please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
A Tuesday night visit to what is now the only 'spoons in the town.
Pretty busy but also quite noisy, a group of local lads swilling lager at the bar were particularly loud!
The hand pumps had the usual range of ales on with the Hogsback Last of the Summer Swine very drinkable @ 4.0%
Lovely interior here, quick service but unfortunately it does attract your usual Dartford crowd!
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This large purpose built 'spoons is just to the east of the town centre in an area with a couple of “okay” pubs and the excellent Dartford Working Man’s Club.
10 hand pumps that during my visit had 6 ales on, 3 national brands and 3 guests. I had a couple of pints of Rockin Robin Breweries Reliant Robin @ 3.7%, a decent pint that was well kept.
Busy with most people eating late breakfast / lunch, a fair few families but all of the kids seemed well behaved.
The Flying Boat has a large open plan interior with 2 smaller eating / drinking areas to the rear and a large beer garden. Upstairs toilets that were clean.
A decent enough ‘spoons.
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In here last Saturday early morning and quite busy service was ok.
No less than three Mothers with babies.. is this a cresh or something??
Real ales from £1.99.
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Large, clean, and bright JDW. Decent place.
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Went here on Friday (14/12/12) for food with my wife. I was served within seconds of reaching the bar, after ordering I was told the food would be about 15mins and it arrived dead on 15 mins later. Quality of the food was average. My scampi was fine and my wife's chicken tikka was ok although it was accompanied by hard rice and cardboard nan bread My pint of Spitfire was very reasonable but not outstanding.
It is a fascinating building (the former carriage, and later car, showroom of JC Beadle - built in 1910) but could now do with a little TLC, there are many bulbs blown and the suspended circular glass light fittings could all do with having their glass cleaned.
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This place is an utter shambles.
Lousy service and terrible food. The selection of beers is a plus, but that's Wetherspoons policy anyway.
Avoid. There are some good pubs in the area.
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If you love waiting over 10 minutes to get served at the bar this is definitely the place for you.
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I'm not anti Weatherspoons, there's a time and a place for them, so long as you know you're in a sausage machine. This one was okay.
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I was in here to-day with ex-colleagues as it was quite handy for them to reach. I am afraid my views have not changed much since my last visit nearly a year ago. The bar service was appalling with only one member of staff serving - bear in mind this was lunch time. No evidence of a manager let alone a shift manager. The worst scenario was when the sole member of staff had to prepare 6 coffees and there were at least 6 people waiting and the wait was over 10 minutes! Whilst this was going on another staff member was enjoying his meal break in full view of the bar!
The guest beer availability was better than last time with 4 beers on initially but the 'Bishop's Finger' ran out and no 'Abbott' was available.
In their favour the food service was exceptionally quick.
The toilets are quite a climb up 3 flights of quite steep stairs but on reaching them there was no soap in the dispensers and one of the toilet doors had at some time been kicked off its hinges and had not been repaired properly.
I am aware I said previously that I wouldn't go back but this time I will most definitely NOT return.
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I went to this place for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I have been to many Spoons throughout Kent and was impressed. The atmosphere was good, beer was nice and staff friendly. The pub was excessively busy for a weekend, and there seemed to only be 3 doorman. There was some guy drunk at the front door and the door staff dealt with him in a friendly and polite was getting the point accross. We will be back. Barry and friends
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This pub is a brilliant addition to the Wetherspoon chain. Friendly and helpful staff, wonderful food and excellent choices of drinks makes this pub a deffinate favourite of mine!
vic34 - 15 Feb 2010 17:36 |
Clean, modern pub serving a few real ales.
I disagree with most comments about the decor and ambiance. I find it too big and open. It would be much better if it had a few "areas" rather than just a huge one. There is a smaller one out back but this is usually full of young mums with their kids.
I prefer the Paper Moon down the road.
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An impressive conversion, with a light and airy feel and plenty of interesting features to look at inside. Busy, as you would expect, but the smaller room towards the rear offers a quieter and more relaxing place to sit. It is also worth noting that the main doors are huge, so if its cold and windy beware of an icy blast each time they open if you are sat near the front. A decent range of real ale festival beers were on offer at a very reasonable �1.69. Plenty of staff on duty too.
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Well done JDW! As someone who sits on the licensing committee locally I was intrigued and a little apprehensive when we granted the license for this place, particularly in relation to the meat market (Litten Tree) it replaced.
A nice pub to go and meet up with friends where you can sit and have a good chat without having to worry about chavs and little boys spoiling your evening. Being a smoker the beer garden is great, unlike most of the town centre pubs it's a fair size, although I do feel for the recently installed neighbours having to listen to the summer evening drinkers.
My friends love the fact that they can drink bitter for well under a couple of quid!
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Despite what is often said about Wetherspoons pubs, this is, quite frankly, the best thing that has happened in Dartford for years! Wife and I have visited The Flying Boat on four occasions (evening times) - the staff are friendly and attentive, the ambience and decor are very pleasant, prices are great (you cannot buy two pints in London and still get change from a fiver, but you can here!). There's a good mix of ages amongst the customers, meaning it appeals to everyone. It's nice to have a pub locally where you can get a decent cider (i.e. Westons Old Rosie). If it continues to be this pleasant we shall continue eating and drinking here. Well done to all concerned!
