BITE user comments - Sebastian_Jinks
Comments by Sebastian_Jinks
Has reopened now as that restaurant - called Zaza's. Apparently their pizzas are very good, and they have a great lunch deal.
However, as possibly Luton's oldest pub, it's a shame it isn't a boozer anymore. I fondly recall the very early 90's when it was the pub of choice for the town's indie pop-kid hordes.
Not that the indie pop-kid girls had any time for me.
17 Jan 2008 08:46
Closed and boarded up. Shame... no, who am I kidding, it was an awful place.
17 Jan 2008 08:41
Considering that it's a Lutonian estate pub, and the "Sports Bar" (frequented by the local lock-stock-geezer ragamuffins) is best avoided, the lounge bar presents what remains a decent enough local boozer. Ale as good as anywhere you'll get in Luton (outside HighTown) and an atmosphere which, although "friendly" might be pushing it a bit, is generally non-threatening.
If this sounds like damning with faint praise, it isn't. The Wigmore is alright.
27 Dec 2007 15:40
Archetypal estate pub, with nothing to recommend it unless you like a game of pool, baseball caps and wear three lions on your tit. Still, snobbery aside, alot of people like that kind of thing, but don't make a pilgrimage here for the fine ales.
27 Dec 2007 15:30
Closed again.
Re-opens, with best intentions, every few months but always seems to get the same lousy clientele back - driving the place down. Odd. Do these people lie in wait under a stone? The Bricklayers Road, over the road, has been the best pub in Luton/the world for years and years.
28 Nov 2007 13:06
Doing her interview alongside the seasoned sots in the pub, I overheard (who I presumed to be) the Manageress telling Wetherspoon�s latest prospective minimum wage-slave that he �needs to make the customer feel they are the most important person in the world�. Made me smirk. The service here is appalling, although you really can�t solely blame the obviously overwhelmed and despondent student workforce. Not that they�ve got a clue about who�s next to be served at the bar. Personally, if at all possible, if I miraculously manage to catch the attention of the bar staff, I�ll give way to somebody who has been at the bar longer than I. Bar etiquette still exists, even in Luton, but not at the White House. Staff ineptitude doesn�t help whatsoever � but the clientele are the dregs of polite society. That said, the beer is very cheap and (usually) reasonably well kept. Somewhere to avoid like the plague when, by the early evening, 80% of those inside are wearing baseball caps and/or three lions on their tit.
1 Aug 2007 12:50
The nearby English Rose, I�ve heard argued, their having jumped on the real ale bandwagon recently, serves a better pint. I�m not convinced. The Bricklayers has also seemingly managed to alienate the local CAMRA folk � their �Beer in Beds� publication recently suggested a pub crawl of the HighTown area that ridiculously (and/or petulantly) missed the Brickies out, while the pub only ever gets �runners up� awards at the loal CAMRA �best pub� award year after year. This is daft. The Bricklayers Arms is a fantastic place � easily the best pub in town � and goes a long way into making life in Luton, and supporting our rubbish football team, extremely bearable.
1 Aug 2007 10:21
Back to Sebastian_Jinks's profile
The English Rose, Luton
Can�t comment on the homophobia allegations, other than I�ve seen no evidence of that personally. I�m pretty sure the vast majority of those who frequent this establishment are well meaning folk who wouldn�t tolerate that kind of thing.
This is a relatively new real ale pub, and still appears to be rather pleased with itself� not without cause, but I have a few small reservations. Lovely fellas though they undoubtedly are, do those CAMRA stalwarts who stand at the bar not appreciate they�re creating a barrier? The ale pump section is small but these men, whose allegiance to the brewer�s cause is grossly event is their paunch profile; seem to have wedge themselves into it. One has to squeeze betwixt bellies to see what�s on the pumps� knowing they�re just longing to offer their opinion on the qualities of the respective guest ales.
Beer Festivals, in big halls, with endless varieties of real ale, are the ideal environment for the CAMRA stereotype (the kind of festivals commemorated on XXXL sized polo shirts) � small pubs like the English Rose, especially wedged up at the bar, aren�t. Should more effort not be made to re-introduce these huge, but potentially majestic creatures, back to their natural environment?
Still, once you�ve gone through the bar ordeal, this is a nice enough pub � albeit with a slightly annoying 80�s heavy jukebox, but then the Brickies is only five minutes walk away.
17 Jan 2008 09:21