Bitter End, Romfordback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Permanently closed.
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No change! Closed down, no lights on, no sign of a new owner... 0/10
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The Bitter End has been shut for at least 3 months.
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I can remember drinking pints of snakebite in here, underage, and thinking it was possibly the coolest pub ever. Oh how times have changed!
The only 'alternative' pub in Romford a few years back made it a popular haunt for those on their way to Edge/Opium. You couldn't move in there for indie, gothic and punk kids. However, rude security, rude barstaff and overpriced drinks (the wine tastes like dust) brought this pub down as quickly as it went up.
Walked past it the other night, was there was one old man nursing a pint. On a SATURDAY.
Shame.
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I have loved this venue since I was able to get away with being served here in the mid -late 90's. It used to have a brilliant rock, punk and alternative vibe and a decent customer age mix.
However over the years people have walked away from this place due to chronically bad management, extortionate booze prices, and more recently, entry fees!
If you read through the previous posts the theme of the managers and staff being horrifically rude and discourteous to customers reigns supreme. It is utterly true.
Whichever Brewery owns this pub badly need to replace Andrea and Ray (the laughable 'management') as they simply do not have a clue, and clearly do not want to be there. Ray hides away upstairs and is rarely seen, and Andrea (the woman on the door as has been mentioned in other posts) is dour, miserable, negative, sour and bitchy. She also loves to tell off and berate customers like an old schoolmistress�and is not afraid over coming over to your table to do so - clearly she is in the wrong line of work! Showing such contempt openly has been a silver bullet for the majority of the regulars.
The price of the cheapest lager here is �3.20. Every pub in the area (the Golden Lion or The Bull) is considerably cheaper as well as cleaner and friendlier to boot! The quality of the beers here is also terrible. I have never heard about the taps or pipes being cleaned, and as there are so few customers the beer is stale and smells faintly of bad eggs...!
A pub which is failing as badly as this one needs to make sure that customers need to come back. Apart from maybe two or three die-hard regulars, the rest of the clientele are transient business who have one drink and will never return. The desertion of the business has led to people being rudely asked to leave way before 11pm, as Andrea has decided to �shut early�.
The juke box is good (The Sun, The Bull and The Golden Lion have exactly the same one though!) but made redundant by the bar staff lowering the volume so you cannot hear it, or depending on the time of night, turned off completely with little regard for how many songs people have paid for and yet to listen to. Simply put, if you want a jukebox and pool table go to The Bull 30 seconds walk away.
It should also be worth mentioning that there are no televisions in this venue so there is no scope for any sport being shown. Once again, go to The Bull or even The Lamb for this!
Simply put, if you walk into this place you will want to leave immediately. Everything about it is not what you would want in a pub. Being made to feel unwelcome by the staff, having to pay lots of money for appalling quality alcohol, and having to suffer terrible bands (they now advertise for groups as they are struggling to find anyone who wants to play to an empty room) is more than unreasonable.
This old dog might still have some life in it, but the owners will need to be shot!
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The staff in this pub are rude beyond words. Customers are treated with utter contempt and spoken to like dirt. Their ID policy is laughably ridiculous, I have seen them ID and refuse entry to people who are quite clearly in their late 20s or early thirties and speak to them in a disgustingly rude and aggressive manner in the process.
The beer is unbelievably disgusting and badly kept.
The acoustics for live performances are unbearable.
Without any doubt one of the worst pubs I have ever entered in my life. Avoid at all costs, unless you enjoy drinking gone off beer and being spoken to like you are the scum of the earth.
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This pub is now being run by new management, and unfortunately they are running the place into the ground, due to the over the top and beyond ridiculous door policy, disgraceful way they treat their visitors/bands.
I recently attended a gig that the Bitter End was putting on, I was with one of the bands and
whilst about to walk in with the band's merch, I was asked for ID. A little surprising to me, as I'm in my mid 30s. I dug out my driving license (I am unfortunately so old, it is a paper driving license as the photo version didn't exist when I passed my test).
The Bitter End's website says that they are a over 18 venue and you need a passport or Driving License but the female manager on the door, refused point blank to accept it despite the fact that it is a legal proof of ID and what their website says.
I have never in my life been spoken to in such a vile and disgusting manner as in the way she spoke to me. I was completely lost for words by this reaction and was really upset.
I can understand the need to have a door policy, but this was unreal! After a heated discussion with the band, management and myself, I was told (after my credit card and driving license had been scrutinised) in a threatening manner that "I will let you in, but if I see you touch a drop of alcohol I will come and throw you out in the street!"
But then later in the evening one of my friends turned up she asked them for ID, he didn't have ANYTHING, but she let him in and let him drink.
The management issue is such a shame as the bar staff are friendly (soda and lime only 75p as that's all I got to drink that night) and the venue is a good size for gigs. There are fewer and fewer decent music venues in London and the surrounding areas, so it's sad that what could be a great venue is being ruined in this manner.
