Champion, Notting Hill

Let's start with the positives about this pub!! They have an excellent choice of beers on tap and in bottle, especially if you enjoy some different foreign beers, eg. Franziskaner Weissbier, Hoegaarden, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Frulli, Schneider Weisse and Coopers Sparkling Ale.

The crowd is friendly and very relaxed and usually is a good 50/50 mix of guys and girls. It's not a pretentious crowd by any means and is very chilled. There is a garden area downstairs which is very nice in the summer, and you can also drink out the front on the pavement which is quite rare in the area. Overall it is a comfortable and welcoming pub that I have been regularly going to for the past 4-5 years since it was done up.

HOWEVER!! The service is constantly abysmal and getting frustratingly worse. Too many of the staff are incompetent. And I am being generous here actually! I honestly cannot think of a worse pub in London when it comes to the slowness of the service. And worst of all, most of the staff have that blind spot in which they never ever seem to know which customer should be served next. Even when the pub is close to empty you can still wait 5-10 minutes to get a drink. In these tough economic times when people are spending less and competition is tough, the staff here seem to think that providing an ever worsening level of service is a good way forward. Sort it out Mitchells & Butlers. Please!!

9 Apr 2009 16:02

The Royal Oak, Royal Oak

This pub has closed down in the past couple of weeks. No idea why. It's simply been boarded up with a note saying it has closed down. With a bit of luck it will be replaced with a decent pub/bar and something a bit different to all the other bland pubs in Bayswater.

25 Apr 2006 18:15

All Bar One, Canary Wharf

This bar is not one for the traditional pub snobs. It's clean, the air is virtually smoke free, there are lots of good looking young women, there is a wide range of foods, and there are more interesting beer choices than just your traditional dull ales and boring lagers.

Beers on tap include Edelweiss, Staropramen, Amstel, Stella Artois, Guinness Extra Cold, Dom Kolsch, Leffe Blonde, Bellevue Kriek and Carlsberg. And there are three new additions this week of Bombardier, Old Speckled Hen and IPA Smooth. It's probably the best selection in the Wharf, and you'll do well to get more choice anywhere else in central London.

For a lunch time beer this place is ideal if you want a well looked after beer and you do not want to go back to the office smelling of smoke. The main draw-back though is that getting served can take quite a while on occasions. The management needs to sort that out as it can be frustrating. In the evenings the place is packed and is probably best avoided if you want a quick pint.

The price of beers might be an extra 20-50p than some other places around, but if you're worried about that then why are you drinking in the Wharf in the first place??!!

Something to keep an eye out for here though that may make some of you very wary, is that I recently saw one of the guys at the bar putting a piece of lime in his pint of Stella!! Must have been one of the Citibank boys I suspect.

19 Apr 2006 14:16