please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Great place to meet up with brethen post lodge. Ales , Otter, Wandle and a couple of others currently £3/pint!! Get into them....!
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Pleasant enough pub always very crowded. Good place to play "Spot the member of a secret society"! Beer quality goodbut not exceptional.
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Can get a bit crowded and seating might prove uncomfortable if you are with friends (or indeed Brethren) straining to speak to them but otherwise a fairly standard kind of West End boozer with a few ales on and traditional decor. It's a little bit expensive but still worth popping in for a pint or two before stepping off (with your left foot) across the road.
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Bit of a worry when reviewing from the tourist perspective and you realise 5 months have passed since your visit; long enough for pubs to close, and brands & prices to vary. Not to mention seasonal variation. Anyway, it was a fine warm late July day when I went to Hercule's Pillars, and I had a pint of Black Sheep (fondly remembered from some Yorkshire pubs). Tasty, and cheapish for this area @ 3.45. A bloke from Cask Marque was doing a tasting inspection, and seemed satisfied. As I was the only paying customer we chatted about beer & stuff, and I learnt that he had seen more of Australia than me. Cask Marque tasting must pay well. Nice pub, nice pint, friendly bar person, value for money.
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Nice looking pub with a decent selection of ales. Had a half of Caledonian 80/- which you don't see too often and a half of Black Sheep bitter. Both in good nick.
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amongst my perversions is the occasional practice of freemasonry, so i'm occasionally dragged in here by the brethren.
however, i chanced in here last night as it was a convenient halfway point to meet a friend. not many lodges were on last night, so i got a chance to scout the place and take in the ambience. viewed when empty, it's not awfully attractive. the decor doesn't quite hit it off with me ... too many mirrors.
they do keep some ales on but the prices are high.
before, and even more so *after* lodge meetings, which tend to end around 7pm, the pillars is inclined to be jammed full of masons and masonic conversations, which aren't likely to be that stimulating for any non-mason, i would judge ... since masonic conversation tends to be like school gossip from a slightly stuffy and very second rank public school in the west mds, where all the pupils forgot to leave and stayed on into their fifties.
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I must say, I've totally changed my mind about this pub.
There's been a change of manager recently and maybe that is the reason for the massive improvement in the quality of their ales.
Yesterday they were serving Trelawny and Bucket of Blood. Both of which I'm sure are from the St Austell Brewery in Cornwall and both of which are quite unusual to find in Central London.
They were both lovely pints, worthy of me giving this pub another chance.
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Decent pub, good ale, but expensive and often full of masons.
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A crying shame. Just found out on my latest crawl that this pub (which used to be good) is actually run by the Belushis outfit. Say no more!! An absolute disaster. Refer to my original review below. Hopefully it may one day, if sold on, get back to being a good gents bar and not just a gents toilet.
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I booked the function room in this pub recenty. The room is a decent size with its own bar. I have to say that the staff were welcoming, attentive - for example the selection of beers, understandably in the function room was limited. This didn't phaze the staff who were willing to go upstairs for whatever was orderd. It is certainly a venue that we will consider using in the future.
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After reading the 2 most recent reviews i approached this pub with trepidation. only to find pleasnt, friendly and helpful staff, a good choice of well kept real ales. I'll be back
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The days of gentlemen coming here have long gone. Its run by a bunch of lazy rude bleery eyed wasters. The decor is shabby and the beer undrinkable. A good bar gone bad in the hands of complete arseholes. Where have the days of the bar manager gone? There is enough shit-holes in the city centre and unfortunately this kind of place just drives you into All-Bar-One's.
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There may be a good selection of ales, but trust me, they are all rotten.
I work next door, so occasionally have to suffer this excuse for a pub from time to time.
Never had a decent pint yet after 2 years.
I also work with Rangers Tel and Afcwomble ... please don't trust anything these 2 lager louts say, as they are Fosters Tops drinkers.
Try The Ship behind Holborn Tube Station just 2 minutes away, where the ale is fantastic. It's a proper pub.
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Good pub with a good selection of beers and Sky Sports. The Stadium Bitter was first class. Food seems cheap though didn't try it. Traditional pub feel and I think you could do far worse in the Covent Garden/Holbron area.
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Really like this pub, a range of Ales on a weekly basis, well kept too.
Not had the food, but looks good value for money.
Can get busy during the day with the Masons making a trip to the Grand Lodge, but all in all a great atmosphere.
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Pat Bateman: Have to disagree with you there. Little bit of curly behind the bar, and its a good place to go with freinds for a few ales! Gets busy from Friday lunchtime with locals and tourist alike! One to try if in the area!
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Bereft of any character or soul.
