please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
I've had a few pints in here recently and the beer has been of a consistently good standard. There is a strong emphasis on food but a distinct and roomy bar area has been retained for those just wanting a drink. Three bitters on offer: Young's best, Brakspear Oxford Gold and a regularly changing guest.
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As I have not ventured into this pub for years, I was very pleasantly suprised by the clean, bright decor, attentive and reasonably efficient staff, decent pint of Youngs, and a Sunday roast for just under a tenner. Admittedly overcooked pork but plenty of it and well tasty. Yes it's a chain but that is a better fate for a pub when considering the rather unpleasant, fighty establishment of old.
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Tomato soup and half a mediterranean chicken were exemplary in this canalside pub a short walk from Hemel Hempstead station just before a gloomy stretch of the Grand Union. Shambolic beer keeping was exposed though - attempts to provide us with Navigation and Oxford Gold fell on stony ground after my partner in crime nabbed the last pint of Youngs. Theme park decor aside from some nice photos of old Hemel. Serviceable if you are content with the typical tenets of modern Britain.
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Having been transformed from a local dive into a lovely canal side pub, M&B must be congratulated.
But as has been noted in previous reviews, with the increase in ambience comes an increase in price.
The emphasis is, perhaps not surprisingly, on food. And although they now charge something close to restaurant prices the food still has a stingy pub feel about it.
Take the Sunday roast for example. It looks great, the veggies are great, but two thin slices of meat leaves you feeling a bit empty.
The beer is good and they do rotate their ales. The venue is clean and has a handy car sized car park, but a downside is that staff tend too focus on food service so at times you can expect to stand at the beer for several minutes before being serviced.
Because M&B have the Harvester just 100 meters away they are have cleverly managed to catch both ends of the market.
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My wife and i spent a day in London and had about five rounds of drinks through the day. we called in at the Fishery on our way home and decided to have one more drink to break the journey home. it was the dearest round i have ever bought.
I had a pint of lager and my wife had 175ml Chardonay total �9.20
I asked how much for each drink and was told �4.10 and �5.10
the pub is in a nice location by the canal and close to the rail station but it does not justify charging such high prices.
the owner of this pub chain is Mitchells & Butler, who also own Harvester among others.
you can get a 175ml glass of chardonay for �2.40 at the Harvester?
who have a pub right next to the railway station.
how can anyone afford almost �10 a round?
I will not return until i hear that their pricing policy has changed
I suggest people vote with their feet and see how quick they see the error of their ways.
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Bland 'country pub and dining' style place. Focus seems to be very much on the food, which I was not interested in. However, I can't complain about the quality of the beer. The selection wasn't extensive or unusual but the Young's bitter (one of three on hand-pump) was very good.
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Went to this pub for a lunch with another couple. Only three ales on draught. Black Sheep, Greene King IPA and Spitfire. A few more would be nice. Very nice decor, very helpful serving staff. Food is good and nicely served. We each chose from the menu that had two courses for �9.95. Very good value. The a la carte menu is (of course) more expensive but still good value for this area. We had an excellent stuffed mushroom to start and strips of beef in a cream sauce with rice as a second course. Very nice, a bit like beef stroganoff.
Only problem was they didn't have enough of two dishes on their cheaper menu available. Our friend couldn't get the same beef dish and one other that he fancied was off as well. My wine glass hadn't been washed properly. So in summary: nice place, very nice staff but management could do with a tweak.
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The Fishery Inn has just re-opened and I have to say it is much improved. The drinks range is better and there are none of the surly, ruddy faced trackie bottom wearing regulars that used to come in.
I went on the opening night, which was a private opening and got a bit worse for wear. There is a great lager there, which is brewed in (I think) Suffolk. 5.2% and with bags of hoppiness. Worth a try (and not a beer I'd seen before), although the �3.90 price might put some off. But, what the hell, people pay �3.20 for Fosters and I'd rather pay for a drink which has a discernable flavour.
