BITE user comments - TA010929
Comments by TA010929
This pub now appears to be closed, and good riddance too. It's a big old pub and I'm sure it could be run profitably, but it is in the arsehole end of town, and I guess that's why it's closed.
Good chip shop next door.
5 Jan 2007 23:27
Actually they have done a nice job of refurbishing this pub. It's not in the smartest part of town, so one doesn't know how long it stay like this.
Mostly a lager pub, which means the ale (Exmoor) is unlikely to be at its best, and it certainly wasn't when I was there.
I can never understand why pubs have a dirty great big telly showing a pop music channel, but with no volume, then they have different music playing on the hi fi. Makes no sense to me.
Bar staff seemed to know what they were supposed to do, but weren't prepared to actually do it.
Has yet to find its own identity; doubt if it ever will.
5 Jan 2007 23:23
I agree with everything the previous reviewer has said. The owners if this pub have gone out of their way to be as pretentious as possible, but the only people they are trying to impress is themselves.
ridiculously expensive
4 Jan 2007 16:57
This is a first class example of how not to run a pub. they must have undertaken a massive recruitment drive in order to find a sufficient number of totally miserable sour faced misery guts to work here. food is aweful so is the beer and the service is third world.
Pity, it's a nice siuation and could be a nice place, but none of the staff actually seem to want to work there.
2 Jan 2007 20:40
Fantastic setting, but the service is terrible and the food even worse.
2 Jan 2007 12:45
Not a brand new pub at all. Just one that has reopened again, with a different name after being closed for some time. In fact this pub seems to spend more time closed down than in trading mode. That, and the fact that the pub opposite (harpoon louis) has also just gone out of business should have sounded warning bells to the new owners, but it didn't.
I was there on it's first opening night (one could hardly call it a 'grand' opening.The owners looked as though they had been there for several years ie thoroughly bored and disinterested.
Charismatic bar staff NOT.
I don't know how long this manifestation will last.
Naming it the cricketers makes a lot of sense. It'll probably last as long as a Somerset innings.
30 Dec 2006 23:12
It says so much about the standards of the pubs in Taunton, and the expectorations of the towns drinkers that this place suvives.
Mr Bob is right about the big windows; they should be of frosted glass, or have blinds (closed). The daytime drinkers seem to be afraid of daylight, and the pedestrians should be shielded from some of the ugliness that lies within.
29 Dec 2006 15:25
The Pitcher and Piano, Taunton
Now called the pitcher and Piano. Strange name, strange pub. They haven't got a piano, and they don't sell pitchers (at least not to me when I asked).
No decent ales. A bit like an up market weatherspoons, but I suppose that could be said of just about anywhere (including the Navy and Military)
29 Dec 2006 15:15
There's something about this pub I can't put my finger on. It has something of the atmosphere of a holiday camp bar on a rainy day in the off season. People seem to be there because they can't think of anything better to do. All very depressing.
29 Dec 2006 15:09
This is a miserable pub some distance from the town centre (alas not far away enough). A load of codgers in one side, and a load of louts in the other. From the outside it looks as though it might fall down at any moment but alas this is just an illusion. My best advice is to drive on past.
27 Dec 2006 17:20
nice situation, pity about the miserable staff who prefer to spend their time sat on their backsides than actually working
27 Dec 2006 17:11
The Duchess Of Edinburgh, Welling
O.K. for a quick pint, even better for a swift half, but best of all if you don't even go through the door.
27 Dec 2006 00:45
Years ago when this place was called the cornwallis it was run by a little fat Glaswegian guy with bad breath. Apart from that it wasn't a bad boozer. In point of fact it would be a dam site better if they brought him back,
14 Nov 2006 00:19
The previous two reviews of this pub are wrong. It is far worse than either of them have descibed.
It used to be a good hardware shop and before that a good cinama, but it's a piss poor pub now. Why is it that Bristish people liked being ripped off by these places so much?
4 Sep 2006 23:54
I got asked to leave this pub once because I took one of the books off a bookshelf and started to read it.
I think the manager must have thought I was showing off.
4 Sep 2006 23:48
The great news is that this pub is for sale (again). Lets hope that the buyer will make a better job of running it than the last one. Mind you, if he pays anything like the asking price he'll be an idiot, so the chances aren't good.
4 Sep 2006 23:40
The best pub in Taunton is not saying much, and this isn't the best pub in Taunton.
Unless you are one of the landlords muckers or are Irish you might have a long wait for a drink, and don't be suprised if the bar closes before you have been served, even if you have been waiting for twenty minutes.
4 Sep 2006 23:34
Better than average town pub? Well perhaps so, but as this is Taunton we're talking about, that doesn't mean a great deal.
