please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Now as mentioned below the Blacksmith & Toffeemaker. describes itself as a vegan pub. Basically a second rate hipsters dive. Three handpumps but no ales so it's all keg and no unusual kegs (apart from Lagunitas). Overpriced pretentious hole - a scull up and move on kind of place.
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Renamed 'The Blacksmith and The Toffeemaker'
Not yet visited so no rating given.
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Hello all,
My name is Matt, along with my friend Marc Dalla-Riva, I have taken over management at the Boadicea since the beginning of September 2011
All your comments are quite illuminating (and on the most part alarming!) about how business was being conducted by the previous tenant. While I'm not going to pretend that we are perfect by a long way but many people have commented on the marked overall improvement of the pub.
We have instated a brilliant full time head chef who cooks everything from fresh - no more crappy frozen food! We have a small range of classic british comfort food at very reasonable prices (most mains are �9. We also do a cracking roast beef and Yorkshires every Sunday.
The pricing is largely the same but we have a much broader range of single malts, gins and artisan british vodkas on offer. We have a new motown night on a wednesday, a 50s rock n roll night on a thursday and DJs spinning party hits til the wee hours every friday!
Please do give us a try and I know you won't be disappointed!
Best,
Matt
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I was scammed and the staff were rude about it.
Beer tasted like the lines hadn't been cleaned for a while, our food took ages and then what turned up was appalling with a bowl of chips missing. I was then short changed by the bartender who was extremely rude when I asked about it and said "I don't do that, i always give the right change", lucky they found the only barman never to make a mistake with change. After this the manageress said she would crash the till and check the CCTV and call me in an hour. 1 and a half hours later I returned because I had not been called and the same manageress said "I'm very busy, it is a Friday you know" and went on to explain the other manager will be here soon as he needs to check the CCTV while I crash the till" fair enough but a direct contradiction to what she had said earlier. She told me "we aren't trying to rip you off" and "we'll call you by 5 o'clock" it is now 3 weeks later and still nothing. One of the worst pubs I've been in and being a bartender I have been to a lot.
I would recommend avoiding this place at all costs.
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Your not the only one balticstar - I had lunch there about 4 weeks ago and also suffered from montezuma's revenge! We also complained and was given the angry defence from the aggressive so-called manageress. Obviously there to get as much money as they can from the local students who probably think they are suffering from a hangover and not food poisoning.
AVOID THE FOOD
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Went for a 30th last weekend in the very dark back area of the pub - it was nice enough but a few of us got really terrible food poisoning! The pub management got extremely angry and defensive when we rang them on the Tuesday (when we'd all finally recovered) to give them the heads up about their suspiciously pink chicken satay skewers... (hard to spot that in the dim light of the pub interior...) so for that reason I am really not impressed by them. Their wine is average, their drinks are average , and the food is best avoided. Unless you want to spend your day after hugging a toilet bowl! And no, I wasn't drunk, I'm 6 months pregnant so wasn't drinking!!! My sister and sister in law all suffered the same fate. So I think, not a coincidence... anyway!
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A great bar/pub. Awesome cocktail selection. Well priced (kind of upper-middle pricing-�7 for a Martini, �3.30 for a pint) and a good atmosphere. Inside is deliberately low-lit, giving quite a serious atmosphere if you are just there for a coffee. It's probably ideal for a first date, certainly a strong menu following a refurb. It remains one of my favourites, and worth going out of the way for.
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A good local just between Clerkenwell and Angel. Pretty good atmosphere, and decent beers.
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Great pub. Brilliant location, good beer and wine choice, decent food. Good party room and very helpful staff if you need to organise a big group somewhere.
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This pub is a disgrace. The bar staff and the security staff are ignorant and rude. We were smoking outside and were told that we had to go inside in 5 minutes, which we did, but not before the staff had taken my friend's drink away (from which he had only taken a sip). They then refused to replace the drink and were very argumentative, saying that we had just 'made it up'. The drinks are overpriced and underpoured, and the staff are quite happy to bump you out of an area where you have been drinking for hours in favour of 'a prior booking', even in cases where the 'booking' doesn't turn up!