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I love this pub because of the live bands and friendly crowd. It may seem a bit shabby inside but at least it is not one of those artificial pub chains lacking identity.
Drinks are quite expensive but it is worth the ambience. Also the bar staff like talking to customers.
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The acoustics are shite and has gone Indie as there seems to be money in it.
Shame
prime - 22 Jul 2008 15:09 |
Thanks to the owner wanting to lose money there will be a massive lack of metal nights now happening at this venue.
Which is kind of strange seeing as every time they had a heavy metal orientated live band night the pub was absolutly rammed, seriously, you couldnt fall over if you tired it was that busy.
Pity the pool tables havent been replaced with the refurb and the cues might as well still have branches on them but meh, im still beating my mates.
The old crowd seems to have vanished forever and this place is overrun by children on their way to pacific edge.
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Considering you get mainly grungers in there they were all so welcoming. Staff was great lovely bunch of people. Not my taste but would be for others x
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what time does this joint close...we wanna go out drinking and we hope they don't close before the buses start running...i hate ending up in coffee shops...
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Apart from the bull i am in here alot more than i used to.. The gigs aside which i skip because of the price hike on the booze, its a decent pub and metal played is good..
Also, the fact that the guys booking the bands have ambitions for more than local bands ( they are after Napalm Death) shows ambition to be more than the usual metal pub..
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This pub is good again nice. used to love going there back in my college days about 4 years ago, when it was ford and firkin, then it went kind of crap after a while. but they've really picked the place up again.
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Having found out this pub is back to its former name of the Bitter End I just had to pay it a visit and see how things have changed. I'm glad to say its looking good, serving well and with friendly staff.
I've noted that some have suggested they get evil stares. Lets address this - Romford is full of pubs where there's so much trouble its a rarity to find a pub without a number of doormen. The Bitter End has been a pub that's attracted alternative tastes in music for a number of years and yet rarely has there been a need for doormen. If ppl are experiencing stares its probably because the regulars don't want to see the pub descend into the Romford experience and certainly not as a threat. Spare a thought for the reaction they get in other pubs!
The duke box is fantastic, a great mixture of indie, rock, metal, punk etc. You'll find Hendrix, Clash, Ramones, Metallica, Killers, Free, Franz and more. The bar staff were very attentitive and were having great fun between themselves and the customers - something I noted definitely improved sales of shots.
In summary, its great to be back.
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Some decent live music but still much more expensive than the goose for what i want to drink. Not as packed as before. Still same old crap outside bit and still quite a few grungers dishing out evil looks.
sctyc - 22 Sep 2006 13:16 |
Now called The Bitter End
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went here a while ago and like the previous comment nothing much has changed , still a reasonable drinking hole , quite cheap very cheerful and only a few grungers but hey nobodys perfect
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this was always the 'grunger' pub when we first went there, and we always received many evil stares and comments about being too 'trendy' to go there.
it was a nice pub though where u could usually get a seat, and reasonably priced beers.
i went here again for the first time in a couple of years several weeks back, and it was still the same pretty much, not as busy as it used to be, but still good prices, and seats available.
not sure if this is still the 'grunger' hangout of old, but it didnt appear to be.
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I also remember this pub with fond memories, games, atmosphere and a great selection of ales whilst it was run by landlord Terry. The pub was frequented by who didnt conform to dress codes but who had independent minds, dress sense and a broader taste in their cherrished pint. The "grungers", students and CAMRA chappies are today's version of that and I applaud the fact they've found such a great home where they don't have to put up with the manufactured pop that so many other pubs churn out.
The pub has had many names over the years that have been synominous with agro but for a long time now its held the name Ford and Firkin providing an oasis within the plethora of trendy bars within Romford. The only pub that comes close is the Golden Lion across the road where I spent many a night flouting my spiked hair with other like-minded drinkers.
I guess its about time I visited both again.
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Romford's obligatory Firkin used to be a winner thanks to a combination of cheap beer, fusball, pool, jenga, more than sufficient seating and projection-screen telly - it was the multi-purpose watering hole with facilities for every occasion. Much enjoyed was the 'pound a pint' offer on Monday and Tuesday evenings while unemployed. Some people I know may have been responsible for the theft of nigh-on all the four-pint jugs during that period - a vicious irony in that if the beer wasn't so cheap, they may not have done such silly things.
However, while I'm not one to stand in the way of progress, I can never forgive the owners for the tarty, wine bar makeover it was given some years ago; yes it looked lighter, yes it looked more welcoming to outsiders, but to me they had stripped away the heart and the soul of that pub leaving me with nothing but memories to cherish and blurry ones at that. Saying that, this is still the venue of choice for international football matches, which is probably linked to the fact I saw Beckham score that fateful injury-time free kick against Greece that put us into the world cup finals whenever it was.
Too many grungers in there though.
duffy - 10 Feb 2006 15:41 |
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