please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Now the WATERSIDE INN
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In here last Saturday just after noon and very busy with about 30 present.
It is quite smart with a mixture of high and low tables. piped music is playing.
Service is good.
6 hand pumps but one is blank. Others are TT Landlord and Boltmaker, Old Spekeled Hen, GK IPA and a local beer from the Squirel Brewery which I tried and very nice indeed it was for £3.20 a pint.
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The takeover is now finally complete as is the refurbishment.
Oh, and the pub has now been renamed The Waterside Inn.
Six hand pumps at the bar; TT Landlord, Black Sheep bitter, GK IPA, Old Speckled Shite (sorry, I mean Hen), Summer Lightning and Wychwood's Hayburner (which unfortunately was sold out - the uncommon ones always do). Tasters are available from pre-drawn beer in bottles in front of pump clips.
Food choice seemed somewhat wacky. A few favourites and some not so traditional.
Taste, presentation and price was reasonable.
A couple of staff were moaning that they had been on duty early that morning, had not had a break lunchtime (food or fag) and were both working through to the end of the evening shift. Blimey.
Overall, it is not a lot different from the previous owners.
I would like to see more uncommon beers, but more common pub grub. And a bit of atmosphere would also help.
Might be some time before my next visit.
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The Navigator is now run by the Stonegate pub company.
The three real ales along the front of the bar happened to be in my top three beers list.............for the worst.
Greedy King IPA, Fullers London Pride and Sharps Doombar.
Luckily, a pump on the side of the bar was serving Wychwoods Hobgoblin.
Food okay and cheapish. My steak, supposedly cooked to medium, was served rare to raw.
Staff were pleasant.
Sometime in the future Stonegate might change the name of the pub.
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Quiet for a Tuesday evening.
6 hand pumps with a decent choice of ales.
Jennings Cocker Hoop, Hobgoblin, Boon Doggle, Crag Rat, GK IPA Gold and Doom Bar.
I chose the Crag Rat, unfortunately it was not on.
I wish barmen would remove pump clips from unavailable beers.
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Popped in around 5pm Sunday. Not very busy. We ordered 4 meals and waited 35 minutes for three of them (all the same dishes) and the 4th one came a further 10 minutes later. This was after several chaseups with the bar staff where we felt that not a lot was being communicated to the kitchen. The 2 male bar staff seemed quite disinterested and the lady who finally brought the 4th late meal to the table handed the meal over in silence as if we were putting her out and mumbled a totally insincere apology for its lateness as she left. None of the meals were hot as if they'd been left of the side and forgotten about. All in all we thought the service was very poor and the food disappointing (due to it being just warm and not hot). Would not recommend unless they give the staff some customer service training or change them.
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This is a pub to avoid if you dont like big branded chain pubs full of advertisement and seedy old men. I went here for lunch and was greeted by nice staff and was served quickly, although my food never came at all because the staff didnt pick it up from the kitchen and the chef never told the staff it was ready. So i left very hungry and unhappy but with a refund after a waitress finally gave me a refund after finding out what happened, i had been waiting an hour already i didnt want to wait any longer for you to find out what happened as i just want to go now. Its a shame as the pub has a nice garden next to the river but again it gets forgotton about and tables build up with dirty plates and glasses, with over flowing ash trays aswell. The beers good and by far the cheapest in ware but you will have to sacrifice service for this.
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Largish (surprisingly so for a small town such as Ware) Smith & Jones pub in an imposing corner location. Inside, the 'L'-shaped bar is all a bit 'chain' in character but there is a decent-looking patio beer garden beside the navigation. Five of the six handpumps were in use, offering an unimaginative selection of Youngs Ordinary, Pride, Doom Bar, Broadside and Bombardier (which admittedly was great value at just �2.25). The food looked keenly priced too. Overall, just a bit dull...
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FANTASTIC...............no, only joking. I had a voucher entitling me to a couple of free drinks for the grand reopening after refurbishment.
Spotting the alterations was like playing spot the difference. The three tv screens have been replaced by a garish chalkboard depicting breakfast meal times, a crap painting and, thankfully, a bare wall.
I am informed it has new wallpaper - distressed wallpaper in my opinion, and a new kitchen.
There is a new menu (I'll take their word for it). To be fair there is a good choice of food all at reasonable prices.
As for drinks, if it is lager you like, then don't ask me. As far as I know it is all tasteless fizzy gnats whatsit. I am talking about real ale here, which happened to be like tasteless fizzy gnats whatsit. There are now five beers to choose from. Youngs Bitter, Sharps Doom Bar, Wells Bombardier, Adnams Broadside and bloody Fullers London Pride were the culprits. Not one from a micro brewery in sight.
As I said earlier I did get my two beers for nothing - so they did taste slightly sweeter than normal.
It wasn't a completely free evening though, I did buy some Nobby's Nuts for 75 pence!
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Called in here half a dozen times now - not because I wanted to - but for convenience sake. This time because seven of us had a family get together.
There are 2 for 1 deals on selected meals that cuts the cost down, which is just as well because the quality isn't even up to Wetherspoon standard (and that's saying something).
As for the beer, I think B.F. (the previous reviewer) summed it up quite well. Take away the tasteless G.K. IPA, Bombardier and Adnams and there's bugger-all left.
Clientele? I'm not an expert on Chavs, so "No comment". But there was a couple that evening who I can still hear now. The 'Husband' was raging at his 'Wife', where every other word began with F, while she argued back with two F'ing words out of three.
But do you know what? I think they enjoyed their evening a lot more than I did.
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The Navigator from the outside looks like a rough town centre chain boozer in the Litten Tree/Walkabout mould.However once inside ,it's a lot better and the food is exactly what it says on the tin ,and reasonable value.However the real ale was a very disppointing selection with the ubiquitous Greene King IPA,Bombadier and Adnams Bitter.Two people on the bar was fine when the pub was quiet but totally insufficient when busy especially when one bar person was also making coffee/cappuchinos/deluxe hot chocolate etc resulting in a very long wait at the bar.Pub generally clean but you sense that the chavvy element would lower the tone once they have consumed more than 2 pints from the wide array of fizzed up tasteless lager.Probably why there are bouncers outside on Friday/Saturday night, to keep the rude boys in .
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Cheap (and nearly nasty) - local chav clientele really off-putting.
BobOs - 19 Aug 2008 10:57 |
Now called The Navigator but already dubbed The Chavigator by some local Ware drinkers. Very large interior with big screens for the football fans. Pleasantly suprised to see 2 Real ales on when I visited. Brains SA & Black Swan and only �1.55 a pint as part of a special Rugby World Cup promotion that had seemed to overrun. Served rather colder than I would like but tasted great. Well priced food menu which I understand is very popular with the lunchtime office trade. Fantastic location on the banks of the river Lea.
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I hear that the pub is reopening on 28th Feb. A large company has bought it. Hopefully it will bring some life back into ware. there is no where to go unless you want to be surrounded by young drunk drugged up idiots or creapy old men. Can't wait to go. Hooray!!!!!
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Cheap beer and cocktails. Thats about all I can say. Fat tattooed girls and toothless middle aged men seem to be their main clientele.
anonymous - 18 Aug 2006 09:40 |
cheap pub not a lot of atmosphere going on and is usually quiet during the week,is mostly a place for locals
anonymous - 10 Jun 2005 18:57 |
nice pub, never seen it REALLY busy. quite often full of students from the nearby college. prices are cheap (probably the cheapest in ware) but it is a bit of a locals place.
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lovely pub next to lake.
Great looking bar staff.
Defently worth checking out.
Part of the 6 Continents
chris - 27 Jun 2003 19:46 |