2 Sep 2006 10:31
A typical mcmullens pub Ridiculously expensive but still full of low life, chavs and pikeys. piss poor service and even worse beer.They serve stuff that they call food, but most others would call s**t.
22 Aug 2006 23:51
Used to be known as the pikey and eel on account of the travelers camp just down the road. Was o.k. at lunch time, but in the evening when all of the scum came out of the woodwork it was a place to avoid.
22 Aug 2006 23:07
The White Schooner, Peacehaven
I used to know this pub years ago when it was called the Retreat. It was a shithole then and I suspect it still is. It looked like it from the outside so I didn,t go in
17 Aug 2006 22:10
Not bad during the day, but only because its often empty. In the evening its full of the usual chavs and pikeys. O.K. if you like that sort of thing.
17 Aug 2006 22:03
A great pub and well worth a visit. It could do with livening up a bit though, pool table, juke box and big screen t.v. for the football.
Don't worry, only kidding. Keep it just like it is for ever please.
17 Aug 2006 21:56
The best pub in bradford; one of my favourite pubs. Excellent beer, food, company and staff.
14 Aug 2006 22:59
There are too many pubs in Devizes: this is one that should be closed down. Nasty.
14 Aug 2006 22:56
The Naval and Military, Taunton
I visited it once, just for the experience, and wished I hadn't.
29 Jul 2006 23:58
when I was last in Harpenden 10 years ago the George was certainly a place to avoid, full of pikeys, scum and other low life. I returned there briefly just recently and guess what? Nothing much has changed. It's about time it was closed down and converted to a macdonalds or chinese. The people who use it should not be allowed to drink alcohol. They shouldn't be allowed to live either.
18 Jul 2006 14:06
I know this pub is in the west midlands, but still, there's no excuse for such piss poor service. Perhaps it's because I don't speak with a local whining accent that I got such poor service, but I expect every one there was treated just as poorly. Talking of poorly, do the locals actually like the beer they serve? It made me ill
18 Jul 2006 13:58
what a miserable shit hole of a pub. full of pikeys and other dross. Avoid it like the plague. yuk
18 Jul 2006 13:49
I can only confirm what others have already said. This pub should be blown to smithereens, preferably on a friday night when it is full of the regular scum that use it. The only good thing about it is that it keeps the dross that use it from going elsewhere.
18 Jul 2006 11:07
At last someone has figured that you can run a succesful pub by offering a high quality of service and products instead of getting teenagers pissed on house doubles and filling the place up with pool tables and t.vs. A pub for discerning customers. Idiots do not seem to be made welcome, and long may that remain the case
23 May 2006 22:04
Recently re opened after a major refurbishment. It is now more of a restaurant than a pub, although there is a small area set aside for drinkers. Nicely done out but lacking is atmosphere.
Every time I've been there there seems to have been someone else in charge, chosen from the united nations they have working behind the bar. Nevertheless,it's a nice place to go for a drink or meal, but they need someone to sort out the ales.
23 May 2006 21:56
Not recommended for anyone over the age of 18. A horrible dirty pub; the staff don't even pretend to have any enthusiasm for their jobs, and the sevice is quite appalling. Why don't they just knock it down which is what seems to be happening to the rest of the town.
23 May 2006 21:47
This pub used to offer a welcome to an eclectic mix of clientel. However due to a change of ownership things have gone downhill. Both the service and the beer can best be discribed as turbid. It is not unusual for the barstaff to keep the customers waiting while they (the bar staff) finish their supper. The quiz on sunday nights is quite a revelation as the question master himself frequently gets the answers wrong. Used to be worth a visit, not any more.
23 Feb 2006 23:43
Rediculously expensive pub. dificult to find and not worth the effort. Its strange that at a time when there are plans to outlaw smoking in pubs, the smoking of dope goes on apace in this miserable hole. Still, if you lived here, you'd do the same.
Some pleasant old folks to be found in the lounge bar
23 Feb 2006 23:37
The Cross Keys, Norton Fitzwarren
Strangely, this pub claims to be 3rd in the camra pubs of Somerset table. The beer's O.K. but the service can only be discribed as poor. They are big on special occasions with such events as: Valentine's day, mothers day weekend, st. patricks day, st. Georges day, chocolate fortnight, british week, pub week,jazz weekend. You name it and they'll celebrate it. One bar man, a grumpy sod with a grey beard seems to be in some kind of position of authority. He talks a good pint but can't serve one, and is incompetence personified.
23 Feb 2006 23:32
The Pitcher and Piano, Taunton
Bloody awful. Neither suitable for young idiots nor the sensibly middle aged. Instead it's full of middle aged idiots.
5 Jan 2007 23:50