please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Play good music and there's a lot of cool nights on. I'm a local music student and for most of us at the college it's our favourite bar. Open til 2 on the weekends I think. They've got good drink deals - beers for �2.50 and they do like tequila and JD �2.50 as well.
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Powers is the only decent bar left on the high street! The atmosphere is great especially on Fridays and Saturdays and the drink is still the cheapest around, even though it has gone up recently. You dont get fights here like next door in the bronze age and the crowd is usually friendly. The only place to catch good live music for free, and there's a great selection of whiskies too. I used to drink in the Kings Head too but now thats gone.
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Ok, it's open quite late, late enough for me anyway. Sometimes the music isn't awful, and drinks are quite cheap - although best to stick to bottles or shots as the draft lager is usually undrinkable. If you want somewhere to go lateish that has a bit of life to it then it does the job. Check your change at the bar though.
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I love this gaff. We went down to see a band on my birthday and ended up staying all night. Quite like the indie disco after the acts on Fridays. VERY glad they have a new bouncer now though. Definite improvement. The draft selection IS limited but they have a cracking choice when it comes to gins and malts.
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Loving Powers at the moment i have to say. I have only started going regualarly for the last 2 months now so not sure what the place was like before but i have really enjoyed myself each time. There is no cover charge to see some decent live music and i was paying �2.50 a pint in there! The vibe in there at the weekends is great and and the place stays open till 2! As i said im not sure what it was like before but i love going there at the moment as its cheap, friendly and good fun and easy to get to as its beside the tube
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My experience at Powers
I live very close by to Powers, so I've been going there a couple times a month for a few months now. They have live indie rock bands play there weekly, which is alright. Unfortunately the beer selection is very limited. They only have two beers on tap. The bouncer is defiantly a pick. Last night he told me that I'm banned from being there. So I asked him what the reason for that is. But, he couldn't give me an answer to my question. I wasn't doing anything wrong; just standing by the door sipping my beer when he decided to ban me. He really didn't like my question very much. Actually, it made him angry at me. So, he decided to grab a hold of me and try to scare me. Now, it's not that I ever really liked the place very much, but it is close to my home, so it was nice to go there sometimes. Guess I won't be doing that anymore.
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First time here for a while. Good stuff. Couple of live bands and proper bands too. You know, drum kits and the like. No entrance fee. Limited choice of draught lager - �2.50 for Kronenbourg, �2.80 for San Miguel. Decent music on between the bands.
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A therein lies lesson for any budding entrepreneur hoping to put their �mark� on a place; if it ain't broke don't fix it. Sure, in the latter days the front has become the refuge of people who you'd expect to see drinking out of cans on the street, but that was down to the management.
How much money was spent changing it - and then changing it again - only for it to be less good than it was before? Incredible.
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I agree with most of the coments here, this pub has been ruined .. came here on Paddys day initially shocked by how the old rustic interior was replaced by a shopping spree in ikea .. I was then told the bar was closing for an hour to prepare for Mary black or some other crow to be charged �17 to see her .. Thats the Irish spirit !! The Celtic Tiger has made it to London ! I left the bar unlikely to return ...
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Has reopened (again) as Power's Bar (again) - total redesign of the interior, while nowhere near as much character to it, has seemed to go back to the musical roots with a gig list longer than your arm and, lo and behold, a prominent stage right by the entrance. Wonder if Vince has bought it back... ?
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Powers always seemed pretty busy, so i would have said the business idea worked. Always liked the place; good guinness, good mix of clientele.
This place is as bad as everyone says. Give it 6 months in this format, it just doesn't work and isn't getting the punters in by the looks of it.
Real shame.
mps77 - 24 Aug 2007 14:48 |
And another pub bites the dust...because we need more pubs with DJ's spinning old house records from the 90's and tapas to go with our �3.50 beer.
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souless, lifeless, no trace left of that quirky, lively, cosy little pub that I've been frequenting every weekend for the past 7 years. Would have been so much more forgivable if they'd just put a match to it.
anonymous - 20 Jun 2007 15:35 |
Not so cheap and cheerful now. Renamed 'Sonny's' has a kind of winebar feel to it and from being the cheapest pub this end of the high road its now the most expensive. Cheerful? I've haven't seen a crowd in double figures.Very sad
anonymous - 12 Jun 2007 11:31 |
Now called Sammys Bar.
If the comments by anonymous are to be believed this is a big shame. Plenty of gastropubs and not-very-welcoming Irish places in Kilburn, Powers was a geniune down-to-earth place that I loved for the years I was a regular here.
Another forced trendy place was not needed.
anonymous - 10 Jun 2007 00:58 |
Powers Bar used to be one of the best bars around, especially if one cannot bear the likes of the NLT across the road, see comments by the very wise kmcs, now its a dreadful uber wannabe cool but aint quite there kinda place, once it was filled with happy regulars and now is insipid bland and all together worth a miss.
anonymous - 5 Jun 2007 15:14 |
Its a shame - when a lovely pub changes like this - but thats gentrification for you - Have to agree with Ute - the black lion seems like a more appealing prospect
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Closed for refurb. I'm told it will be called Sonny's when it re-opens. Think I'll be spending more time at the Black Lion or good Ship down the road in the future.....
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Cheap and cheerful, free jukebox, cheap beer friendly staff. Yeah there are a few 'loons' but the atmosphere is friendly. Only complaint is some of the bands playing at the weekends are dreadful
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Agree with shauntobewild 17-5-06; well looked-after guinness. atmosphere good in this bar.
6/10
phil
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Unfair of me to comment on this one. I used to love this pub in the 90's and its not quite the same! Maybe I am getting older and need a bit more comfort and less smoke!
