BITE user comments - juliatheakston
Comments by juliatheakston
Have had a few entertaining evenings in this pub, but I suspect it won't remain open for long due to lack of trade. The draft beers are ropey, purely down to lack of turnover I guess. Friendly older lady serving behind the bar, pool table, couple of old duffers in residence. Suggest you stick to spirit mixers.
17 Sep 2010 12:46
Visited this pub two times in the last couple of months. Ales are ropey, Guinness awful, don't touch anything draft would be my advice. Bar staff pleasant enough, but locals very unwelcoming. Nothing to recommend about this pub.
17 Sep 2010 12:44
Metropolis Karaoke & Music Bar, Bromley
Presumably a front for money laundering. Sure as hell isn't somewhere you'd go for a drink or entertainment.
13 Sep 2010 19:05
Don't bother meeting here. Find somewhere else to meet. Goddamn awful in every single way. Overpriced, lacklustre service, mostly empty. I have been to more entertaining airport departure lounges.
13 Sep 2010 19:04
The Railway Hotel, West Wickham
No no no... you don't want to be drinking here. Or eating. Stay away.
13 Sep 2010 19:02
Serious contender for worst pub in Bromley. Bad in every way.
13 Sep 2010 18:55
The Pickhurst Tavern, West Wickham
Classic example of how to combine a pub and restaurant into neither. Staff useless, beer crap, locals horrid. Really don't bother.
13 Sep 2010 18:50
Despite the fact this place looks infinitely better, the atmosphere is abysmal. Staff mostly young and clueless - if you're ordering a gin and tonic, you don't necessarily want the bottle dumped in to the point of the glass overflowing everywhere. Haven't eaten here personally, but my father had food poisoning after a burger here.
Needs a hands-on manager who cares and some lessons in food preparation.
13 Sep 2010 18:44
This place is still damn awful... appalling draft lager and chav-ridden. If you absolutely must drink in Bromley South, even Wetherspoons is better than this place.
13 Sep 2010 18:38
The pub is now much improved with the refurbishment restoring the previous redecoration to its initial high standard.
The new management seem to understand service considerably better than the "Mad Australians" and I understand that this is to now be a gay pub with ladies' pole dancing upstairs in the pink lounge!!!!
Prices are a little steep, but presumably that's keeping the worst of Bromley away.
29 Nov 2006 22:35
A great pub run by a woman who's got a good idea of what people want. It's very clean and service is immediate. Can be a bit quiet and possibly a touch cliquey when the locals are together at the bar, but it's only to be expected given the pub's location. The DJ is great and the music is crowd pleasing stuff. Pool table out the back and a little patch of a garden for the hot days.
31 Jul 2005 18:01
It's all true. We used to love it and go there for a late drink downstairs or a friendly pint upstairs, but it's just gone to shit. It won't be open long.
31 Jul 2005 17:58
One word summation: Chav
That applies to both the Elizabeth Duke staff and the aforementioned Sun reading customers. It needs gutting and replacing with a pub rather than a chain imitation of a pub. Probably a great place to watch football and have a fight.
31 Jul 2005 17:54
Pretty terrible pub. Feels like a chain and has no character whatsoever. Bit grubby with charmless staff. Get on the bus and go elsewhere.
31 Jul 2005 17:53
It's not really an imitation Irish pub as the owner is Irish and it's frequented by a few real Irish Guinness drinkers!! It's also not a chain, which I see as a plastic paddy requriement. That said, it has got some naff stuff on the walls and the outside colour scheme is very off-putting.
The staff are excellent and the facilities are spotless. As it's not huge, it doesn't take any time at all to get served and the selection of spirits is extraordinary.
It's easily the best place to go after a nightmare commute to Beckenham Junction!
31 Jul 2005 17:50
Although the comments below are fair, I had issues with the staff as they were completely unable to take my order and deal with it. I only wanted a Gin and Tonic for goodness sake. Still, the pub is infinitely improved of late and is worth a look as it's now clean, airey and serves a good range of drinks.
31 Jul 2005 17:47
O'Neills in Beckenham inherited a dodgy legacy from Drummond's which occupied the space beforehand. The new team are very good and have worked hard to address the problems which are mostly now resolved. The music is however too damn loud on the big nights and the pub has a large builder contingent from the site behind it and market folk from the farmer's market which can be a little overwhelming for a single girl.
Overall, it's well worth a look as the door staff and bar staff have done well to turn it around recently and the pub is busy without being overwhelming. The music selection is great and one of the barmen (simon?) is really cute!
