please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
England were playing today - in the World Cup, live on TV - and most pubs in the UK were similar. Init?
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£4,65 for some bland lager, what can I say over priced, full of idiots who can't stop shouting and causing a scene, bar staff are more interested in small talk with immature folk. Afraid this doesn't interest me, Kings Head is much better.
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Worse than the Drummond, despite having a beer here. The beer took what seemed like an age to be served. The range of ales is disappointing. Nothing above 4%? Can't even make it a full pint either. Miserable and drab.
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Over £5 for a beer which tasted pretty bad. I'm not thrilled.
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Bad today. Even the cash machine does not work! A bit like the food service! Staff are the most miserable i've come across. Only a week until the Kings Head across the road opens at least.
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Given the recent reviews and issues of the Stoke Pub I decided it was time to try again. For a change there was no unfriendly service at the bar, just a nice lady working there - foreign no doubt but a nice lady. I was assuming i'd be waiting half an hour for a pizza and thus end up walking out rather than complaining as i'm a nice guy. It arrived within 15 minutes and was a very good pizza. I'll give it the thumbs up for now, but would like a bit more real Ale selection in the future.
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Barman seems like a bit of a numpty. The big guy. The beers also taste bad almost always and though they claim to have a good selection, most of the ales are either off or not available. Lacks a class in here, acceptable pub for a quick one and has sports on TV. Pool table is crap and a rip off.
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Totally amatuer staff working here. They don't know who to serve next but the bigger problem is none of the staff can pull a pint, taking about 3-4 minutes to pull a drink, I assume there was a problem with the handpumps but no apologies for the long wait! The beer also tasted pretty terrible. Then you've got the general annoying youngish student like punters who seem to come here, much too loud and immature! It could be good, but currently failing.
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This is Randy Santel (Atlas) With Atlas and Zeus promotion and proud owner of ****** This afternoon I was very very excited as I went the Stoke on this very very sunny Thursday. No coverage of the Masters which was not very exciting but I attempted the ALL YOU COULD EAT FRIES CHALLENGE. I had 10 minutes to complete the challenge but ate all the fries in 9 minutes!! As a result I go up on the wall of fame and get the ALL YOU CAN EAT WINNERS T-SHIRT!
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Doubt it can get any worse now. Only 1 beer was on yesterday, the rest were off! Offered cider because the ales were mostly off. And they will take your order but not serve food.
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Dreadful service. I've never found the staff ever want to serve me. Is it because I don't have the right look? I'm not waiting 5 minutes to get served when the staff are either not behind the bar or are doing some other task like cleaning glasses! The food is unreliable as well!
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I enjoyed the pizza here. I won't comment too much as the staff can be sensitive, but its much better than it used to be. 8 or 9 out of 10.
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Full marks for the range of real ales. About 8 in total but none had a high ABV apart from Boring Abbot Ale. The Monkey Ale was ok, the place seems too attract a fairly young and immature crowd. Not really your typical middle aged real ale drinkers kind of place.
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Definitely a dreadful pub, staff are rude and unpleasant and they will avoid serving you food unless you're a local. They'll take your money though. It even takes them 5-10 minutes to pour a pint. What ashame.
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Totally unacceptable. Waited 30 minutes for a small pizza then walked out. Absolutele joke shit pub never go again
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Another stupid post by Daftbollocks. VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
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The 'Man' refers to himself - not the pub (which most posters think) is more than adequate. Good pizzas and ale, and riff-raff are not served!
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Disgusting pub. Refusing to serve me on purpose lol. Its a disgrace and should be closed down.
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Now probably 1 of my favourites in town. Loads of real ale choice, ones you wont have even heard of. The pizzas are also excellent 10/10
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Moving away from the Surrey Hills and its over-inflated prices, I arrived at a couple of better priced pubs in Guildford. The Stoke is on the outskirts. But that doesn't stop the car park filling up with shoppers. It's a pay and display affair. But it was clear that not all of the owners were in the pub. The Stoke doubles up as a pizza place. But I wouldn't class it as a gastropub. It certainly has a good selection of ales. On Sunday, it was Plain Ales Mayday, Innocence & Sheep Dip, Red Squirrel Hopfest, Slaters Queen Bee, Little Beer Corporation Little S.O.B. & Greene King IPA. On closer inspection, this is part of the Greene King chain. But you wouldn't know. I was hoping for real cider. But none were available. When I asked, the foreign barman offered me Aspalls or Kopparberg. I went for the Mayday instead, which was good. I think this could be my favourite pub in Guildford so far.
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It's okay - the ale was iffy (a local brew) so I had it changed and it was fine. It's a bit run down ish and likes to consider itself a 'community local' meaning there are board games, a toy area for people's offspring etc. fine if you are the type who take your kids to the pub but not my kind of pub.
anonymous - 26 Oct 2014 20:49 |
A couple of unusual real ales on here, so 10 points for originality. There are a couple of pool tables for £1 per game or £2 for games. They are a bit run down though.
