BITE user comments - DeepThought
Comments by DeepThought
xavier, I do hope it's not the David Neal I know..............
30 Dec 2009 18:19
Two words sum up everything wrong about this place - GREENE and KING - not necessarily in that order, but advisible.
30 Dec 2009 18:16
9 Months on, and R & L have given birth to yet another successful incarnation of the VBC Hop Pole; We don't miss Mr Shouty a.k.a R Chandler at all. Beer still 100%, food more varied than ever and life is luverlee - if we discount a slight increase in Scraetredom. Send em to the Brit, I say.
30 Dec 2009 18:07
There is an old adage regarding attempts to fix that which hath yet to break, or indeed showing good reason that it will not break. The Alcohol side of the HP needs no attention whatsoever - same could be said for the entertainment.
We sincerely hope Vale Brewery are smart enough to leave well alone and concentrate on those aspects they (erroneously) believe can improve to a significant degree.
9 Apr 2009 22:55
Charlie-m, bless him, is obviously unaware that l'il ole me was actually in The Ship WITH the Editor/Branch Chairman and the author of said article and participated in the rather fractious exchange of views on the subject of The Hop Pole. Moreover, you get more Hungarian ex-pats in the Hoppity to this day than CAMRA Branch members - not that the regulars are complaining!
CAMRA had little to say about the initial rise of The Hop Pole that was remotely positive. And good riddance to The Ship, it was little more than a crack-den serving swill.
More to the point, HP is still great - and no thanks to CAMRA.
Have a nice evening!
20 Oct 2008 18:12
If the TVP can be bothered at all with upholdng the law in this godforsaken country, read below; I try to justify my continuing support for this place with all those fond memeories of it 25+ years ago.
I'ts not looking good.
11 Sep 2008 23:01
I've tried most diligently to think of anything that could be considered remotely derogatory to the HP = not at all satisfied with my initial asssessment of Heaven on Earth.
It boils down to one issue - the iPod. And that was a struggle. Involve us musos more, Stu. More variety is needed! And Pasta stuff on the menu....gotta be an idea worth pursuing.
Buggerit, have a 10.
11 Sep 2008 22:53
Nice Guitar embedded in one of the tables; the other half of it is in our lounge.
20 Aug 2008 21:19
The General Elliot, South Hinksey
You should organise an outing to the Vale Brewery's piece de resistance in Aylesbury - and I doubt very much if John the Landlord sources his own beer.......
Still, it must have improved at the General under the Vale tutelage - it was a real duffer years ago.
18 Jul 2008 18:06
A source of some disappointment - wasn't it once The Jericho Tavern?
Still, they offered Cameron's Strongarm as a guest on one occasion - under blanket. The horror.
18 Jul 2008 18:00
Twas the nearest pub to work, and pleasant enough - i stuck to the Guinness mostly. I wonder if Stowie an Phil are still nailed to the bar? And Johnny Flynn for that matter. And Jacky, alias Ms Breasts.
18 Jul 2008 17:56
L & F is just my kind of place. They had a CD juke dominated by Pink Floyd in the late nineties u kno. Good mix of clientele, Old Peculier on draught - it's all good news.
18 Jul 2008 17:53
The Angel and Greyhound, Oxford
This was a favourite haunt in my Oxford dayss, the Youngs connection being the big plus. Studenty? Who cares - I always thought the student population in Oxford simply added to the buzz. Recommended.
18 Jul 2008 17:47
Is it really a rockers pub again, after all these years? Robert Calvert played his last gig in d Weety,
Frank was carried around by Kev and Andy - and we all stuck to the floor.
No beer of note in those days, but it was fun.
18 Jul 2008 17:43
This is the parallel universe version of the other Unicorn - see the 0LP entry.
This one caters mainly for people from far away and their cats.
18 Jul 2008 17:40
Food Food Food Food and more Food. The beer is usually in good nick, but the blue-painted locals stare at ye uitlander a good deal.
Another one that is actually in Buckinghamshire.
18 Jul 2008 17:29
Nice enough place, but was in Buckinghamshire last time I went in - today...........
18 Jul 2008 17:27
The Black Swan (or Dirty Duck), Rugby
An odd little haunt - has to be the only place I've ever seen that was heaving with Asian Yoot on a week-
day. Intersestng layout, very central. Not what you would consider an Alehouse, mind - the aim is at the young and feckless.
18 Jul 2008 17:11
Went once - most enjoyable. Amazing cross-section of punters!