Nothing too exciting on the handpumps, but it's still early days. Well, some may find Greene King IPA and Bombadier exciting, but some people watch motorsports...
Oh, the food is pretty good now too, especially the Fish. Which is apt.
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I have had an email so say that this pub is closing. That may be good, but the bad news is that it looks to me as if it is simply being rebranded by M & B to be one of their upmarket "Village Pubs" things.
So, that will bring high prices and pretentious food.
Whatever one thought of the food, this pub did keep a reasonable stock of cask ales and sold it at reasonable prices.. We will see what happens now.
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I was in here last Saturday and can recomend this place if you need a pint
before/after you catch your train.
The Harvester next to the station has no real ale so just walk across the road for a few yards and you will arrive here.
On entering the bar has 3 pumps 2 for London Pride and 1 for Courage Best (@�2.55 a pint) but if you just walk round the corner to the main part of the bar there are another 5 pumps although one was not in use and also another had Pride on as well. The other 3 were made up of Adnams Broadside, Hydes Tightrope and Rudgate Ruby Mild all @ a very reasonable �2.70 a pint.
This is a Ember Inns pub so food is very good value as well. The service was very good with a very polite manager.
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Apart from the piles of fag ends outside, the indifferent service, dirty glasses, mediocre food and horrid lighting it's pretty average.
And M&B are advertising for a new manager so the only way is up!
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And still nothing.. Time to engage the hygiene inspectors I think.
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Still no reply from the Fishery Inn (see my last post 9th Aug!) - so don't bother complaining if you have the misfortune to eat here. Guess it doesn't worry the manager that his staff serve up rotten meat..
The M&B "autoreply" says "Embracing Feedback is to Anticipate the Future!" - The future here is clearly fairly bleak I would imagine..
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I've visited this pub on three occasions now after days out walking by the canal, and whilst the location is lovely and the beer is OK, the food on all three occasions was not. I was with my girlfreind on each occasion, and there was always something wrong, ranging from overcooked and dry chicken, and boiled potatoes that appeared to have been boiled dry as they were black on the outside, to (worst of all) a piece of steak that was sufficiently gone off that it smelt of cow dung when you bit into it. For this, I asked for and was given a refund, but this was prcessed incorrectly as well, leaving me out of pocket for a pepper sauce; hardly the end of the world of course, but all the more annoying when you're going away hungry anyway. As previous posts note, the staff are more interested in their mates at the bar than their customers, hence the slapdash attitude - this perhaps applies to the kitchen staff too (it would be unjust to name somebody who cannot cook, or even tell an off piece of meat a "chef"!)
I've complained to Mitchells and Butlers (Ember Inns owning group) about this, since despite not wanting to on the first 2 occasions in case it was a "bad day" or whatever, 3 bad meals is consistent substandard service), and predictably enough I have recieved no response except for a confirmation email saying that they will be in touch within 7 days (nearly a month ago now) - I find it worrying, as badly cooked potatoes etc are just bad service, and won't hurt anyone, but off meat is getting into the territory of poisening people, and M&B don't even seem to be concerned about it.
So in short, not to be recommended - there is a much better place about half a mile north along the canal if you don't mind the walk, which whilst being more expensive, has better beer, freindlier staff and actually serves up food cooked by somebody in possession of some culinary knowledge!