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The biggest issue here is the staffing. Its a big venue and gets frequented by groups of people ordering dinners and large rounds of drinks. During peak hours this makes trying to order a pint to take up to 30 mins at a time as the bar staff have to leave the bar to serve the food order. Have they not heard of waitressing it would save them and other customers so much hassle.
Otherwise a lot of care has been taken to put on a variety of events and actvities for the patrons. Quiz nights, local music, poker nights etc are all accomodated and the food despite being restricted to pizza is not bad at all.
The staff are friendly and do make an effort to get to know people which is more than can be said of a lot of pubs in the area!
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Went here last Friday for an engagement party in their function hall
Someone asked for a Chardonnay and got a Carlsberg
Took 30 mins to get bar manned in hall
Utter chaos behind main bar in pub-- asked for Estrella and got Stella!
Vindy - 21 Aug 2012 08:45 |
A cavernous affair that probably serves as an inhabitable local and no doubt does all that modern stuff - quizzes, wasabi peas, woodfire pizza- quite well. A beer garden and the way the light plays off the walls of the interior if sunny also makes it a winner to an extent although it's a 7 out of 10 rather than a higher. A little way from the town centre but probably as good as anywhere the city has to offer.
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Stoke - where pizza express meets a pub....can't comment on the food quality though it looks good....a lively place and certainly one for the young...
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good atmosphere and a good service definitly worth a visit
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Loads of scaffolding outside. not sure whats going on but very much open as usual offers 3d glasses for world cup games.
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Brilliant Pub, and amazing wood fired pizzas!
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Nicely run place. Food is good and also excelent value. Pizza I had was top-notch and ale was well kept and (something of a rarity) was a good temperature aswell. Good place to watch the match and there are a couple of pool tables I noticed. Haven't seen the comedy night but heard really positive reviews. Previous comments true though..men's toilet needs a bit of sparkle. 8/10
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This happens to be one of the best pubs in town. There is something going on most nights of the week at the Stoke.
On Monday nights there is a 2 for 1 pizza offer. While once a month on Wednesdays some of the best comedians shall be performing.
Beer on offer tends to be London Pride and Old Speckled Hen, with guest ales also frequently available.
Only gripe would be the gentlemen's room which has seen better days. Used to be a pub quiz on a Tuesday but not running anymore.
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good pub solid service
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Pretty good most of the time.
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Gd live comedy sometimes unless its Hursty. ale is ok
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Does a rather disappointing pub quiz on the Tuesday but a good pub for Real Ale and a Game of Pool nontheless.
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They have a proper pizza oven which produces good fare. Ales good. Sport on TV. Large function room which hosts all sorts of things - salsa, church, comedy etc. One gripe - the blokes toilets in the function room are awful (toilet seats don't stay up and cracked; no urinals)
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Visited last Friday lunchtime and had a tasty guest ale that I can't seem to remember the name of, plus an excellent burger. The food here is great pub fare, well priced and home cooked. Staff were friendly too. I will be going back again.
Picked up a flyer advertising comedy nights here. Got some big names booked - Lee Mack being one. Got to be worth a visit.
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Great pub with ever changing guest ales and welcoming to all ages.
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Had a nice pint of Polar Bear. Good beer, decent all round, just lacks a little something but not sure what.
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Have my old smelly toothbrush Beersupper, yes you can try doing that in the driving rain as well...!!
This is a good pub and does have some good ales on a lucky day. Nothing wrong with this 1 at all.
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Fills a gap, but personally i would rather sweep the A3 with a toothbrush than drink in here.
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Great pub. Me and my husband had our wedding reception at the forum and every thing went perfect. Great food and the staff were lovely too which really made our day. Every one had a fab time and i would definitely reccommend the pub as a favourite!!!
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Hello
A recent visit here was worthwhile. The local beer was Hop, indeed it was rather hoppy - yet quite nice.
Confusing as to why they were showing The Weakest Link with the sound turned down! Perhaps it was because the Olympics had changed channels...
On another note the food menu has changed but they do a Pizza/Drinks offer, so some people may wish to take this up.
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Again not a bad place but not good either!, can have quite a rowdy atmosphere and does provide a small selection of ales but if you going somewhere for a decent pint then definatley better off across the road at the kings head, it is dearer but the quality shows
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Lovely pub.
It has a nice range of seating/tables and a lively but relaxed atmosphere. Drinks are very reasonably priced (for Guildford) and there are always a few real ales on. Notably, a V.S.O.P Covoursier is less than �3 (�2.70 I believe).
The pizzas are decent and also sensibly priced, but some of the bar snacks are a bit steep. �1.20 for a bag of crisps? They may be Tyrrel's but come on.
