in there for a while. I say the Rosemary Branch, but I should really be calling it the Gourmet Bar! Unfortunately there is nothing Gourmet about this bar!!!! It's dirty, it smells, most of the staff cannot speak english and the chinese clientelle seem to be waited on hand and foot where the english punters are happily left waiting. The two bar staff who deserve extra criticism are the two asian bar staff... It is not the fact that they are asian that I criticise them, it is the fact that they seem more interested in flirting with the men in the pub than actually serving anyone and if there is a sniff of a free drink they seem to decend on the poor punter like a pack of vultures. The management and ownership seems haphazard in comparison to the last time I visited... obviously it has changed hands in the mean time. When I last visited it there were only a few staff for a start; just two in fact the few times I had been there last year... Sherry (who seemed to be a competent manager, not like the management in there now) and Nick who seemed to know his way about the bar like the back of his hand. I say bring back Sherry and the old staff cause the new owners and new staff are going to run what used to be a great pub into the ground
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U ARE NOT A WINE BAR!!!!Who needs mood when you have Atmosphere??? I don't want a cocktail (well the occational bloody mary!!!) i want a nice cold pint of bitter and a decent packet of pork scratchings, on the subject of pork....pigs trotters??? ARE YOU HAVING A LAUGH????
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i came in the other day and asked for a bloody Mary, the poor girl did not have a scooby doo!!! Luckily the blonde girl knew what i was talking about, at least she's adequate! (she's hot too!!!), come on.....bring back the Rosemary Branch!!!!!!Bring Sherry back!!! I now drink in the Marquis, much better pub atmosphere, and a nice pack of peanuts, just what you need....take note annie!!!
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also the pub is not dirty, we turn the lights down because it sets a mood...the person who wrote that obviously has a problem with there eye sight !!
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i work in this pub....and from reading the comments above actually make me laugh....local rebel stated that im slow and too short that i cant change the optics...??????? i 100% no that i am not slow and i am too short to change the optics but that has absolutely nothing to do with how i serve..it does not affect me doing my job....as for asking a customer to buy us a bottle of wine...he wasnt just a customer,,,we've been friends for quite some time...and we were all joking around about it...so what if he bought us a bottle of wine...theres nothing wrong with a friend buying you a bottle of wine...people who read this...should come to the pub and see for them selves ...and dont go by 1 persons opinion
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As a regular customer (5 nights a week plus.) I am disgusted by the comments posted previously on this rating site! Not only is the food superb, the drinks are generously priced and the bar staff (particularly, the two dark haired girls that have drawn so much critisism.) Are all in my eyes competant and well mannered. I question the antics of the annonomous reviewer. Could there be an issue here? Also, regarding the comments made about the Vietnamese staff, I do not think a language barrier exsists at all. As for the remarks about the clientele-which includes me, the locals are friendly,if at times excitable. The pool table is more than adequate, and the new juke box IS tempremental but plays a huge range of music. Only by visiting the pub, will you be able to judge for yourself. But the flirty ones shoes do need re-heeling. IS THIS A CRIME?
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I decided to try the pub out again and see if anything was going on, but it was a complete waste of time. I walked in the other lunch time and the place stunk of bleach. I was going to have a meal but changed my mind as the smell put me off. The manager opened the door to let the air in but the idiot owner came along and shut it. The place is such a mess. I doubt if the place has a cleaner as it is so dirty. Maybe that is the reason for why he keeps the lights down so low so as not to be detected. I put money in the juke box and he turned the volume off completely. He has absoloutly no idea how to run the place.
His fellow chinese people or whoever they are that come in and he runs and bends over backwards to keep them happy yet the people who come in and spend money he runs out. The only 2 staff I ever seem to see at the bar working these days are the 2 with long dark hair, one of who is chinese looking. What more can I say. Whats happened to the others to whom we all go to see. If he goes on this way he's gonna be shut as he ain't geeting the customers anymore.
His manager put a small birthday party together for my mates dad a couple of weeks ago so she was asked to do the same for my other mates mum. What an embarrasment that was. He took over and would not let his manager do what she was asked. He was giving the food to other customers who weren't from the party. He should have just let her get on and do her job. He just hasn't got a clue.
He should show more respect to his manager in front of us all when we are there. What does he think we come to see him, what a fool.
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i just read the review below mine - its sooo true! the bar staff are so stupid its comical. i agree, bring Sherry back, she ran a well managed bar and staff. it WAS great fun, just the place u wanted to be on the odd day off and every evening!!! Not now. Dont know how this place will survive to be honest....
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Been a regular in there for so long. The new owner is such a pratt, he changed the name of the pub to the Gourmet Bar. And has got such young girls behind the bar that are so thick. 2 in particular, not sure of their names but they both have quite long hair. The shoes are disgraceful. One if them is always playing about with her hair and trying to act like a sex goddess from the big screen and the other too short and can't quite reach the shelves or change optics. And for that matter both are so bloody stupid and slow. You can't get served when they are working cos it seems they are both too busy drinking their wine (which is another story). Or standing over the till chatting up whoever they think will take notice of them. If they serve you, which is rare, and you like me have been stupid enough to offer them a drink they usuaslly get you to buy them a bottle of wine. How greedy is that.