31 Jul 2005 17:44
Local mafia hangout, careful who you bump into! Staff friendly, tending to keep your change as mentioned below. It's interesting of an evening, but there's a definite menacing air to the punters.
31 Jul 2005 17:40
Pretty much all the comments below are quite correct! It's a tiny pub with bags of character which obviously hasn't generated the revenue to allow a bit of cash to be spent on necessities like working toilets. Shame, let's see what happens here, because it's like a little secret pub!
31 Jul 2005 17:38
Great staff, very clean and worth a visit if you're "doing" Beckenham for an evening. Can get a bit noisy with the lowish ceiling and the stone floor, but has a cafe type atmosphere with the front doors open in the summer. Never seen any trouble in there and it does pub-standard food quite well.
31 Jul 2005 17:36
Beckenham's Wetherspoon variant. Expect to be proffered stolen aftershave, chinese DVDs and have your handbag stolen. Full of scumbags.
31 Jul 2005 17:35
Great staff, clean bar. Older crowd than most pubs in the area ensuring a hassle-free quiet drink. Traditional decor is done badly, as mentioned below. Food is very good - especially the pensioner faves like fish and chips. A great place for a private chat with a friend as there's plenty of seating and you won't be disturbed.
31 Jul 2005 17:33
Beckenham's answer to The Bell in Bromley. Full of idiots, rude staff, good place to have a fight.
31 Jul 2005 17:31
The Coach and Horses, Beckenham
It's not a bad little pub, with clean bar, good selection of drinks. Locals a bit cliquey, but that's the way of these places.
31 Jul 2005 17:30
The Bricklayers Arms, Beckenham
Small, dingey and grubby. Staff friendly and beer good though.
31 Jul 2005 17:28
This pub was unfriendly, full of undesirables and filthy last time I visited it.
31 Jul 2005 17:23
Unbelievably popular plastic Australian bar attracting the worst elements of Bromley's chav culture. Packed to the point of discomfort on Fri/Sat nights as evidenced by the astonishing queues. Not one for the adults amongst you.
31 Jul 2005 17:20
Very friendly pub attracting a significantly older crowd than usual in Bromley. Good selection of normal drinks, family run type atmosphere and a lovely little garden.
31 Jul 2005 17:12
Great staff, very clean, good beer and selection of spirits. More like a living room than a pub with people's behaviour matching the setting. Worth the extra money to drink in a calm safe environment.
31 Jul 2005 17:07
Typical Bromley mainstream crowd, so the toilets are half-destroyed and there's usually a punch-up in the car park. Music deafening, beer second-rate more pool tables than sentient customers. Think Sports Bar.
31 Jul 2005 17:06
This pub does exactly what it says on the tin. Music usually very good, bar staff are the best team in Bromley due to their excellent relationship and low turnover. The bar is clean, the toilets less so. The garden isn't the most attractive, but has a great chatty atmosphere due to the sharing of benches.
Absolutely never any trouble, only the occasional chav, whom the staff are happy to chuck out. Great drinks prices. The manager is probably the only let down as he's rude and spends most of his life upstairs sulking, whilst his team carry the responsibility of running the pub.
Rock night is sadly dead, but the music selection from the customers ensures that it partly lives on. Customers are mixed, but mainly a blend of rock/indie type young and old with working professionals from nearby offices.
It's probably the only honest drinking "pub" in Bromley town centre now.
31 Jul 2005 17:03
Not very exciting, keeps closing early due to lack of customers. Overpriced, but clean and generally the staff are good. Manager got upset with us because she wanted to close at 9.15pm on a Sunday and we weren't drinking fast enough, which was a shame.
31 Jul 2005 16:49
The winner of my "Worst pub in Bromley" award for the last three years. Music awful, customers awful, door staff awful, bar-staff awful, DJ awful. If you like it... you're a chav.
31 Jul 2005 16:47
This is a very serious contender for the "Worst Pub in Bromley" award. Despite being opposite the Police station, there has been a fight every single time I have visited. The staff couldn't give a shit about the customers, the bar is swimming in spilt drink and the toilets are as you would expect. Customers are chavs or pensioners depending on the time of day.
31 Jul 2005 16:45
Another good pub up in the only classy bit of Bromley. Great ales, good service and books and books and books. Toilets adequately clean, bar and glasses spotless. Well worth a visit for the ale fans.
31 Jul 2005 16:41
Dirty bar and toilets complimented perfectly by offensive alkie locals - girls stay away!
