BITE user comments - offramp
Comments by offramp
I was on the island for the Beer & Buses weekend (14 & 15th October 2017) and luckily this pub was nearest to my hotel. In the Stables annex there were ten or so guest beers and three or four superb guest ciders. In the main bar there were four or five guest beers including HOBGOBLIN GOLD, GODDARD'S IPA (£2.80/pint) and FUGGLES DEE DEE. Every beer I tried was in superb nick.
The whole pub had been decorated in original fashion for Halloween. These decorations are really worth going to see, as they are not your standard shop-bought tripe. The whole pub resembles a Wax Museum.
For smokers/vapers there is a very nice beer garden patrolled by two lovely cats, Tia and Maria. The owners and the locals were friendly and approachable.
I spent 4 days travelling all over the island, but the Castle was so good I made up a poem:
Though I have searched the Island round,
The Castle is the best pub to be found.
Don't miss it!
18 Oct 2017 02:00
A large Wetherspoon's pub on the banks of the Wensum. It is very near Norwich Railway station: I'd say about 300 metres. It is in a very modern entertainment complex (bowling, restaurants, trampolining etc).
The staff were young and enthusiastic, but one of them went past my table at least a dozen times and left a half-dozen glasses on the table.
I was pleased to see that it was popular with less able people, because it is fully wheelchair accessible and of course has a wheelchair-accessible toilet. BUT BE WARNED the standard toilets are up a very tall flight of stairs, with glass sides. Quite vertiginous.
They had some great Norfolk beers. I had a breakfast there as well and it was very good.
16 May 2017 17:01
I passed this at the end of April 2017. It is completely CLOSED FOR REFURBISHMENT and it looks like it'll be shut throughout May 2017, so check before you include this pub on a crawl. I was sad because it looked very nice, very big.
16 May 2017 16:48
A really lovely pub right on the Wensum river. The beers were lovely. There was one female member of staff and she knew about beer and how to serve it. There were many very good pubs in Norwich but this one is very special; old, on the river and with superb real ale. Nice customers as well, which is a good sign.
16 May 2017 16:43
The Wibbas Down Inn, Wimbledon
This pub is very large. It is so large that it is served by 2 bus stops. If you are travelling into Wimbledon you ban use the Wimbledon Theatre bus stop for this pub's northern end, or use the next stop, the bus station, for the pub's southern end.
The Wibbas Down Inn has two bars. The one nearest the Wimbledon Theatre I call the Country Bar, because it is small and has a fireplace and it seems to be where many of the locals drink.
The other bar I call the West End bar because it is very big and the younger people seem to use it.
I normally sit in the long corridor that links the two bars. There is lots and lots of seating in this pub, and it is popular at all times of the day and night. Sometimes it can be hard to get a drink, especially at Theatre intermission/curtain times. However, the staff are extremely good and I have never waited long at any time. There also seems to be many members of staff; and they are not fly-by-nights: they are experienced bar staff who know their jobs. Importantly, if I have ever questioned the quality of a real ale it has always been changed immediately.
There are two large TVs, one in a raised seating area, and one projector-scree type telly in the centre of the pub. There are two set of toilets (no stairs in any of them).
During Wetherspoon's Beer Festivals they often do something remarkable. The West End bar is extended and firkins of every single beer in the festival is put on sale. So about 50 different real ales all at once. A bewildering case of cellar management! Bravo!
I was in there once on the Monday morning after the Wimbledon tennis final. By 11am the West End side was crammed with Italian and Spanish 18-year-olds preparing to return home. It was a sight for sore eyes - better than the tennis.
There is wifi throughout via The Cloud.
In this pub I have always found the staff to be excellent. The beer is always in good condition. I have never waited long to be served and I have always found a seat, so I am giving it top rating.
10 Jul 2016 08:13
The staff are really good, as other people have mentioned. There is a lot of light in this pub. Very good beer at all times. Look for the two strange metal trees guarding the lower floor. The pub is right next door to quite a stunning church; Trinity Church. If you arrive by Sutton Station the pub is straight downhill, about 200 metres.
14 May 2014 10:27
This pub can be a bit of a walk to get to but it is worth it. You are best work out your own route using an online journey planner. It is NOT hard to get to!
The beers are always in great condition. Smokers have a really nice beer garden with Brumbrella out the back. Toilets are very clean. Children welcome. The staff engaged the regulars (I am not a regular, nor a talker!) in conversation. They looked like very pleasant staff. The furniture looked very new, but it fitted in with its surroundings.
I go here to have fantastic beer while doing the Saturday/Sunday newspaper crosswords. The free wifi helps!