The man just can't let this go on.
The other bar staff are great, they are friendly and got so much personality. Yet they are not around as much as they used to be. Has the idiot sacked them to keep the 2 that are so thick and boring.
When the pub was first taken over by the new owner VINCE I think his name is, the pub was such a laugh and it was great that he actually kept on one of the old staff from when Sherry had the pub. She's a bit older than the other girls but she sure knows her job and works so fast. Everybody loves her. She was I think employed as the manager, yet she is hardly ever around anymore. I like many others went there to see her as she makes the place.
But now she's not about the place is getting much more like a morgue than a pub. Please come back.
If he want to keep his customers then he should make a point of bringing her back and sorting out his bloody staff.
And make sure the men behind the bar speak ENGLISH. I think to drink in that pub from now on it should be made a rule that a language course be studied before ordering a drink.
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Needs to attract a different clientele if it is to survive.
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What has happened to this pub? Half the staff don't understand English and the clientele...! It calls itself a Gourmet Bar but how can anyone describe the food/atmosphere/service as gourmet? Unless this pub starts to understand that it is a pub not a restaurant and that it needs to attract a new crowd I reckon it will only last another 6 months.
This pub used to be really popular with Goldsmiths students especially music students now I doubt any go here. This pub needs to look at what other pubs in the area are doing and why they are popular and then make changes. Also please don't change the name.
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whats happened to this place? i went in just before new year and by the looks of it it has a new owner and bar staff. Heres little story about my experience for you...
I have not been in for a couple of months, but when i had been in i have enjoyed it, friendly staff, accomodating with food orders and decent beer but this time was a little strange... I ordered a brandy and coke, any normal order you might think!! NOT this time. I received the brandy in a shot glass and the coke in a half pint glass. Hmmmmm... the bar staff looked confused when i asked what was going on, i dont think he spoke much or if any English AT ALL. Admittedly thats what i wanted but mixed together!!! He didnt understand the conversation i was trying to have with him. Which left me to wonder, can anybody get a pub these days and will i be forced to comunicate through sign language next time i enter?!!
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good atmosphere sometimes, has had a lof of management changes in the last few years and has been a footie pub for lairy chavs and a gay pub for a short while. pool table crap (cant take a shot from all angles), beer ok. i sometimes use this as a meeting place before moving on to somewhere better. however seem to remember the garden been ok in summer
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Just started at Goldsmiths so this is now my local, Good beer - cheaper down the uni bar, but thats the whole point of it! Great bar staff compaired to the rest, had a laugh with the manager and barman. Clean, friendly. They dont have a D.J (im trying to get the job!)and havnt for about a year from what i gather so anonymous dated 7 september must have been in the wrong pub as they dont have a booth either!! had some free games of table football. The pool room is tiny!! Think i might turn myself into one of the die hard regulars for the next 3 years.
anonymous - 19 Oct 2007 16:09 |
Had a fun night in there a couple of fridays ago, very busy. Decent beer, toilets ok, not as bad as the last comment made them out to be. (must be an obsessive compulsive type!) Had a laugh with the 2 ladies behind the bar, think they are great. its very friendly place to be. Had a decent game of pool in the box area! Shame they dont do food, thats the only downside i can see. Good time all in all. highly recomended.
anonymous - 1 Oct 2007 13:13 |
I am not sure about being the cleanest it has ever been. I was in there 2 weeks ago and the toilets...better we dont go there. Given that we were the only people there they could have cleaned it. Not the first time the toilets have been in a state.
This pub is always dead bar a few die hard regulars. Even on dj nights tends to be about 5 people dancing round the 'booth'.
Great pub garden out back and benches out front. I do really like it but always wonder why no-one goes there which really does taint the atmosphere.
Staff are ok,I dont find them as friendly as other reviewers do but cant complain.
anonymous - 7 Sep 2007 16:51 |
I BLOODY LOVE THIS PUB!!!!! The staff are so much more friendly then the Marquis and GMT AND the beers better so what have Jack Beards decided to do??? sell it. Thats what! The Pub hasnt been run better for years, its cleaner then its been in years and has the Longest lasting manager the place has seen in years!!! WHY WHY WHY Jack Beards??!!! We need Sherry (the longest lasting manager AND the best i might add!), John (the Boyfriend), Laura (the Sister/ Barmaid), Clare (the bestmate/DJ) and Nico (the adopted brother and barman!) there forever!!! They are a bloody great bunch. I recomend you go and see them before the place is sold off to some wetherspoons type chain or somebody who has decided new x needs another restaurent!
anonymous - 27 May 2007 16:31 |
The pub went mad for afew weeks with the bloke and 2 wives running the place, dont ask me were they came from but there gone now!! Sherry and the gang are back so theres a smiling faces behind the bar which is nice to see in new cross AND theres beer!! (they ran out for afew weeks when the mad man and wives were there)
The place is clean, theres decent beer and a friendly atmosphere. What more can you ask for?!
