BITE user comments - goldenlane
Comments by goldenlane
Since modernisation and extension this has lost its charm and increased its prices. On our visit recently several of the beers were off and the bar server was not at all knowledgeable about those that were available. This long thin shaped premises used to be intimate cramped and appealing. It is now noisy cramped and unattractive.
5 Aug 2009 11:20
....... and just what is wrong with traditional decor and clientele 'cptrelentless'? Some of us value pubs like this greatly as precious survivals. This is what pubs are supposed to be: meeting places for locals and purveyors of good beer. The Wenlock is a gem and as far from a bar 'concept' dreamed up by a 'creative team' as you can get. Long may it be so.
5 Aug 2009 11:15
really nice. its set back in Tabard Street so a little difficult to see when you look down the street. Maybe that's why its nice - not too many parties and tourists find it. The interior has been artfully re-created as a local boozer, with a reasonable degree of accuracy. There is a jug and bottle between the bars.
5 Aug 2009 11:05
The George and Dragon, Shoreditch
A gay bar that is not a gay bar - and generally doesn't attract the scene queens. When I take newcomers there they don't believe it is a gay bar at first - which is nice. Not a muscle mary in a tight T-shirt to be seen.
The bar staff are a tad disorganised, or stoned, or just reluctant to be customer-facing. Real ale is rarely on. The toilets would disgrace a rock festival on day three. The outside of the building is so decrepit it will soon fall down.
The music is often 70s and played on vinyl and rather good. Men are usually improved by growing a beard and there are always quite a few bearded men here. I like this place a lot.
11 Jun 2009 22:09
Slightly unpleasant interior decor that is trying rather too hard to look like a fashionable bar instead of a pub. All the furniture and walls painted beige. What's wrong with looking like a pub, I say!
Friendly staff and a good-ish range of beers, not very good value. The food was OK-ish but also not cheap.
11 Jun 2009 21:57
Slightly unpleasant interior decor that is trying rather too hard to look like a fashionable bar instead of a pub. All the furniture and walls painted beige. What's wrong with looking like a pub, I say!
Friendly staff and a good-ish range of beers, not very good value. The food was OK-ish but also not cheap.
11 Jun 2009 21:57
Nice unpretentious pub with loads of real ale and non-aspirational customers. Just about as far from the Islington gastro pubs nearby as you can get.
A backstreet gem. On Sunday evening a jazz trio of three elderly gents entertained us royally.
11 Jun 2009 21:51
Its certainly unpretentious. But dont bother if you are looking for real ale - either there is none or it is so badly kept you wont want to drink it. Or somewhere to sit.
The music is so loud you wont want to talk to any of the other customers either.
11 Jun 2009 21:38
Its certainly unpretentious. But dont bother if you are looking for real ale - either there is none or it is so badly kept you wont want to drink it. Or somewhere to sit.
The music is so loud you wont want to talk to any of the other customers either.
11 Jun 2009 21:38
Halfway II Heaven, Charing Cross
This bar is not pretentious. It is not fashion conscious. It is not expensive (by London standards!). The bar staff are not too arsey.
All quite remarkable for a central London gay bar. I like it.
11 Jun 2009 21:31
Boarded up and a builders sign outside - though no actual building as far as we could see.
Is it becoming flats? It is so sad that so many of the ordinary but nice pubs like this are closing to become flat conversions.
The more sad because this was a nice local gay bar that catered for the people when the new owners of The Champion, nearby, embarked on a campaign to move on (i.e. get rid o) their gay clientele of many decades.
Maybe the recession will see of the redevelopment and someone will re-open it ? We can at least dream.................
11 Jun 2009 21:29
You either like it or you don't. Its a gay bar principally for older men who like younger men and vice versa. It's really the only one in London catering primarily to this sector of the gay community.
Some of the old boys in blazers are comfortably into their retirement whilst their younger admirers are all ages down to 18. Its not an especially attractive pub - very long and deep and a bit dark. The decor keeps evolving through a rather strange repertoire of schemes - none of which is much like a traditional pub. It has been a gay bar since the early 1970s at least -and is probably one of the oldest gay bars in London.
11 Jun 2009 21:23
This is still London's only real gay Bear Bar.
Most of the clientele are men over 30 years of age - which makes a refreshing change in Soho. It serves real ale (usually!) and is friendly. If you are the proud owner of a beard and/or moustache you will be really popular. Disco bunnies might want to consider other gay venues.
The principal problem is that it gets much toooooooooo crowded. The deep narrow layout doesn't suit crowds and you are likely to get jostled and have your beer spilled by the stream of people trying to get to and from the loo and to the upstairs bar.
The other problem is the loos - which are disgustingly smelly and too small.
11 Jun 2009 21:18
Yes, indeed, it was a successful gay bar - but str8 friendly - since the mid 1970s at least. It had a notably multi-cultural clientele and was a really nice place to drink. When the present owners established, as a matter policy, a hostile attitude to their gay customers, they left.
(The refusal to serve etc by which they achieved this would, of course, now be illegal under the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations)
The Champion currently caters to all and sundry but I feel is rather lacking a personality as a result. I was there for nostalgic reasons and was amazed how difficult it was to get a drink even when not particularly full. The several other reviewers here who note the slowness, rudeness and cluelessness of the staff are not wrong! The management really needs to sort this out..
11 Jun 2009 21:12
The King Edward VI (EDVI), Islington
This bar has been gay since the late 1970s so deserves marks for endurance. Its present incarnation is not its nicest, however. The rather weird lighting makes the customers a funny colour and the seating round the island bar is not laid out well: the confortable area seating is too cramped and the stand up and cruise areas are too spread out. The horrible logo over the door and generally naff decor seem intent on makes it feel more like a club than a pub. It would do better turning itself back into a nice local gay pub - heaven knows there are enough comfortably off gay men and lesbians in Islington these days. Sadly, real ale is not always available.
11 Jun 2009 21:02
the rather dark interior is decked out like a club rather than a pub and the lack of real ales a turn off for me. In this central location it could be so much nicer ...........
11 Jun 2009 20:56
The Pride of Spitalfields, Shoreditch
An unreconstructed east end boozer and it deserves points for survival. I remember not that long ago when Brick Lane boasted ten pubs - all now gone, mostly turned into identikit curry houses. It would make a nice refuge from the tourist hoards of Brick Lane if it weren't so very small inside. The chances of getting a seat here are not great, but the beer is good.
5 Aug 2009 11:27