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While since I've been here but enjoyed it. Decent lager at reasonable cost. Great juke box. Not as smokey as my last visit. They seem to have bands every night of the week. Have to say this one was a bit rank. The guy looked like a cross between a teacher and someone who liked to hang around schools if you get my drift. He was accompanied by two women who looked like they had just come from Sunday School in Quex Road. One played a flute, the other a violin. Second set was better mind and decent enough to stop us going over to the hell of NLT across the road.
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Great pub this. Great juke box, second best in London by my reckoning and, considering how many proffessional drunks frequent the place, it's actually really, really friendly.
The booze is cheap, especially on Mondays and they have live music most nights of the week. The tables are mostly far too big for you and your mates, so the friendliness is added to by the multi-use tables. You can sit down on a table on your own for a Guinness (well kept by the way) and by the end of the night have a group of new friends.
The other great thing about here is it's a proper local, the same faces go in night on night on night. That is rare for a London pub, and London is less rich for it's lack of proper locals.
Don't bother coming here if you're wearing a suit, you will be stared at. And don't come here if you don't want to leave your inhibitions at the door and embrace the experience, it's that kind of place.
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Yes it was the Cole Pitz several years ago, sorry no idea about the names you mention. It was ( and still may be AFAIK) owned by Vince Power of Mean Fiddler fame, as is/was the zinc bar over the road.
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Hi Does anyone know if this pub used to be called The Cole pitz?? I used to lived in London in early 1990s & drank religiously in Cole pitz-owner Michael Cole. I ca'nt seem to locate it on the web..what happened to all its biker drinkers & horse & skippy???
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Used to frequent the brondes age next door - but due to some seriously loud football, we drank up moved over to this place. Limited seating (although I didnt venture into the back - may have been more there) - but a friendly place indeed, cheap enough booze, interesting (and, erm, enthusiastic) fellow drinkers, not-too-invasive live music and... no football! Will go there again. Without steve L this time (he poured beer down my back??? What the...)
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I couldn't give a toss about the seating, crap djs or moody staff. I come here to drink beer - it's always cold at least.
anonymous - 2 Jun 2005 12:44 |
Great little pub. Been comming here for so long, I don't even notice the bad student art on the walls anymore. It's unfortunate though that the bar staff have such crap taste in music! When they're not playing thier rubbish cd's, check out the jukebox for loads of classic 80's and guitar-orientated music.
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A fine pub in which to pass a Sunday afternoon and evening. A great traditional music session starts at 4pm. Good service, friendly bar staff, great music. Toilets leave a bit to be desired, dut otherwise a grand pub.
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Who's version of trying to be cool is a full-on mounted bull's head? Agree about the friendly bar manager though.. Go there on Thursdays.
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Shame to hear this pub seems to have gone downhill. Kilburn has changed a lot in recent times. I remember this pub when it was called The Colepitz a few years back. It was the place to be then.
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Agree what a shame. When I was last in they had a decent DJ. Last night it was fairly empty and consequently not as smokey as normal which was good. But what the f*ck is that music about. They had some music (house? jungle? acid, retro, what the f*ck) where this same song just went on and on and on and on. When you thought it had finished we looked at each other and said "thank f*ck for that" maybe they'll play some Jam............and then the f*cking song would start up again. In fact, it's brainwashing. I'm still hearing it today. Apologies for expletives but I just don't get it.
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Have to agree with Travis again. Mr Mean Fiddler, sort this pub out for crying out loud. This was voted best pub in London only a few years back by BBC Radio London but since the "gentrification" of some of the nearby pubs all the local loons have started coming here. There is a blond East European barmaid here who is funny and charming but she is the one bright point in a pub that has nearly lost everything. It's like seeing a family member go through a crisis, a great tragedy.
John - 30 Oct 2004 11:46 |
Best boozer in London - yet agree with MSP's comments about it resembling Greenwich village. All the right ingredients for a good night in the pub and only seen one (admittedly massive) fight. Go there.
tomcat - 21 Oct 2004 16:42 |
This place used to be excellent years ago until the manager Michael packed up and shifted to Australia. Since then it has been on the downward spiral, mostly caused by a succession of different managers, swift turnover of staff, and general neglect and tight-fistedness from the Mean Fiddler owners.
It really is a shame, as it used to be a great night out (and not just as a local night out) but now you walk in most nights and it's desperately empty.
To top it off the Caffreys, which was once first-class, now tastes worse than John Smiths. And the famous DJ Maurice, a Kilburn legend, seems to be on the way out.
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Powers is a great little place. Free jukebox is excellent and the local band (Johnny Berliner) every Thursday are fantastic -check out their saxophonist!!
anonymous - 5 May 2004 12:52 |
It's my home from home. I love it, and it reminds me of Greenwich Village for some reason, the free jukebox is a dream come true and the staff are all good fun.
MSP - 26 Mar 2004 17:18 |
Haven't been here for ages. Not quite as seedy as it used to be though still quite dark and smokey. When I saw the word DJ outside I thought loud dance music but he was quite good. Never heard Leonard Cohen played in a pub before!
anonymous - 2 Nov 2003 10:21 |
I'm a new convert to the place. Always drank in Brondes Age but ventured in a couple of nights ago. New bar manager started recently and is tidying the place up a lot. Great jukebox!
David - 24 Oct 2003 12:02 |
It can be a bit daunting to the outsider. I recommend a visit on Sunday afternoon. Great jamming session by local musicians. Beer tastes like it should, which is more than can be said for most in the area.
Anon - 11 Oct 2003 12:07 |
Hello, hello there, is there anyone there? Where's the bar? It's too dark in here.
anonymous - 25 Aug 2003 20:25 |
next to the much better brondesage. gloomy inside but can get a table outside for watching kilburn walk,run & stagger by.
millym - 25 Jul 2003 21:57 |