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WE VISITED THE FISHERY INN TODAY FOR A FAMILY MEAL FOR SEVEN, I MUST STRONGLY DISSAGREE WITH THE PREVIOUS COMMENT. THIS WAS OUR FIRST VISIT AND WE FOUND IT TO BE A VERY FRIENDLY PUB. WE SPOKE TO A COUPLE OF REGULARS WHO SAID THAT THE PUB WAS THIER LOCAL AND SINCE A NEW MANAGEMENT TEAM WAS PUT IN PLACE FOUR WEEKS AGO ALL THINGS HAVE IMPROVED. I CAN SAY THAT THE FISH CHIPS & MUSHY PEAS WERE VERY GOOD ALL OTHER PEOPLE IN OUR PARTY SAID THAT THEIR FOOD WAS ALSO VERY GOOD. THIS PUB ALSO CARRIES GUEST ALES THAT CHANGE EVERY COUPLE OF WEEKS THESE ARE ALSO STRONGLY RECOMMENDED. WE WILL DEFINATELY GO BACK AGAIN AS IT IS TERRIFIC VALUE.
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this is a serious contender for the title of the worst pub in britain.with the rudest staff in the universe... populated by evil rude l morons.. I am sad to have to say this about an Ember inn, they are usually quite pleasant (or I wouldnt have gone in in the first place) its in a nice location but the customers are 80 percent drunken chavs who will start on anyone they dont know for no apparent reason, just because they dont like what your wearing.. the management turn a blind eye to this...
They are extremely disabled unfriendly. and refused to clean a empty table of abandoned glasses in the accessible area. I was actually told to sit somewhere else, which of course was up a flight of stairs. then one of the said chav clientele started on me for daring to ask my table be cleaned before I ate my meal..(which was not even the dish I had paid for I ordered fish and chips and was confronted by gammon steak.) the chav actually threatened to 'sort this disabled bitch out' in front of the server..who sniggered and walked off. needless to say I left the meal and drinks..to the stares of the chavs at the bar.
I shall be phoning mitchels and butlers as soon as they open to complain about this vile venue.
I would suggest anyone passing this venue should keep on going.. or risk getting attacked by the scum of the earth inside..and thats just the staff.
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Every time we have passed this pub, we have said we should call in - Purely because of its location.
Well, we have. Lots of lager on tap and in bottles. For those of us with a more decerning palate there were 2 real beers - Adnams Broadside and London Pride. I was driving so I had the Pride, and very nice it was too, in every way.
The service was OK, but the food? Ember Inns are running a 2 4 1 deal on certain dishes, this actually makes them priced about right.
Would we go back? Unlikely.
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Decent Ember Inns bar, plenty of room and a good canalside location. Friendly staff, decent range of beers and close to Hemel Hempstead train station.
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Nice building and location by the canal, but in the 15 years I have known this pub they have just never gotten it right. Maybe one day.
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This pub and its surroundings are so nice, it is such a shame the custom is a bit crap and the skinny girl thats gone has been replaced by another one who looks like she fell off a broom stick, to say I wouldn't trust her, well I won't say any more. We will have to get glasses and maybe a new interview tech for the manager. Avoid the S girl
anonymous - 15 Jul 2007 20:01 |
just to say that was about 3 weeks ago, maybe it was a bad hair day and the skinny girl was trying too hard because afraid people wouldn't come back
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As you will see I have just moved here and pub research is very important. Done a few and looking forward to doing more. This one, hard to say, would I make it my local?No... why? well being a frequent flyer, so to speak, I love pubs and sorry guys your place just aint it. Coming from the station up the hill home, I would pass it by as I found it to be full of di** heads. My visit there was ok, didn't order food, didn't feel right and the girl who served me was a bit too friendly, skinny girl who seemed to be quiet good at her job but so friendly I felt unconfortable. The pub is in a great setting by the canal, shame it is this one. Saying all this, I will visit it again, cause only been once and first impressions and all.. Sorry guys
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Dude. I think yuppies is a bit strong. why not try young professionals!? I like this pub. first stop after a hard day's slug in good old London town. the beer is easily passable and the food not to bad for the price. great place to start a night of mindless drinking if you've had "one of those days" at work.
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Very nice Pub, very large in here and always filled with yuppys in the summer time.
Nice beer and great food, cant really go wrong with this place.
anonymous - 21 Dec 2006 11:12 |
Only really go in there before heading to the train station to go over to watford but is a decent pub especially in the summer, attracts loads of fit birds in the beer garden. Food is your average pub grub. Good selection of beers.