A simply woeful fake feeling pub playing painfully dull music.
Quite a few better pubs in this area.
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when I say "uniterested foreign girls" - i mean WORKING there - not me chatting them up!!
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Once again - uninterested foreign girls - they appear in all the pubs I go to!
Anyway - nothing special, wouldve been better without the shitty "background" drone that passed for music. �3.90 for a bottle of Leffe. Just had the one.
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Decent single room pub that appears to have had a reasonably recent refurb although not a bad one at all. TVs for the sport watcher and a reasonable beer selection. Better than the nearby George and Newton Arms but not one to make a special effort for.
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I went in the Hercules Pillars on Sat 4th July for a beer and something to eat. The menu is quite appealing with a selection of the usual pub grub, burgers & sausages etc. I ordered a burger for myself and a steak and onion sandwich for my wife and two drinks. The pub was a little dark inside and smelt a bit musty but been in worse I suppose.
When the food arrived t looked quite appetizing and portion sizes were good. However when my wife opened the sandwich to put on some sauce we found that the bread was full of mould. Not just specs of mould, lots of it everywhere, like someone had actually been trying to cultivate it in the back. To be honest it took that long from ordering to the food actually arriving the bread may have been fresh when they started.
Anyway we compliained to the bar staff who shrugged her shoulders and got the manager. His comment was that the "bread was fresh this morning from Sainsburys so we should complain to them". Nice bloke. After some persuasion he agreed to give us our money back but was equally rude as we were leaving.
Now I know that from time to time things happen and you may serve something that isnt up to standard but to stand there and abuse customers who had a genuine complaint is pretty poor.
The only positive I can give them was that the beer was cold.
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Reasonable beer, and staff not too unhelpful. The day I went there was little on the menu except Nachos, as the food delivery hadn't turned up.
I spent an amusing hour watching various punters trying to order food to no avail. Put me in mind of the Monty Python Cheeseshop sketch, if you know what I mean.
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Disinterested staff, flaccid looking burgers and fake marble features. Nice. The beer was ok but there are many better pubs in the area.
chick - 28 Jan 2009 15:32 |
I too agree that RogerB�s description of this pub is spot on. I would also like to add that the barmaid was extremely friendly and that there are 2 plasma screens now. It would have been nice if they had turned them off or muted them when the match had finished as I hate the bellowing sound of adverts ringing in my ears, especially in a pub. Also 4 ales were off during my visit leaving Ruddles Best, Old Speckled Hen and Youngs Special. Also available were San Miguel, Fosters, Amstell and Strongbow.
Not a bad pub to be honest, maybe get there before the square and compasses brigade drinks all the beer.
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Am I the only person who thinks this place always smells of bogs
mrse1 - 19 Sep 2007 12:48 |
"RogerB" has got it just right - see below.
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Beer and prices fine, but the freemasons connection is truly wierd. Wierd.
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Set in a dour and featureless modern office block, the �Pillars� is not particularly inviting from the outside. The interior is a medium size single room bar that probably looks bigger than it is due to the abundance of mirror tiles along the walls. The central area is divided in two by a shoulder length wood and glass screen with brass trimmings that stretches between 2 pillars. The bar is more wood and brass and the floors are part tiled, part wood and part carpet. All in all, the interior is that of a traditional pub that has obviously undergone many refurbishments and I would hazard a guess that there are very few original features. There is a plasma screen, games machine, cigarette machine and a separate function room. Behind the bar, 2 busts of Hercules prop up the ceiling and further busts and murals can be found on the opposite wall. The main reason for anyone to come here are the Real Ales � 7 hand-pumps (6 were on during my visit including 2 guest beers). That said �2.71 for a 3.7% Ruddles Best is probably a bit higher than I would expect in the area. The food menu looks OK and they have a separate sausage menu (7 different types). To summarise, the �Pillars� is a rather plastic pub which is fine if you like sausages with your Real Ales.
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I agree with David, this is a totally different animal to that in Greek Street. This "Pillars" is full of gentlemen of a certain age who look like they may perform dodgy handshakes and wear one trouser leg at half-mast (if you know what I mean). The last time I went there they had something wrong with the drains and it was most unpleasant. The "Mason" type gentlemen seem to enjoy it though (the pub, not the pong)!
Pippa - 28 Jul 2004 16:37 |
Don't confuse this pub with the much better Pillars of Hercules on Greek St!
David - 11 Jun 2004 11:37 |
Excellent pub,
Excellent selection of +5.0a/c fine ales,
Excellent food,
Great for getting totally bloated after being on a totally pointless and dull conference in the hotel opposite.
Hector - 9 Jun 2004 17:04 |