18 Jul 2008 17:08
A fallen hostelry, full of LADZ. Once a Free House, it has declined under Fullers - though to be fair, only in recent times. I'd say TheGP caught the start of the downward spiral.
18 Jul 2008 15:32
The Chandos Arms, Weston Turville
One of the better village pubs close to the mighty metropolis. It won't rock your world, but well worth a visit.
18 Jul 2008 15:28
The Buckinghamshire Yeoman, Bedgrove
I think it's all been said - completely appalling.
18 Jul 2008 15:27
This is Aylesbury's premier "Hoe-fightin'" venue and really needs demolishing - preferably with the usual clientele still inside.
18 Jul 2008 15:19
Utterly unremarkable and appeals to those with proximity in their repertoire. I went there once - think it was 1974.
18 Jul 2008 15:16
Vic & Sue now retired, but the changeover has been fairly seamless. Still good reputation for Food, beer as good as Fullers allows and most of all - the only pub left in the village.
18 Jul 2008 15:12
That comment from evegeve can't be about this Swan. Much too lively! Staff appalling, though.
18 Jul 2008 15:09
I always wonder at people who deliberately choose a Pub for the purposes of culinary entertainment. This place WAS a pub, but it's at least a decade since any serious drinker used it.
18 Jul 2008 15:07
A very sound Fullers house, a very loyal regular crew
- indeed, by the rating, incredibly loyal. Decent pub though the score is a little misleading.
18 Jul 2008 15:04
Interesting Architecture - the staff seem to all be Viet-Nam veterans with that patent thousand-yard stare one gets at similar outlets. Over-priced, very indifferent service and, therefore, very Waddesdon.
18 Jul 2008 14:59
A very nice place providing you are androgynous and don't want to drink anything masculine.
18 Jul 2008 14:56
Another humerous venue - it has no beer! One assumes this is an attempt to bring a little sophistication to Aylesbury........
Ha! Sheep are considered intelligent out here.
18 Jul 2008 14:49
For the discerning apostle of a good argument, this place is for you! Under no circumstances should you call the Ale quality into question, as the staff are trained to blank you. Nice place if you have all the attitude of a mollusc.
18 Jul 2008 14:44
This has rto be some form of jest - The Plough is a Carvery sort of thing, not a Pub!
18 Jul 2008 14:41
Close to paradise, if a little spartan for the White Wine and Soda brigade. Ales are top-notch, and only one mass-produced UK market fizz pump on view - one assumes to cater for the very few children and the clinically insane. A few are bound to sneak in.
The Stevens gang at Vale Brewery have had a lot of luck with their Managers, it has to be said. Each one brought something to the place, and the current folk have encouraged a truly homogenous crew of nutty foreign types and even the occasional Englishman! It works for me - nobody's been belayed with a blunt instrument yet. This could change, however, the main risk likely to be encountered on Thursday evenings.
A moment to commiserate with Stuart and Monia - great to be CAMRA Branch Pub of the Year, but to suffer the indignity of a photo shoot with one of the biggest detractors regards the Vale's ambition for the HP must have been awful. This of course is a man who published snide and faintly derogatory material in the CAMRA rag a couple of years back - one article in particular emanating from a non-CAMRA source - that specifically knocked places like the HP and Kings Head as being 'Trendy'! If 10 Ales and a good family type camraderie is trendy, let's have some more.
18 Jul 2008 14:04
Yes..........the QH has given a new life to the real sport of Boozer Anthropology. The denizens of the deep that pass through are a source of fascination, indeed forcing the verbose cogniscenti to rethink the established pecking order for describing former. One understands that the term 'Pond-Life' no longer gets the true perception of just how awful a 21st Century Chav can actually be! An extra rank has been added, we now call these types 'Scum-sucking bottom feeders'.
As for the premises - such a waste. Traditional good old drinking hole, often with six ales on handpump - which, given the clientele, is hopelessly optimistic.
Better to offer three in good condition than double that figure inconsistent or worse. Punch Taverns have it on the market again, we understand. Given the iffy state of the economy, who'd be mad enough to take it?
18 Jul 2008 13:38
The Farmer's Bar, Aylesbury
If you need a glowing example of what the term 'up yer own arse' really means, check this place out; Staff training must include Desperate Arrogance to NVQ3, 1/1 in Indifference and PhD in Completely Inappropriate Career for You. The incumbents should be shot, maimed or fired from a cannon - preferrably all of these. As for Chiltern Brewery, they do nice cheese - allegedly.
30 Dec 2009 18:29