please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Far too brightly lit and cavernous to make it a pub experience to really enjoy. Not having looked closely enough at the full range on offer, I went for a pint of 4.8% Sudwerk Inbetween last night for £2.75 - it was in good condition but rather thin and bland for its ABV so not a brew I would try again. But at least JDW gave me the opportunity to try something new.
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Called in once again on 12/3 for a pint en route to the RSC Theatre. The pub has 10 hand pumps, but most of them were labelled “Coming Soon.” The Duty Manager apologised for the lack of choice as they were getting ready for the JDW Beer Festival beginning on Friday 13th. I opted for a pint of North Cotswold Brewery's Windrush Ale at £2.65 which was excellent. I was also very impressed by the manager's enthusiasm to try to persuade JDW to include some beer served straight from racked casks in for future festivals.
After the RSC performance, I tried three more pubs nearby. In retrospect, I really regret that I didn't return to the Golden Bee.
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I called in for a swift one at the Golden Bee last week en route to the RSC Theatre. Yes … the interior is pretty typical of many JDW outlets but I had a pint of Exmoor Wild Cat (a left over from the recent beer festival). It was in excellent condition and I have no complaints at all at being charged only £1.99 a pint.
What I specially liked was that one member of the bar staff was delegated to make all the hot drinks, whilst the other served the other drinks and looked after the till. This is a much more efficient system than in other JDW outlets I have visited where beer drinkers often have a frustrating wait when several of the bar staff wait their turn to use the coffee machine.
Definitely worth an 8/10
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The Golden Bee is probably best described as having a typical Stratford exterior and a typical Wetherspoons interior. It stretches back quite a way, with an outdoor drinking/smoking area overlooking a car park at the rear. With the latest Spoons festival having just started, the beer range was good - Titanic Cappuccino, Bohemian Hazelnut Brownie, Fat Heads Sunshine Daydream, Ninkasi Cream Ale, Ruddles Best, Everards Pumpkin Ale, Wadworth WTF & Greene King The Abbot's Confession. There was also a real perry - Sandford Orchards Pear Shaped. Our second favourite Stratford pub.
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Pretty standard 'spoons pub, cheap beer and food, no ambience.
Tried a pint of Hooky Gold, sadly it was so cloudy that you couldn't see through it - shame as Gold is one of my favourite beers. It was changed without question but disappointing to see it served in that condition.
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Pleasant place and happy staff. Beers were very good and all was clean and tidy. Rear beer garden and large airy area at the rear of the room. Lots of eaters in (including us) the service was good. You were made to feel welcome. Good prices-- �1-99 for the real ales. Better than the rip off prices at some of the places in this town. But I suppose the folk who complain about Spoons pubs should go to them instead, but no they still come to Spoons!
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Fair play to this JWD that it seems to have gone easy on the big tourist bit and kept the Bard theme low key. Not a bad pub, usual Wethers offering, ale was very nice and not at an inflated price, worth going in for a quick pint Romeo while Juliet is doing her hair.
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Standard JDW pub. Jaipur was spot on. Mixed bag of customers. Worth a visit.
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Quick, friendly service and a lovely pint of Arundel Footslogger, together with a special offer curry for �2.99 - and all in a clean, bright and airy pub. Top marks!
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Visited for the 2nd time last night and although it's one of the better Spoons on the circuit, it does exhibit many of the Spoons shortcomings. Beers coming soon, those that were available were not in great condition, in fact the worst of the night. The pub was quite full with the compulsory Hen Party (deely boppers and L plates in place), pre clubbing bingers and diners looking for price over promise. It's a Spoons, you know what you are going to get.
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Thatchers Old Rascal @ � 1.90 say no more ! plenty of bar staff - good walk to the toilets upstairs - the pub was packed
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Stratford seems to have sold its soul for the tourist dollar as far as its pubs are concerned, with only The Old Thatch, The Windmill and possibly Lamplighter retaining much pubby feel at all. They�ve all been turned into wine bar style eateries with little character left.
This is one of the best examples of the type of poor pub that Stratford has been left with. It�s got a fine black and white timbered exterior but inside it�s been ripped out and extended and is now just a large soulless drinking/eating barn. Usual JDW beers on the eight handpumps with the only guest ale that wasn�t �Coming Soon� being O�Hanlons Yellowhammer. I had a pint of this and it was pretty good. As the back of the pub is just bare brick it echoes a lot when empty (we had breakfast here one day) and gets really noisy when it�s busy. The service was good on both occasions we visited but that�s it�s only saving grace. Despite there being a large smoking patio at the back the pavement at the front of the pub was still full of the low life nicotine bouncers that JDWs attract. Even Stratford has some better pubs than this!
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A good pint of Purity Ubu, which is a very nice beer. But it's really another bog standard Wetherspoons with not much to distinguish it from any other.
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A very nice JDW indeed! Gets busy on a Sunday lunchtime! Good choice of real ale on offer.
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Reluctantly visited the local 'McDonalds of the pub world' just to get a decent pint of ale, after my experience in The Garrick. Asked for a pint of Oakhams Raucous Reindeer. The emo type who poured it left a huge head on it and acted confused when I asked him to fill it to the top (a local preference perhaps?). I find Wetherspoons pubs characterless at the best of times but this was the most sterile I've ever been in. As other users have noted, the pub seemed to be populated by slightly odd people. My pint however was good!
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This must be the most picturesque Weatherspoon pub in the country, situated as it is opposite all the posh eateries. My good lady and I had a reasonable burger and a pint one lunchtime for some ridiculous price - three pound odd - and went back the next evening for another ridiculously priced meal, which cost less than a starter across the road! It wasn't too bad and the service was good. There was a nice choice of ales. Yes, there was the usual assortment of head cases that Weatherspoon pubs seem to attract, but what do you expect for these prices.