JKIRK - 15 Aug 2009 22:23 |
I must congratulate JD Wetherspoon on the lavish refurbishment, most admirably described by RogerB and keepthechange earlier on this site. In addition, I need to share my experience of a mid-day weekday visit. Despite previous comments, I found a good selection of SEVEN available ales from the ten pumps. In addition, there was a healthy lunchtime surge in custom more than adequately covered by a timely increase in serving staff - ALL five tills being operated. Whilst the food was no more than adequate, the very competitive prices of both food and drink make the 'Flying Boat' well worth another visit. Just hope the 'silence' is continued at least during the daytime.
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Despite the eulogistic reviews above, my experience of this pub was somewhat different. Arriving today at 11 45am there were 3 'guest' ales supposedly available, but in actuality there was only one, Tanglefoot. When asked when the other 2 were likely to come on, the barman with earpiece and microphone was unable to say. Had one pint and walked down to 'The Paper Moon' which was a decidedly better bet. (See separate review).
I agree that the place was very light and airy with pseudo antique furniture and was quite pleasant to sit in. However it felt a little on the geriatric side due to a preponderance of elderly customers. I can say this as I am in my early 70's.
On balance I don't think I would visit again
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Love them or hate them, you can't fault JD Wetherspoon for restoring some wonderful old buildings across the UK and The Flying Boat is another example. Stepping inside this pub for the first time you'd have to be a hardened cynic not to be impressed by the amount of money and care lavished on the re-furb.
Thick carpets, ornate light fixtures, bespoke chandeliers...it has a very luxurious feel. Even the toilets look like they're from a 5 star hotel. How this luxury will stand the test of time is anybody's guess, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts.
The beer & ale selection is what you'd expect from a JDW and the guest ales have already been rotated less than a month after the pub opened. The Abbot Ale and Ruddles I tried at the weekend were excellent as was my pint of Caledonian Top Banana (if you like beer that tastes of bananas of course). For those who enjoy the fizzy stuff, there's the normal range of lagers, although I did notice a Coors Light being served in its own branded glass - which is an unusual option, for around here anyway.
Food is clearly seen as an important part of this particular Spoons future and based on the dishes I've sampled so far, they seem to be making more of an effort than some of the other JDW's I've tried in the past. Being asked "is everything ok with your meal?" is a new experience for me in a Wetherspoons. Again, time will tell if they can keep this level of attentiveness up.
The Flying Boat won't be for everyone. Despite its expensive makeover the cheap beer still attracts the odd unsavoury character and the presence of so many families with their kids on a Saturday afternoon will no doubt horrify many seasoned drinkers.
Thankfully, JDW have already thought of this and have cunningly refurbished their other local pub, The Paper Moon, to try and keep everyone happy.
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I must confess that the thought of turning the old Litten Tree into a Wetherspoons conjured up scary images of frying pans and fires but I have to say that after my initial couple of visits �Spoons have done a pretty decent job in making the place a far more welcoming proposition and have treated this historic local building with the degree of sympathy it deserves. The tall ceilings, copious window space and airy interior have been complemented by a softer feel and some quite elegant touches. Gold trimmed arches back the bar and 2 golden columns announce the open staircase like props from Antony & Cleopatra (or maybe Carry On Cleo is more accurate). The general d�cor, furnishings and lighting are tastefully presented with an octet of padded seat booths taking up the centre of the floor space and mini potted palms giving the place a bit of greenery. It almost feels like a bar on a cruise liner although the brick fa�ade of the neighbouring Bingo Hall is no substitute for ocean vistas. On the downside, the inclusion of tables immediately in front of the bar makes the bar area difficult to negotiate when busy.
At the rear is a smaller, more intimate section with a blocked but otherwise ornate fireplace and beyond is the beer garden, once a few benches on a patch of weed, now a paved and partly covered patio with shrubs, trees and pristine new fencing.
The wall displays offer interesting stories of the building�s history and some cracking photos of its days as a car showroom dating back to 1910. Artwork includes 2 specially commissioned paintings, the �Flying Boat� in the main bar and the �Automobile� at the rear. The hitherto obscure new pub name apparently derives from the former workshop at the rear of the building that made floats for the Sunderland Flying Boats during the war.
On the beer front, they initially appear to offer 7 ales (across 10 hand pumps) including 3 guests and the staple �Spoons favourite Old Rosie cider although I have already noted a quota of unavailable pumps. That said, any outlet increasing the availability of guest beers in town is most welcome and will hopefully attract a few more mature and sensible drinkers to offset the potential influx of the previous Litten Tree incumbents who appeared only to have eyes for Stella and fit barmen. Whilst the Flying Boat was billed as a Lloyds bar, there are no signs at present of any music systems, disco lights or mirrorballs so hopefully it will remain a place of relative tranquility although the presence of bouncers in the evenings suggests that it may have its off limit periods. There are 2 plasma screens in the main bar and 1 in the rear bar but in my visits they have remained silent as per normal Wetherspoons.
In short, an impressive makeover and hopefully management will be strong enough to prevent the place gaining a similar reputation to its predecessor. The one remaining question is what the future holds for the far more formulaic and less appealing Paper Moon down the road.
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