please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
A bit restauranty, not sure it's really a pub, more a wine bar ticking over, no cask beers to be had . A small corner site doesn't help so it's kind of a squashed L-shape and there is some kind of semi-subterranean garden out the back.
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Back street pub in the posh part of town not too far from main station but a fair way from town centre.
Here on a winters Wednesday night and it was dead. That said what did I expect?
Looks a tad clinical. Modern wooden tables and flooring.
I have heard the food is very good and so is the garden. Will venture back.
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Took visiting family to the Guildford for a Sunday Lunch for a special occasion. We had a pretty disappointing experience.
We booked a table but it was occupied on arrival so we had to wait and have drinks at the bar. We were told that new Yorkshire Puddings and Potatoes needed to be prepared so our food would take around half an hour.
An hour later our food arrived... meat was delicious, the roast potatoes were hard which was a shame, asked for extra gravy but that took over 5 minutes to arrive so we were well under way with our mains by then. Complained about the roast potatoes (after an hour.. expectations were high!!) We were told they would have bring a bowl of chips out as the potatoes would be the same. not great with roast lamb!
Manager was fairly apologetic, offered free drinks but only 10% off the bill didnt reflect our poor experience really. Shame, great on paper, lovely setting, good looking menu and food, maybe we caught them on a bad day!
Manager could have handled the situation better and we would have visited again but seems they were more concerned with their takings than a good reputation!
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I went to the Guilford Arms this weekend for the first time in a long while, and what a great place this now is! The interior has been freshened up, the food is excellent (and not overpriced like so many places) and they have created a great family friendly environment.
It's well worth a visit if you're in the area, I will certainly be back again soon!
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Latest News- Inside restaurant in Greenwich South Street are the new 'owners' here so at least the food here should continue to be good, but it remains to be seen what is happening with the drinks. The original name 'The Guildford Arms' has been re-instated so they have got something right from the start.
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The Guildford has been closed for redecoration all of this week and re-opens tonight at 6pm 'under new ownership' Lets hope the standard of the food remains the same as with the previous licensee who was French.
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The Guildford had been recommended by a friend. As we walked in we were very impressed by the decor inside, we went into the garden which was nice although not as impressive as indoors. You need to go down a fairly steep staircase to access the garden so not pram friendly. Despite advertising that they serve all day, as we went to order at 3pm they announced that they were too busy and were not serving anyone for another hour. Staff didn't seem to care too much either. We had a drink and left after half an hour through the by now empty dining room. Very disappointing.
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The user Surfandturf has got it spot on, this is not a 'purists' pub that could be viewed as a potential local, though it does have a brilliant garden bar for fine days. It's a pub that serves fancy food and as such it is second to nowhere else I've been in London, and that's as someone who has been to two of Gordon Ramsey's restaurants in the last 4 months. The Guildford's food is amazing, pricey for a pub but you won't be disappointed, still excellent value considering the high quality.
Galsy - 15 Jul 2008 20:27 |
This really isn't a pub anymore, more of a rather middle class restaurant. That said the service was friendly, the food excellent and the London Pride in good condition. Big thumbs up.
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I don't understand what people are posting about here. This place serves the best food not just of any pub in the area but any restaurant also.
If you find good food "poncey" i suggest you try the Graduate up the road which will gladly serve you cheap nasty beer all day long. Or if you genuinely are after a proper pint try the Ashburnham Arms 30 secs away. Shepherd Neame on tap & a great pub.
I for one am grateful for a reasonably priced Bistro/Pub on the doorstep
Would recommend the Sunday lunch at a tenner. Which is cheaper that many other pubs in serving a lot lot less nearby.
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Lovely garden but the pub itself is usually half empty and the service verges on the bizarre - they often tell you to take a seat and that they will bring you your drink which arrives at a leisurely pace. Nice but room for improvement
anonymous - 28 Nov 2007 11:51 |
I quite liked it c1971 with the piano.
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Poncey pub with friendly but dreadfully scatty service. It was redeemed by it being a sunny Sunday evening and the pub having a grass beer garden: very rare in London.
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Further to my earlier comment about the extortionate price of Stella, I was in there for a cheeky beer just before closing time a month or so ago and my mates gf asked me what I wanted. I asked for a Hoegaarden and you can imagine my embarassment when she was charged more than four pounds!!!!
Seriously it was �4.10 or something... for the Big Mac of White Beers!!!!
The sooner this place turns back into a proper boozer and does away with the smug middle class couples that populate it the better.
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Great news- the awful sign above the front door has gone and the new French owner has improved things here no end. Friendly helpful staff(French again) and a decent atmosphere once again after the last false dawn.