13 May 2014 11:22
The toilets have recently had a bit of a refurb, which is a great improvement. Tables have been put along the side wall which fold down on Friday evenings when the pub gets very busy. If you want wifi then you ought to sit in the front two-thirds of the pub as it gets very flaky after that. The staff are very good, very quick. For some reason they are all a bit gothy but there's nothing wrong with that, Goths are usually pretty clever people. It is pretty small - but there is lots of seating. In a way it's a good old Irish/Jamaican pub like there used to be 1000s of in South London 20 years ago, and that's a good thing, for me.
I should say that I almost always go there in the hours of noon to six (not all at once!), so I don't really know what it is like after about 8pm.
Being a Wetherspoon's the food is "standard", but it is normally pretty quick, and hot.
BTW, you couldn't do much better for transport! Bus stops are right outside the door. The Tube is about 30 metres away and the Railway about 100m away; you could be at Victoria in 20 minutes from your seat!
13 May 2014 10:26
This pub has now closed. It is now a European delikatessen.
26 Jan 2014 10:03
This pub is a nice enough Wetherspoons. It has four major areas of clientèle. The total regulars - many Paddies and West Indians but lots of Saxons and Mauritian as well, and all middle-aged at least. Then there's the students from South Thames College (right over the road) and St Georges Teaching Hospital (about a kilometre away). The students don't stay long but they seem to have a lot of fun. There are also a few local shanks. If you smoke you'll be harassed by them outside. They sometimes come inside and be warned they'll try to nick stuff. Also, every Thursday, Springfield Mental Hospital opens its psychopath ward and inmates head straight for Jj Moon's. Don't argue with these guys and gals. They'll eat your hot corpse.
21 Nov 2013 14:48
The Green Man and French Horn, Covent Garden
Currently has builders in and looks like it's being turned into flats
3 Sep 2012 12:02
It became the Rounded Oak after being Gordon Bennet's, and that should be pound shap, not shyp.
15 Jul 2009 08:54
This pub is ocated next to the Canons Leisure Centre, and opposite a large childrens playground. This is a very good pub to visit if you have children and just want a quick drink. The beer is in good condition and not too dear - I paid �2.19 for a pint of Flowers IPA, a very good drink. The restaurant - I have not tried. It looks very good, though.
26 May 2006 17:25
The staff are extrememly good, and so is the beer. I think it s a bit dear for its location, but it does have lots of big plasma screens. In fact I've seen people come in during a lunch break during a Test match and never go back to the Brit Oval. The food is of a high quality. The manager has done very well because ~10 yera sago this pub was a right dump.
16 May 2006 11:23
Surprisingly, this is now the cheapest pub in the Colliers Wood area. I suppose this is as good as any pub can be that has an address starting 'Unit 5'. The main attraction is the Playbarn upstairs; if you have children then this is a godsend. But that also means that if you are looking for somewhere to sit and read the paper on a Sunday afternoon then you have the wrong place! The food - especially the steaks - is very good. The whole place is pretty clean and it has fairly good views of the Wandle. It certainly attracts the chavs, though, and the only bitter is John Smith's smooth. I no qlonger take part in the PHAB quiz as too many people disappear off to the toilet with mobile phones for it to be totally fair.
16 May 2006 11:13
Wetherspoons, Victoria Station
I like this pub. It has balconies on both sides where you can see the destination boards and trains coming in. I avoid it at lunchtimes and evenings, but at weekends it is an OK pub; not too busy, a big range of beers and clean toilets. You can also take children there, which is a plus.
16 May 2006 11:05
This pub was originally named The Perseverance and then The Queen of Denmark. It was probably renamed The Gallery so as to confuse tourists who may have arranged to meet at "the Gallery, Pimlico" - meaning the Tate Gallery, which is nearby. The pub is extremely expensive for both food and drink. The staff are not particularly friendly and can sometimes be quite surly. The normal lagers are standard quality but I would avoid any real ales in there... I bought a pint of Greene King IPA and it was rancid, but the staff refused to change it - they said I shouldn't have bought it! A good point is that you can sit outside in the summer; traffic along Ebury Bridge Rd is rarely too heavy, and you can get into conversation with tourists from all over the world.
16 May 2006 10:58
The Village Inn, Shanklin
A great looking pub. I really enjoyed myself here. I was here so I did not go outside into the beer garden except to have a quick look. There were lots of solid-looking seats with real cushions.
Inside reminds me of Santa's grotto. Lots of nick-nacks, paintings, posters and up-lights. It gave the whole place a magickal look. I had a steak pie and veg and it was very good, and pretty reasonably priced. I drank the Hobgoblin Gold, but there was at least one more guest beer available.
I'd definitely make a detour to go back to this pub.
21 Oct 2017 18:46