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Cavernous place, without much charm. Beer looked OK but getting on for an hours wait for lets face it hardly freshly made food is poor, even by JDW cheap as chips standards
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Went in here yesterday after seeing the Courtyard Matinee (Henry IV Pt II). I must admit I groaned when it was decided we should head to a Wetherspoon, but I was pleasantly surprised. Although there were a couple of 'undesirables' around, and a couple of drunken idiots on the door, the beer was in top nick.
The Abbott was excellent and I noticed they had a good range of beers across the board. Good stuff.
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The quality of the beer in the GB has been excellent recently - Thwaites Flying Shuttle, Nethergate Umbel Ale and even GK Abbot Ale have all been in very good nick.
They did a good job of a recent beer festival - Everards Terra Firma a particular highlight.
My main gripe (and it's only a small one) is that the pump clips aren't turned round when a beer is off.
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I work at this pub full time so I thought I might as well add my two penneth as I know it better than most.
There is generally a very good selection of ales on (the house ones being Pedigree, Abbot and UBU, by the way, that's 'Ooo-Boo' not U.B.U.) and a couple of guest ones though likely a couple of those will be off on a busy evening. Yes, we have a large turnover and yes sometimes the beer does go bad but it's only 1.99 a pint (at the most) and if you go up to the bar a member of staff will always replace the pint if it's dodgy with no hassle.
18 different lagers (bottled and on tap) including the standards plus numerous Eastern European ones given that there are a number of Polish staff and lots of Polish, Albanian and Czech customers.
Food is average (sometimes worse) but cheap and Thursday's Curry Club is worth checking out given that it's only 5.99 for a meal and a drink.
A good drinking spot though, cheap and generally efficient with a far larger range than anywhere else in the town. There's never any trouble than of an evening, particularly the weekends, there are more than a few scarf-wearing college attending muppets around making a racket.
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Agree with previous reviews, it can get a bit chavvy. Not a bad pub overall though. Best visited during the day when there is a more normal corwd
anonymous - 14 Sep 2007 07:48 |
They've had some cracking beers on recently...
Cain's Lager, Butcombe Bitter, Marston's Old Empire and Purity UBU.
The staff seem to be getting more and more eastern...
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Called here again during a recent weekend visit.
The place has a �well-used� feel to it. Standard cheap and cheerful wetherspoon.
On balance though, if you�re looking for a cheap meal with cask ale, it suffices. The place is quite large and can cope with a lot of people. Busy as weekends.
Would go again.
Rating = 6.
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For a town as beautiful as Stratford upon Avon, Wetherspoons have chosen a rather dull and nondescript building to house their addition to the local hostelries. With so many pubs in the town housed in lovely historic buildings, it really is only the usual decent beer selection (5 Ales) and price range that would attract anyone through the front door. The d�cor is rather plain and the few historical snippets do not provide much of interest that a visitor to Stratford would not already know. The bottom line is that this is an aesthetically disappointing �Spoons that is OK for a lunchtime meal and a quick pint before heading off to the more interesting taverns dotted about the town. At least they can claim that Shakespeare never drank here.
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I tried it again a couple of weeks later - no ales at all (this was Friday night). Walked straight out.
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Went in on a Saturday. Place was heaving with chavs and chavettes. However, the beers we tried were both superb - my GF had a porter and I tried the UBU. Nice and cheap too - �3.72 for 2 pints in rip-off Britain ain't half bad.
Just pick the correct time to go!
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Better than average Wetherspoons. Very big. The bar seating area is like being in a big goldfish bowl and can be cold. Nice place though and the service has always been pretty good.
anonymous - 3 Oct 2006 16:29 |
It's a Wetherspoons, but the best Wetherspoons I've been to. Instant service, customary cheap drinks. Perfect.
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Visited Stratford last weekend and opted for cheap Wetherspoons lunch at this place. Can't complain really - as bluestringpudding says, it's a Wetherspoons. Food was average but fairly quick and the beer was well kept with the kind of decent selection that Wetherspoons does. The only downer we found was the state of some of the tables - some of the waiting staff seemed like they'd rather hang around at the end of the bar smoking than actually do any work.
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Fantastic building, however the service here is shocking, waited 20 minutes to get served in a near empty bar, i even took the long trip to the gents and back and still we waited! We then left.
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Hey it's a Wetherspoons! Say no more - cheap beer, good pint and a good choice of pints. Toilets a lengthy, inhebriated stagger up two flights of stairs. Much too crowded of a weekend. Like I said - it's a Wetherspoons. (By the way - nice sinks in the Ladies)
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Could do with less clowns.
It takes about 45 minutes to walk to the toilet.
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Standard Wetherspoons fare. They could take a tip from the management of the Regal in Cambridge, though: both have a large lunchtime trade but the Regal enlarges the no-smoking area before 6pm, giving the space back to the smokers as they fill up the pub for the evening. On our lunchtime visit to the Golden Bee, families were scrambling for seats whilst smoking couples were spread out with a sofa each. The beer was well-kept, though, and the efficiency of food service was excellent: busy though it was, we only waited 10 minutes.
anonymous - 31 May 2005 12:42 |
I had some great afternoons in this pub around '99/2000.
It's a great atmosphere and, because it's a chain pub, they are much more welcoming to students. Plus of course it is fantastic value for money.
Chris Davies - 26 Nov 2003 12:21 |
Yes one of the best budget pubs in S on A great on curry night Thurs. Check beer as w/spoons sell short date beer I was told thus its low cost sometimes a bit cloudy
Daz - 30 Sep 2003 16:54 |
great wetherspoon pub
tony r - 30 Sep 2003 14:48 |