There is a good mix of customers and age ranges which is nice to see, and the mentioned DJ nights happen in the function room rather than the pub itself. Anyway Mr 'Reasonable', since when has the presence of a DJ been associated with 'yobbish culture'?
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Definitely improved from its days as Finnegan's Wake back in 2000, when I used to work near here! Recently upmarket effort although the clientele on a Saturday night was, it must be said, loud and raucous. Couple of real ales in evidence and I had a reasonable pint of TT Landlord. The food menu looked fairly nice. The King's Head over the road means this is a good spot to stop for a couple of ales.
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Now a pub which holds live comedy, but book tickets a good deal of time in advance as it can get sold out.
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What has happened to the great british quiz??? - we went last night for the 2nd time and again the same thing happened - we couldn't hear the quiz master and most of the teams had 5 mobile phones/blackberrys etc between them to look at the internet contact friends etc to find the answers!!
What ever happened to just having fun - I don't think the winners are going to be rich (�25 for a team of 8) - even those who answered the jackpot question correctly cheated and were even way beyond the 60secs given to hand in their answer sheet
Very disappointed and won't be back for the quiz!!
The pizza's are good though!
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An interesting night down at the Stoke. Watch out for the barmaids, there is a certain one who may take your money and not serve you! But not to panic, this was soon sorted out.
The pub quiz is still running with a different question master, but there is so much noise elsewhere it does not seem to be a massive event. You can always drinks a few real ales here in the meantime though, the Deuchars IPA was on but it tastes exactly the same as John Smiths cold!
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Thanks for the clearing up the disappearing bottle mystery. As for me, Westminster, Yes. Civil Servant, certainly not!
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Yep Roger, you interpreted it wrongly! Civil servant working in Westminster/Victoria way by any chance, ha ha?! I was watching the FA Cup final having put my half full bottle down and the next thing I knew it had been removed. Should have been clearer in my review. See you around Victoria!?!
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A fairly expansive pub that doubles up as a pizzeria with an open pizza oven situated at one end of the lengthy bar. The interior is fairly plain but stylishly modern and aesthetically trendy without being pretentious or snobby. There is a mix of seating styles from high stools at ledges to sofas and padded cube seats. 3 well placed plasma screens and a big screen used predominantly for sport plus a separate pool area with 2 tables and a couple of fruit / quiz machines. Live acoustic music nights advertised as wellas the quiz evenings. 4 Ales usually available although one was off on my visit (Deuchars, Youngs and Landlord were the other 3). The staff were friendly and the customer base seemed to be fairly sensible types. There are plenty of outside tables for the smokers, sun lovers and rain worshipers and a separate function room is also available. As far as the pizza�s go, they are reasonably priced and there a few interesting toppings so if a pizza and a pint are your thing, this place should be right up your street.
NB re previous poster, I may have interpreted it wrongly but I can�t believe that someone can leave a pub to have a drink elsewhere and then moan that their drink has been cleared away when they come back!
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I initially came here with a few friends to watch the FA Cup final (19 May) around 2.30. It was absolutely heaving and I only saw 2 plasma screens in the whole boozer. I was first to arrive and had a pint of coke at �2.05 given I had to pick up my girlfriend in the car later. Inevitably it took a while to be served. When the others turned up, we did manage to find some standing space to the left of one of the screens near the oven and toilets. Yet given our location (by the oven) and how packed it was, we were quite hot!
Thought it was interesting how there was a prominent "smoking is prohibited" sign on one of the pillars near where we were standing and a couple of people were still blatantly smoking right in front of it. What would happen come 1 July? Would there be a premium rate number that you could phone up and grass people up on??
We left shortly before half time to meet other friends in the Kings Head. Despite driving later, I was brought a Bulmers by my mate, but when I put the half full bottle down this was picked up and taken away presumably by the bar staff. Carelessness costs I guess and if I wanted another one, I was told by staff i would of had to buy it! Anyway, I would probably go elsewhere to watch a popular televised football match in future on first impressions.
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When I was in England, after work i�d to go there to have a pint of Stella, nice people, food is great and the staff are so helpful and make you fell confortable. Good Work Guys
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The only pub with "real Italian" style pizza. Delicous.
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With regard to the comment by "Aleman" we have a new quizmaster now, come down bro and check him out.
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Always a good place to go. Just best not to bother with the Tuesday quiz here
anonymous - 18 Nov 2006 14:48 |
Another great Guildford pub. Been in there a couple of times. The beer (Young's, London Pride, Greene King IPA) is very good and the pizzas are superb. 2 for 1 on big thin-crust pizzas on Monday night is the bargain of the week.
I like the segregation in the pub - smoking, pool tables and wendyball on the TV in one part; subdued lighting, big settees and no smoking in the other.
