please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
My penultimate stop of the night in Maidenhead was this branch of Wetherspoon's. The last time I was here, the Greyhound was the town's branch. The Bear is a large place spread over two floors. But they really need more staff. Waiting 10-15 minutes to get served on a Monday evening is really not clever. And why on earth can Wetherspoon's staff never work out who is next, or even ask who is next. I arrived when there was just one other couple at the bar ordering food. By the time they had finished, there were a couple more groups. Naturally, they were all served before me. At least 3 or 4 more groups arrived at the bar and got served before me, with others who had arrived well after me also getting frustrated at the lengthy waits. With just a single barmaid trying to keep everybody happy, it's simply not good enough. Maybe Mr Martin's announcement today that he is taking on more staff can't come soon enough. At the same time, please give them basic training as to how to serve people in turn. For the record, ales were Sharp's Doom Bar, Greene King IPA & Abbot, Lancaster Chestnut Red, Stardust Optic Pale Ale & Kansas Avenue Wise Donkey. Black Dragon was the cider. Unfortunately, my visit was soured by the awful service.
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Whatever happened to 11pints/ArsenalFan36 ? I miss his insightful reviews.
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Another "review" before he's been there! But then he ("Arsenalfan36/Paul36, now 11Pints) IS an "habitué" of the Bear and most of the other 'Spoons of the Thames Valley. Reminds me of why I'm not particularly keen on 'Spoons.
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This weekend on Friday or Saturday evening I might go to the Bear in Maidenhead and when I get there I will have an apple crumble and ice cream and coffee and then I might have a few brandys as I like them they are nice and then I will see if I can have some fun and I like The Bear as it is a very big pub and you can even sit upstairs and I hope I will get to go there at the weekend
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A shame that Wetherspoons Head Office have seen fit to withdraw the CAMRA 20% discount on food
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Today I walked to Maidenhead and when I got there I went to the Bear and I went up to the bar and Sarah served me and I ordered scrambled eggs and pancakes with maple syrup and 1 large Orange juice and I went and sat upstairs while I waited for my food to come and I watched people through the window walking up and down the High Street and I like The Bear as Its a very big pub with lots of tables to choose from and its got a nice staircase and I will return next time I go to the Bear
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Today Thursday 12th May I walked to the Bear and when I got there I went up to the bar and the man served me and I ordered fish and chips and 1 large orange juice and I went and sat at a table by the window and I watched people walk up and down the high street while I had my lunch and the Bear is a very big pub with lots of tables to choose from and you can even sit upstairs and I will return next time I go to the Bear
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Great spoon!
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My first pub of 3 that I wanted to tick in Maidenhead while I was there for a football game.
The Bear is a very good conversion of an old pub by Wetherspoons.
It has a large outside area at the front with tabels and chairs in a roped off area on the cobbles.
The sun was shining so it was very busy inside and out. The service was slightly chaotic but efficient with the manager running around trying to serve everyone (bless him)
9 hand pumps as 1 was out of action which was serving 6 different ales. I opted for a pint of Twickenham Breweries Naked Ladies @ 4.4%, noting that it was 70p dearer a pint here from the Moon and Spoon in Slough, £2.75 here.
Very smart pub, good location and worthy of the walk down the High St to reach it if coming from the station.
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The better of the two Maidenhead 'Spoons. A large pub on two levels with the usually Wetherspoons offers of many beers and much variety of food. It was Curry Thursday so all was well.
An added bonus at The Bear was the amount of local beer on sale, which not all 'Spoons do.
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Spot on ales, still one of the "better" wetherspoons out of the 600+ one has quaffed in,8/10
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A good JDW pub. Good range of beers and food is excellent. Good , helpful staff as well
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Excellent range of good beers, JDW food is JDW food but for the price it is a fine way to spend the evening.
Staff were attentive and pointed out that there was more selection around the corner with four more beers not on the front pumps !!!
Enjoyed an excellent cheeky pint of Abbot waiting for my wife to come into town, must do that more often.
Daughters tell me the upstairs seating is great and the breakfasts are spot on, must try that one Saturday.