31 Jul 2005 16:39
Great pub with good selection of drinks. Bar staff professional, toilets clean - all good stuff. I had the misfortune of visiting on a football day, but the customers were just about bearable during it. It's a miracle, considering the Bell and the Walkabout's proximity that this pub manages to avoid turning chav - keep the prices well above both and keep the tracksuits and caps out!
31 Jul 2005 16:37
Good pub spoiled by a terrible layout and several tins of salmon coloured paint. Food and chef both looked tasty, but moody foreign girl behind the bar let the side down. Music was at acceptable volume for my taste. Locals a little cliquey and loud, but hey, it's a local pub for local people. Manager was very hands-on and was attending to the locals' needs and making sure everything was alright.
31 Jul 2005 16:34
It's a O'Neills, so you should probably know what you're going to get already if you been to one before. Good door staff, doing Bromley's work of keeping the kiddies out. Bar staff good, but sometimes challenged to respond quickly on a busy night due to the huge long bar. Music is generally a bit loud, but of acceptable quality. The customers don't seem to be normal Bromley fighting chavs, which is a good thing. The toilets are a disgrace.
Oh and if the first review wasn't written by the manager, then I'm a monkey's uncle!
31 Jul 2005 16:30
Not actually been in there, due to it's location between the dump and the gasworks, but it's been painted recently and looks relatively inviting.
31 Jul 2005 16:26
Over-priced bar where the cocktails need to be looked up from a book. Very few customers when I visited in the evening, probably due to the awful young girls behind the bar who couldn't seem to cope. Choice of drinks limited, especially in the beer department - probably deliberate. Customers appeared reasonable, door staff very professional and friendly.
31 Jul 2005 16:25
A pub which appears quieter now, but the chavs inside made up for their lack of numbers with their offensive shouting. Two of the least friendly grunts in Bromley guard the front door with fight-provoking comments made at passers-by. Prices reasonable, bar staff friendly, shame about the rest of the problems.
31 Jul 2005 16:22
When I first visited this pub it was adequate, if a little dingy. It was then given a disasterous makeover which involved sticking a mirror to every available wall. Subsequently the makeover was rescued and it's now a comfortable atmosphere! (I mention this in case you've seen one of the bad versions)
The drinks were fairly priced and the pub was clean, but the two young barmaids working were quite frankly rude, refusing to top up drinks and not helping matters by sulking afterwards. Otherwise, a pleasant quiet pub attracting an older crowd.
31 Jul 2005 16:19
It's a gay pub which appeared to have no customers when I visited (on a Thursday). A local helped me to a drink which was spoiled by someone shouting at him shortly afterwards. Bit grubby, but great garden.
31 Jul 2005 16:15
I think I preferred the pub before it's makeover as it was more an honest pub before. Now it's dressed as a foody pub, but retaining the original alkie letching customers who are thrown into sharp relief by the over-bright lighting. Staff only appear friendly to their locals (not surprising in Bromley) and the chef was loudly sharing his suffering of a serious drug comedown with all within earshot - nice touch boys.
31 Jul 2005 16:11
Lovely pub which was very clean and served a good pint of Hurlimann and a good pint of Guinness. Staff appeared mostly female which was a pleasant surprise. Only complaints would be the slightly bright lighting and the lack of punters that night.
31 Jul 2005 16:08
More a restaurant than a pub, family friendly, so was packed with screaming chavlets when I visited. Staff a touch amateurish and struggled to take a food order and pour a pint in a timely fashion. Lacks atmosphere, but generally clean and brewery-esque in it's appearance.
31 Jul 2005 16:05
Yet another chain pub lacking in atmosphere. Service adequate, but food disappointing. Rather too many tracksuited types for my liking.
31 Jul 2005 16:02
A great little pub, very clean and well run. It's small and cozy with an outdoor area for those nice nights. Pints were great and served with a smile in the intimate atmosphere. Absolutely no chance of any trouble given the pub's style, the chavs wouldn't be comfortable! Recommended for a night of friendly drinking, or a pub where you would actually like to chat to a friend.
31 Jul 2005 16:01
It's not really a bar, it's more of a Belgian restaurant, but you can get a continental style beer or flavoured lager for premium prices. Staff are a little cold, but the environment is pleasant and the summer park drinking is to be recommended.
31 Jul 2005 15:58
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The Beacon, Hayes
CLOSED - went past on the weekend and it's all boarded up with planning notice for property development.
17 Sep 2010 13:52