The pub quiz is good fun on a Tuesday night too.
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Stopped into this pub by chance on my way through Guildford yesterday as this was the only pub we could find with a car park. Was very impressed. The pub was busy but the service was very good and the staff knew what they were doing. Had two pizzas which were excellent and we will definately be back.
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A good pub but I am still dismayed by the fraudulent nature of this pub's event advertising policy. Being a big fan of both Bullseye and Seseme Street imagine my exitement to find both Jim Bowen and Elmo billed to appear at their acoustic evening. However to my extereme annoyance and bitter dissapointment, neither was to be seen on the night. Would have given this pub 10 otherwise because of the excellent coving and period features.
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im not a pizza lover,its one of the last things i will eat......but at the stoke they are brill...the best just right yum yum makes me want one now.shame iv had a few dodgy kronenbourg i now stick to cider when im in there.allso a few beer fly's.and if you are sitting at the top(before the pool tables)its quite dark.all in all dont mind popping in now and again,especially for a pizza
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The pizzas are great but the pasta dishes are not good - pizzas are freshly made but the pasta comes out of packets. Cocktails are nice, the beer's ok. Service speed is variable. Non-smoking area is tiny and sandwiched between 2 smoking areas.
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I know what you mean Sally, I hear his rendition of American Pie is the best in all the Surrey Hills. There's something about that cross of Joe 90 and Will from TFI Friday that is just sooo irrestistable!
anonymous - 6 Dec 2004 20:44 |
Saw a guy perform live there a couple of weeks back. Todo Ostritch I think his name was. He did a good set and I've become a bit of a secret admirer
Sally - 15 Nov 2004 20:48 |
The quiz here isnt all that well organised. It is very poor compared to the one at the George Abbot. It was very unclear its marking scheme. Plus the questions go incredibly slowly.
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This is a quality pub. The new look pool tables are interesting. Nearly always get a good pint here and quality pizza's as well/
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the pizzas are better than pizza express and the bar service is friendly and quick. the atmosphere is great and buzzing which is probably why the pub has proved so successful. not sure which pub mortonian is talking about?!
gavin - 8 Apr 2004 13:09 |
Situated across the street from the more authentic Kings Head, the Stoke's interior is best described as a "interesting" blend of the coffee shop from the TV series Friends and any Habitat store. This lends it a somewhat unpub like atmosphere but is comfortable non the less particularly if it is possible to hog the leather sofas by the fireplace.
That said it really fails to deliver on the bistro pub atmosphere it is clearly hoping to achieve.
For one thing it has the slowest bar service in Guildford (pleasant though the staff are) and traffic jams regularly occur and the bar.
Secondly, the aforementioned pizza supply service is hampered by limited cooking capacity and as Jaz has indicated it is not unsual to be expected to wait over an hour for a simple thin crust pizza similar to those supplied in Pizza Express.
My advice - best visited mid-week when it is less busy and they are more able to deliver on their intent!
Mortonian - 31 Mar 2004 11:49 |
Pizza's are not the best to say the least, and after waiting 1 1/2 hours for it I expected better. Upon complaining I was told that was about the right time to wait!!!
jas the case - 11 Feb 2004 19:57 |
Must agree about the pizzas - tasty and large and cheap. I hope they will be serving them when the Comedy Club starts up at this pub on Friday 16th January. Its apparently being run by the guys who run The Bearcat Club up in The Turks Head in Twickenham for 20 years. They get some very good acts. Can only be good for The Stoke and Guildford.
james - 17 Dec 2003 08:31 |
nobody under 18 allowed so cuts out a family dinner. No dogs allowed. Very heavy glasses - difficult to hold. Nice posh relatives living room. Strange crowd of regulars.
anon. - 14 Jul 2003 08:21 |
great food, love the cocktails, special offers on all week.
anonymous - 5 Jun 2003 09:52 |
Nice pub. Decent beers and smart comfy interior. When you order food you get a werid flashing disc for your table that buzz's when your food's ready to collect!
Angus - 30 Apr 2003 13:53 |
Nice pub. Food is a bit hit and miss though. Good for watching sports if you don't like the typical smokey boozer.
Jez - 28 Apr 2003 20:26 |
tastefully furnished but like Anne said, it is like you're in someones living room! However, the food (specialises in italian pizzas and pasta) is really delicious and good value (very much like Pizza Express food but the portions are much bigger!)
helen - 14 Feb 2003 10:13 |
has reopened now as the stoke. far more upmarket than finnegans wake was. they've had enough sense to keep one of the pool tables at least, but you do feel more like you're in some posh relative's living room than a proper pub. we'll have to wait and see what kind of regulars it ends up attracting.
anne - 5 Nov 2002 10:43 |
currently closed for refurbishment
anne - 30 Sep 2002 09:46 |