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I would disregard any reviews prior to March 2010, as this pub is now very different following the JDW takeover.
The bear over the door remains, but inside is very different. The staff are local as far as one can tell, and this is now a very good place for anything from breakfast to dinner, with or without ales - of which there was a good selection the last times I was in. I now visit here at least weekly.
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A great looking wetherspoons especially the bear sculpture above the entrance.Inside has been refurbed perfectly,sadly I didnt get a chance to go up the spiral staircase and look upstairs as it was closed when visited.We opted for the very cheaply priced �5.59 curry club+pint when here which was served quickly, 8/10
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Like this pub, love the red lights in the bears eyes (ask the managers for info)
beer seems great and they have brewery tours and local beer festivals. This is now my new local and definatly looking forward to the next festival which they have told me is October....
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JDW have done a good job on the refurbishment (but flock wallpaper?).
Some unkind comments about the staff below - they are local, not from the old Eastern Bloc and my experience is that they are well-informed about the variety of beers on offer during the current beer festival. Mind you, the short blondish one needs to try smiling occasionally.
The ales are in good condition and only �1.85 per pint compared to my local a mile away where it's �3.30 for Courage Best.
Some of the customers do look like they've escaped from a local restraining facility (or the Bell).
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Welcome to the new Bear, same as the old Bear. Now has a rather larger selection of beers on sale, including some nice ales. Shame the bar staff have been recruited from the local brain trauma unit.
Big inside though, with lots of seating. A great place to start off for a few cheaper beers.
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'Spoons have done a great job on the refurbishment and sticking in a bar upstairs but oh dear the staff look like they've come from Care in the Community, someone was a bit tight fisted dishing out the brain cells here.
As one would expect par for the course with sharp suited manager complete with unnecessary trojan style Beckham haircut struts about the wrong side of the bar like Nero as Rome burned.
Good beer when you finally get served and decent food as long as the cook looks at the photos, uses his fingers and counts three sausages, not one, onto the plate alongside the chips & beans
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Now a Wetherspoons and planning to become a hotel in the future for a new Wetherspoons this is one of the better ones the big bear on the outside is still there and the pub remains quite as it was before Wetherspoons took over by all accounts
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Pub is closed and rumoured to become a new jd weatherspoon
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my partner and i walked in to the bear and it was very pleasant lovely decoration, so we decided to order some food, my partner ordered chicken pasta and i ordered the english breakfast i was told it would take up to 20 minutes which was fine , 55 minutes later i received my breakfast on looking at it i could not beleive that a cook would send out food in this condition, my sausage had been cooked so many times in the fryer that there was no meat inside and it was solid, mushrooms were cooked so much they all wrinkle up my baked beans were crispy , as you can imagine my dissapointment,so i decided not to wait for my desert, but telling the person in charge my problems with the food and he totally agreed,i was not offered a refund, i woud never recommend the pub for eating and i would never go back.
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You are joking - fizzy lager, no ale, dark and cheesy - nothing to recommend it - walk on past and head for the kebabhouse
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Fantastic pub i want to make this my new home its so great perfect beers at low prices visit asap
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friday and saturday nights excellent music, cheap drink, friendly and strong door staff, head doorman very nice changed dress code to no trainers and search policy with metal detector which you feel safe should be very busy this summer
anonymous - 21 Mar 2006 20:09 |
excellent at the weekend, good music, security staff are very good, bar staff freindly, late licence till 2am excellent.
anonymous - 30 Oct 2005 19:00 |
excellent pub, brilliant when it's business at weekends. Now have a late licence at the weekends-open till 2am from mis october. Drinks are cheap too. Rather than 25ml shots they give you 35ml ones. Hopefully will be busy again!
Louise - 7 Oct 2004 12:45 |
Alright pub for boozing but bit out of the main stream, food isn't that good either especially at the prices!
Steve - 6 Oct 2004 12:17 |
Nice chilled pub. Not too busy but good at weekends. A bit expensive considering its not the mast popular pub in town any more. Often gorgeous girls behind and in front of bar.
Simon - 5 Jul 2004 19:36 |