My friends and I have spent too long (and too much money) frequenting this pub. I won't be back.
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Great pub has a bohemian kind of style. Lots of fun great for meeting Students as City University is next door. If you want relaxed this is a great venue. A bit pricy, but still good fun.
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I came here for the pub quiz last week and it was being hosted by Spider from Coronation Street! Apparently he'd just got back from making a film with Daniel Craig...
Great little place, this, by the way. Lovely vibe, good staff, nice mix of punters. We were in a cosy little back room, decked out in a kind of colonial/fin de siecle decadence, working our way through a very well chosen wine list. Perhaps the beer selection isn't the most enticing but there are so many other things to appreciate. Good food, and my team won a round of Jagermeister for doing an impression of Blofeld, which is never a bad thing.
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Had my birthday weekend at the Boadicea and it made turning 30 a whole lot easer!
Ate like a king, drank myself silly and all with my best mate providing the tunes
Thanks to peter the GM who picked my up from the floor at the end of the night!
Best birthday ever!
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Looked good in summer with a very large outside area (on the pavement but a really wide expanse). But boy was I disappointed inside. Nothing worth drinking, and the food lacked imagination. Even the seating is uncomfortable!
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I reckon the Queen Boadicea is a little gem of a pub.
Lovely staff, great food, and great for party bookings.
Had a few private parties there and they've always been amazing successes!
Oh and there's some pretty hot bar staff there!
anonymous - 28 Jun 2007 11:33 |
Now open as the Queen Boadicea. They seem to have fitted one of those goddesses you see on the front of pirate ships in cartoon above the door which is good. However, unless your idea of a good beer selection is Kronenbourg, keg John Smith's and Guinness, you will be disappointed.
In an area offering so much to the lover of fine beer, this place perhaps provides respite for those who want nothing more than a glass of fizz and chemicals. I hope they enjoy it.
anonymous - 11 Oct 2006 02:05 |
Thanks Stonch, sounds promising. If it's in two separate parts I figure at least one will be for drinking rather than eating, so at least it looks like it'll be a pub rather than a restaurant.
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Martin - you mean the Hat & Feathers. Looks like they are doing a grand job so far - they've redone the plastering detail on the ceiling, put in a nice big bar dividing the place in two. Lots of mirrors. No evidence of any hand pumps or taps yet. Still has a long way to go.
About five mins from my home and pass it on the home to work, so hope it works out well and sell decent beer.
anonymous - 20 Sep 2006 17:20 |
Actually, Stonch, if you're now in the habit of walking the streets of London's Fahionable Clerkenwell (TM) peering through the windows of pubs while they get refurbished, any idea what's occurring in the place on the corner of Goswell Road and Old Street? I've only ever seen the place derelict, going back years, but whenever I pass now there are people inside working on it.
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The new Queen Boadicea doesn't look very inspiring. As those who have been to this place in its previous incarnations will know, the pub retains a divided interior - public bar on the St John's Street side, saloon on the opposite side. The shutters on the public bar side were entirely closed, so couldn't see inside there. Had a good peer in to the saloon bar through the window, before realising I looked like I was casing the place and should leave.
Looks almost identical to before. Brown leather sofa. Bar with taps on it. Floor. Walls. Windows.
Bad news on the beer front anyway. No hand pumps. Looks like all they will be offering are boring, nasty lagers like Kronenbourg and San Miguel, Guinness and John Smith's Creamflow.
Wonder what it'll be called new year?
anonymous - 19 Sep 2006 14:41 |
Having walked past it again....that would be the queen boadicea...!!
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This pub has now shut...it will now be called the queen boadicia..looks like it will be open soon
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quite vibrant, quirky place, a little tired looking but all in all palatable
gary - 26 Jun 2006 12:55 |