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great pub for summertime, sitting out by canal, food good atmosphere good and gets lots of lovely ladies in there in summer, rest of year bit pointless unless want pint before or after going to hemel train station
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My experiences at this pub have been mixed: once or twice good, pleasant service; but, a very casual and care-less attitude, three times. So, now, I spend my money elsewhere!
Isn't it all dependent upon the quality of the management? - anywhere?
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Right mixed reviews of reviews below...
This pub is OK; it serves a decent enough pint and has a wide choice of beers, lagers and wines, and the food is actually pretty good as pub grub goes.
As said, it can be very slow at busy times, and I have been party to being overlooked by bar staff in favour of their friends - bit cheeky. On the whole, though, the staff are pretty good.
It's part of the Ember Inns chain, so has that "young professional" feel about it d�cor-wise. That, and the location (right next to the Grand Union Canal and 2 mins walk from Hemel station) make it a bit of a honey pot all year round, which invariably means a good number of "boisterous" characters in attendance. Still, it appeals to all crowds (family meals and gangs of lads alike), so there is something for everyone, if you are happy to put up with your fellow punters.
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I think the fishery is a lovely pub, many good memories there - its always clean and I have loads of respect for the staff cause a lot of thugs frequent it.
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I worked here for quite some time and the staff take a hell of a lot of abuse from the guests that actually go in that place. Especially the scum that a certain licensee allowed in. But hey, i haven't seen the 'Gov'ner' in there for a while?? Has he left, so the place can return to it's beautiful and busy place? And maybe the 'thugs' can follow his footsteps??? As for staff, yeah you do get some drips, but hey, that's the hospitality trade for you! the tricks is to give the people behind the bar a giant smile, make them laugh and they'll be with you as soon as they can. I'd like to see you in their situation?? I hope the Fish returns to the great pub it used to be! Food's OK, The staff try and the beer is getting better! As for the location, it's perfect in the summer!
anonymous - 21 Aug 2005 19:44 |
Clearly some comments have been posted by relatives or friends of the manager which give a slanted view of this pub (come Berni Inn!!) I worked in Hemel for 7 years and used this pub on a regular basis during that period slowly watching it go downhill. Yes I have seen the manager lose it with staff and customers and would suggest he is not customer focused. The service is VERY slow when busy and a couple of extra staff would be handy, but when you eventually receive it the beer is kept well and is good. Food isn't going to set the world alight, but then again it's not a 'restaurant' per se,. All in all, very average.
anonymous - 29 Jul 2005 14:15 |
lulu_laroo what are you chatting about ? lovely boozer, lovely people. great place. dont touch stuff that doesn't belong to you and happy days ! wally...
anonymous - 21 Jun 2005 14:29 |
I have completely changed my mind about this place. DO NOT GO TO THIS PUB. Me & some friends were told to leave and NOT COME BACK - and the reason? becuase we tied a knot in the rope holding up the parasol TO STOP THE CHEAP CRAPPY THING FALLING DOWN AND KNOCKING US ALL OUT! The 'govenor' gave us a huge mouthful of DRUNKEN abuse (I saw all thos stellas's mate) when none of us had done anything wrong. We were all sober, only had 1 drink each. Just don't go there - the manager is a phsycopath.
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I just wanted to say this is the greatest pub in the world I go there so often it's not funny. The service is amazing and the staff is great especially Richard the owner, Clarie the head chef, Hazel, and Mark another chef and my dad :) you rule and so does the fish
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I love this place, perfect on a hot friday evening, sitting in the garden with a nice cold beer! Nice friendly atmosphere.
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Nice location - right on the canal. As a result, get there early if you want a seat in the garden in decent weather! Good selection of beers - and the food is pretty good too (though a little expensive for standard chain-pub-type stuff)
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