please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
This pub is now under new management, has changed its name to the Ambleside Tavern and is a world away from what it was before. We went in to watch the footy and rather than having to slum it in the place as it once was, the pub has been refurbished, there is a great choice of ales and the food looked pretty good the other punters were consuming. It's now a place to visit rather than to avoid.
|
I don't go here for the pub but for the downstairs disco, which is awesome. I've seen no evidence at all of any anti-tourist sentiment - they've also always been friendly and polite to me despite obviously being a southerner. Not everyone who goes to Ambleside wants to be in bed at 10pm with their Wainwright guidebook and a Horlicks so well done this place for giving us an option. Clarke's law states that the amount of fun you have in a nightclub is inversely proportional to the cleanliness of the toilets, and yes these are usually filthy. Beer is no more expensive than the rest of Ambleside.
|
Further to my comments below, I would avoid this place as a pub - it's not the best putting it mildly. If however you want a late bar open 'til 2am it's the only place that's open this late. We called into the late bar back in July as we were already bladdered and fancied some more booze and it was ok, but have to agree with the Star Wars comments below! The hotel bars do stay open later, but for a tourist destination the whole of Ambleside is pretty strict.
|
Recently visited this pub (aug 2010) and think they have 2 prices, one for locals, one for tourists. Paid �11 for 2 drinks costing �7-50 in Manchester. Saturday night had a guy singing, who was quite good (hence the rating). Later went "downstairs" to the disco/function room. A very Strange experience and if anyone has seen Star Wars, it must have been filmed here. In the gents, someone had filled the wash basin with vomit, and someone said it had been there from the previous night.
If you want a classy night out, this is not the place to go. Several other pubs in the area, which serve good beer, resonably priced and are friendly.
|
Been in a few times. It's ok but not my first port of call.
Never particularly had any problem with the place but that maybe because I was in early and moved on.
Disco downstairs if anyone should need one.:)
|
I go to Ambleside regularly and this place isn't on my agenda, other than for the late bar / club downstairs if I've got the energy for it. I've no particular comments to make, but I don't like it, so that's that.
|
These two comments re: being kicked out of The Sportsman - I was getting deja vu! Exactly the same thing happened to us recently. After making sure we had all paid to get into the 'nightclub' in the basement of this pub, one of us was then asked to leave by the bouncer on the basis of some similarly flimsy excuse. Classy. They then proceeded to let in a young man with suspiciously large pupils who could barely stand, as they asked the 6 of us, 30-something professionals (again like anonymous's posting, all married) not from Ambleside, to leave as we were 'not welcome'. We asked to speak to the Manager who refused to come out! I agree with the comments posted that this seemed to be directed at us because we weren't locals, we were referred to as 'f***king tourists' and told to 'f*** off her premises' by the Manager when she did finally appear! Nice. Stooping to this level and swearing at customers is seriously unprofessional and slightly weird. We had a much nicer evening the next day at Lucy4 - try this instead for a lovely atmosphere, unless you don't mind abuse and discrimination for not being from the local area.
|
Im glad we gave this pub a try before reading posts on here! Lovely friendly atmosphere great staff good home cooked food and great evening entertainment (singer/comedian). Yes there may be doormen on the door but they were very polite and friendly and we watched them politely ask people to leave who were very aggressive towards them and they still stayed calm. We will definetley be going back when we visit the lakes in a couple of weeks as for the unicorn round the corner BORING
|
we were on a quiet birthday weekend when we stumbled on this pub. We had been for a meal and we spent about one and a half hours in there. We were tipsy but not being rowdy and we decided to go down to the nightclub. My sister and I went to the bathroom first whilst our husbands went to the cash machine. I had a cold so was blowing my nose with a member of staff present in the toilet. She left the toilet and as girls do we were having a natter. We left the toilet and as we were preparing to go downstairs the landlady came marching over and told us she didn't want us in HER pub. she was accusing us of taking cocaine in the toilet!! We very genuinely were NOT but she wouldn't listen to us and quite aggresively asked us to leave. We were extremely shocked and hadnt a clue what she was on about. She said there was cocaine all over the toilet and we were the only women to have gone in but there were other women in the pub and we had just been in the bathroom and as far as i know there wasn't anything i could remember all over the toilet. This was a lie and I suspect she didnt like us because we weren't loals although I am only guessing at the motives. The pub didn't have a nice stmosphere anyway as we felt like we had been stared at all night. We are no way unusual looking, we are all in our 30's with children so this has annoyed and insulted us. I cannot express enough that we ere doing NOTHING wrong other than try to have a good time and this pub tried to spoil it for their own reasons. Thankfully we went to one round the corner that was lovely so all was well in the end. My advice is to watch your backs if you go to this pub and don't enjoy yourself too much or they might just accuse you of something you havent done.
|
Anon....How could you have not noticed the nature of this sh*thole of a pub earlier?
There is one of the best pubs in the lake district within 200 yards (The Golden Rule) and you chose to spend all night in this dive.
Grow up! Go to a grown up's pub.
|
We visited the Sportsman Inn at the weekend as we were in Ambleside to support a friend who was swimming the full length of lake Windermere (10.5 miles). Unfortunately a combination of the gruelling swim followed by a large meal made him ill. Although we were not drunk or rowdy he was sick in the toilet and we were asked to leave. That in itself we cannot complain about since the management are well within their rights to ask anybody to leave at any time for any reason and they were not really to know that he hadn't been drinking.
However, when we attempted to explain why he was ill we were told in no uncertain terms that if we didn't disappear immediately we would be "filled in!" We are not drunken teenagers we are a mixed group of people in our mid 30's and most are married with children. We were physically threatened outside the pub by door staff which is not only totally unacceptable but is illegal.
Unfortunately the Sportsman Inn is the only place in Ambleside which is open late so my advice is to go out a little bit earlier, go home when the pubs close and avoid the Sportsman like the plague! It isn't actually any good anyway - it's pretty dingy and dirty and the music belongs in a school disco. Sometimes that can be fun but I draw the line at women being threatened with physical violence by door staff.
anonymous - 3 Sep 2007 14:57 |
Warm, friendly welcome in the Sportsman Inn, great for getting away from teh cold February weather. Good atmosphere and fantastic food. Chilli, with potato wedges and garlic bread is highly recommended from the menu!
anonymous - 6 Feb 2005 16:44 |