P.s The garden is great if you want to top up your tan!!
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What a difference!! A new manager and a new menu.The place could do with a new paint job, but the welcome you recieve from the staff more than makes up for it!!The food is highly recommended and portions are very large!! I cannot fault the service or food.And spent a very nice sunday afternoon there.
The new manager and her staff made us feel very welcome.
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Now under new management (Thank God) I thought I'd give it a try. Glad I did, no more banging loud music. New manager has loads of ideas for the place. Food was great, massive amounts and hot. Good prices.
If you have been put of going in the past cos of the reviews then give it a go now.
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this pub is truly bizarre, its never had anyone in it for years.
Still the same selection of bemused looking locals, but now they're sitting in the glow of flashing disco lights and banging house music rather than in the rat like atmosphere that existed there before.
I enjoy sitting outside and occasionally hurling abuse at gangs of wandering Goldsmiths students with long hair, it beats getting a job hands down.
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Thay play some banging house tunes at the weekend but there never seems to be anybody in there.
Last time I visited my beer off and I asked for it to be changed, the landlord said there was nothing wrong with it so I had to buy another drink. So much for the customer is always right!
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Not really bothered by it being a [i]'gay'[/i] pub, why the hell not, but the cack-handed service we got the last time we popped in (an hourse wait for a bloody cheese and tomato toasted sarnie?) but us off for ages.
The front beer patio in right on the Lewisham Way too, I've no idea while people would want to sit there and breathe in carbon monoxide while drinking but each to their own.
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NOW A GAY PUB RUN BY MARCO AND MICHAEL WHO HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO PERSONALITY.THEY SEEM TO WANT A CLIENTELLE OF GAY PEOPLE ONLY AND DO NOT CATER FOR HETEROSEXUAL PEOPLE.THE PUB IS ALMOST EMPTY MOST NIGHTS..... GIVE IT A VERY WIDE BERTH!!!
anonymous - 11 Jul 2005 21:36 |
have just mooved to the area. been to a few pubs round the area they are all sports bars sports bars great!!!!!a mate of mine said to try the rosemary arms in new cross what a night it was great good music good food had a good buzz about the place.what moore can u whant from a pub.its gona be my local.
joe70 - 21 Feb 2005 18:54 |
It was good enough, we got a seat and the bar staff were chatty enough but the regulars are all pretty young, oily faced and shouty.
Everything was going ok until 10.45 when the bar staff decided it was time to close and booted us out. We went over to the Marquis of Granby (a much better pub full of interesting New Cross 'sorts') for another drink.
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what a s***hole! it really is one of the worst pubs in south east london.
the staff are awful and the beer is dreadful.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS HOLE.
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My idea of hell is getting a lock in in this pub
anonymous - 29 Nov 2004 13:46 |
Recently visited this place for the first time. I've just moved to the area. Went there on 4 seperate occassions.(inc Sat night). It was dead everytime. Different bar staff each time I visited and all looked well miserable. Got the feeling that my face didn't fit and it was a private members bar. I will pesisit with this pub as it has a good location for me. Maybe if the barmaids just smile and turn the Tv off and put some music on, it'll be a good pub?
Mark - 2 Sep 2004 13:46 |
Hello guys... well it's Irish here, the young Scots lad who used to have the pub during 2003! I hope everyone I know is well and I hope the new owners are still keeping 'The Rosemary Branch' the best pub in New X!!! Take it easy friends!!! Paul.
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What happened to the parrot that was in their over summer. I used to love that. Mind you they have replaced it with a ridiculous looking stuffed bear that sits in the corner looking scruffy. I love this pub its great. Hope the new owners dont change it too much. Mind you the bear can go it smells musty and is a bit of an eye sore.
Darren - 23 Feb 2004 16:48 |
Only good on Wednesday nights when the stand-up Algerian dwarf comic (honest) Xrub does his set! He is hilarious, he wears a large fake plastic nose and has an awful looking assistant called Battenberg � really funny though. Great �local� pub, but not enough food on the menu!!
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Used to have a really good student feel to it before they took out all the old film posters and paved over the beer garden. Now it just looks like a sub-standard Hogshead.
Patrick - 8 Jan 2004 23:09 |
Located about 2 mins further down the Lewisham Way from Goldsmiths. Serves great food and at cheap prices, beer similarly well priced with loads of deals (2 holsten for �3, Carlsberg �1 bootle). Unobtrusive Sky Tv for sport, a beer garden and clean toilets and a relatively new interior. Clientele a mix of students and locals. New Cross' best value pub by a mile.
Billy Fisher - 16 Jul 2003 13:30 |
