BITE user comments - pubwatch
Comments by pubwatch
The Venue should be renamed the Benefit Arms, as it�s the number stop off point after signing on. When you walk in the Kingsbury, it�s like walking into a Wild West saloon in 19th century, with everyone turning round to see the stranger in town.
The service is sound enough; however, the selection is pretty limited. Real Ale enthusiasts will find it grim. The menu looks nice, but it is dangerous to judge a book by its cover, my first and last meal there had me studying the "Armitage Shanks" logo at home for far too long for my liking.
The atmosphere is as clicky as Spanish maracas, with the locals in there looking like something from 'The Deliverance'. I once dared to sit on stool at one of the one of the high tables; you would have thought I was a mass murderer for the stares I encountered.
The TV's are always on, even for non live sport, or simply non event sport. The World Curling Championship would get an airing in here no worries.
It�s always had a Chav element, but this has escalated to scary heights since the closing of Hobgoblin. They have now turned the Kingsbury into a cross between the Southcourt Housing Estate and the Jeremy Kyle show.
What doesn't help is that the Kingsbury doesn't seem to be loved by its owners. If this place was taken over by a hard working couple, willing to put the graft in for the long run, then this place has potential. It's a cracking sized place, a great location in the nicer part of town. Get rid of the scum giving this place a name of shame, and bring back the glory days when we had live bands once a month. In the interim, I'm afraid it's to be avoided at all costs. So therefore, do yourself a favour and take a 2 minute stroll to the Kings Head.
31 Aug 2011 19:00
Establishments like this are now all too commonplace. Take one historic 16th-century pub that is down on its luck, call in the interior designers, rip it to shreds, stick in bright lights, and hey presto, one faceless, soulless modern pub aimed at people who have delusions of grandeur, and who really can�t be bothered to walk an extra hundred yards in search of anything with a bit of charisma. Functional but uninteresting and boring and not a place I can see myself returning to in a hurry. Will it survive the aftershock of the recent global financial crisis? I doubt it!
4 Dec 2008 16:04
Come on board the Rockwood on a Friday and Saturday night as you will find the best seat in town at this venue. I suggest you purchase a bottle of wine, find a chair by a window, then sit back, relax and watch the comings and goings of people at the Victoria Club. Sheer escapism, it is a real life soap opera , you will find all sorts of characters which could be from an Ealing comedy, the loveable rogue, the tart with a heart, the put-upon wife, the selfish skirt-chaser, the fussy widow, the beer-quaffing macho, the stroppy (and prematurely pregnant) teenager... need I go on? However, as midnight approaches� watching this enjoyable farce becomes the worst seat in town, as a considerable number of these characters enter the Rockwood often drunk and dangerous. You then need the services of Steve McQueen to help you plan the �the great escape� as there is only one door out!
4 Dec 2008 16:00
An overly theatrical mad-scientist's lair of a place this one, with an air of the days of the raj added for good measure. As a lifelong local resident, educated in the borough, I can vouch for the fact that the alumni of Aylesbury schools are often not equipped for working in the service industry. The staff here are often witty and quite sharp; however they have little or no knowledge of beer, pubs, or drinking. If you like your pint served with an insult, this is the place for you.
20 Mar 2008 17:04
When one is tired of Aylesbury, one is tired of life. When one is tired of life I recommend you try the Queens Head in Aylesbury which, should one be contemplating suicide, will at least speed the process along. I only visit for the �entertainment�, which can vary from two people demonstrating the fine art of handbags at dawn, to overly theatrical eccentric behaviour. The smoking ban could not have come sooner in this pub, as the main danger was the odd low flying ash tray. Another interesting observation which I have witnessed over recent months is the power struggle between the owners and staff. I feel one day this will result in a scene of carnage.
24 Dec 2007 16:50
When the early Mesopotamians began toying with the idea that continually wandering about the place swearing at livestock was only one of a myriad of lifestyle choices, they were not to know that the early trade and bartering systems they established would eventually lead mankind down the path of soulless global capitalism, where high streets teem with identi-kit chain stores filled with comfy aspirations and mass produced tat. This brings me nicely on to Chicago Rock Caf� Aylesbury. Initially the building’s facade speaks of class and evokes a feeling of upmarket, sophisticated luxuriance in which one could happily while away ones days in an alcoholic fug. On entering the place however, assuming you’ve managed to evade the simian door staff who sit grooming one another in the doorway, it is clear that any charm and character promised therein was never anything more than an illusion. The interior is all IKEA individualism, polished surfaces and generic sports programming. The beer available ranges from the same characterless Australian swill found throughout Aylesbury to the kind of tofu flavoured wheatgrass based ales that evoke the nasal caress of a vegetarian’s fart.
Some of the pubs “positive” features include: generally attractive bar staff, who serve customers with an icy, glacial precision, very much at their own convenience; and a number of interesting eccentrics.
All in all avoid like the plague, which you may well contract if you do go into the place.
3 Nov 2007 18:41
The Buckinghamshire Yeoman, Bedgrove
The venue is a comic story; anyone would think they were staging the world cup with all the flags on display outside. Are they just televising it? This over the top expenditure would be better spent on maintaining the pub, and looking after real customers, as opposed to the en-ger-land beer swilling thugs it is trying to attract. The landlady is nice enough, but she is a �Fag Ash Lil� type. i.e. ignorant smoker. The food is OK, but service times are poor, due to mis-management. Pool table prices are a �rip off�. .
2 Jun 2006 13:06
The place is a grim dive, so how the landlord can justify his beer prices is beyond me. I sometimes have to play pool matches at this location, and if you beat them, you are lucky to get out alive. The main threat is the odd psychopath who may, or may not, need the aid of a drink to turn him lethal.
28 May 2006 17:20
Well what can I say? The place should be renamed �The Creatures of the Night�, if you visit the place on a Friday and Saturday. However, you get a good friendly crowd in there most nights, which frequent the place when a nearby club shuts. The standard of the beer has dropped recently, and the landlord tends to shut the place before the times advertised, when things don�t go his way. Do not expect to build up a rapport with the staff, because they tend to be sacked �at the drop of a hat�. Most of the bouncers are fine; except for one who struts about if he owns the place. If you want an �experience� you must visit this place.
25 Jan 2006 17:04
The Nell Gwynne, Covent Garden
I visited the pub on Saturday the 16th May 2015 but found no sign of the totally mad barman ‘Grotesque Morrissey’ which was detrimental to the running of the pub in my opinion.
The two attractive female staff members seemed to be more interested in conducting social media, and in fact had reserved two stools at the end of the bar by placing beer mats on them – I assume to make their life even more comfortable. Come back ‘Grotesque Morrissey’ and sort the service out, all is forgiven!
20 May 2015 16:42