The food is great (French chef I gather)- do try it- and once the upstairs restaurant opens some time next year(they are waiting for planning consent), the downstairs bar will be more of a bar than restaurant. Very good wine list and a decent choice of beers (slightly pricy). Very promsing and should get better- give it a try but if you want to eat on Friday or Saturday evening you will need to book as word has got around quickly.
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A pleasant bistro bar with greater emphasis on food than drink. The garden is great for a summer drink but I can't see it becoming anyones local
anonymous - 7 Nov 2006 11:14 |
Since when is �3 a decent price for a pint of Stella when you can get six cans of the stuff for a fiver in the off license up the road?!?!
That being said, I'm glad that godawful sign has been painted over! Yay!!!
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The Guildford was good for a short time 2 or 3 years ago and then it went totally downhill. I basically refused to go there any more.
However! It has just been bought by a French couple and has been totally re-decorated, and over the next few weeks the kitchen will be extended, the garden will be sorted out more etc. It may not be the typical pub that some will want, but I think it will be great. The first impressions are excellent, the staff are professional, it's really clean and hygienic, prices seem ok (3� / pint stella etc.). The ashburnham arms is around the corner for those who want the standard pub experience, and the Guildford should now be a real asset to the area. Greenwich lacks decent restaurants and bar-food for the locals, so this will be a good addition.
I know the bistro definition thing above the front door is a bit cheesy, but hopefully The Guildford will serve really good food now, by a french chef, french cafe style. I personally love a good rench omelette.
Final comment - the old guildford became a dirty, disgusting hell-hole, and the new one looks great inside and the staff are friendly. That's good enough for me.
anonymous - 19 Jul 2006 11:22 |
A very short entry; it�s not a particularly interesting story. It�s just to highlight a pub that we think is rather nice and serves rather nice food in an area that is largely devoid of such. Also it gets slated on a few of the reviews here and I think the entries are a bit unfair.
The menu is a fairly basic pub food menu; meat and chicken dishes. They do however succeed in that one criterion that so many fail to even realise is important; simple food is fantastic if you just use good ingredients.
We had:
Italiano Chicken. Described as �chicken breast wrapped in bacon�; wonderful moist roast chicken wrapped in crisped parma ham.
Lamb shank was excellent; the meat strongly flavoured and waiting to fall from the bone and into my belly.
It�s an area where it can very difficult to find anything at all nice to eat (unless you really do enjoy the endless mediocre tapas of Greenwich village). It can be difficult to find a nice pub where the television doesn�t blare out over your every word. It can certainly be very difficult to find a quiet table on a Saturday night. The Guildford Arms provided all of these and, for anyone living in the area, it�s a hidden treasure for doing so.
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Pretentious sums this place up (just look at that sign above the door)- shame because under it's previous guise it was truly awful- and it was given a major and welcome makeover.
When it re-opened as 'The Guildford' the food was good, it had a great manager and bar staff but it's been downhill all the way since then. Staff change too frequently, the food is poor, the wine list has been dumbed down and the real ale is often off. It does have a popular quiz on a Thursday night but at other times it's dead. It is still a nice place to have a drink in the garden or on the deck in summer but that's about all. The owners have made no effort at all and despite the fact it's 'my local' I would far rather walk further to the Richard 1st, The Hill or Greenwich Union.
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This pub is right round the corner from me and I think it is the most tedious bar I have ever been in. If you are not immediately put off by the pompous and pretentious pseudo-dictionary definition of their self-coined phrase 'Bistronomique' that hangs gaudily above the door then you are beyond help.
Dont let this immodest self-praise fool you, this is no gastropub. When I first moved into the area about two years ago the food was reasonable but has gone downhill so rapidly I would not go in their again. Just because you serve rocket in a hamburger does not make you a gastropub. The beer is a little different but no more exciting than anything served in a traditional pub and if you needed further confirmation that this is little more than a middle class Weatherspoons take a peek over the garden wall at the families enjoying the garden.
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My Goodness, This place has changed. I used to live around here and used this place or the Ash. I'm going to spend a few hours in here on Sunday next to give the place a thorough checkout.
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yet another souless bar replacing a pub with character. did have friendlly good bar staff but seem to get replaced at too frequent intervals.
anonymous - 10 Jan 2005 01:35 |
It is refreshing to finally have a decent pub in SE London where the decor is not 20 years old and the same 3 people are not sat at the bar every night talking rubbish. Good food and wine, the bitter kis not bad either!
Matt - 8 Nov 2004 15:28 |
Agreed that it is another welcome addition to the pubs/bars of greenwich - as for woodsie, there are stacks of grim pubs in SE it's nice to have a place where women are welcome too and it has drinks for us - not everyone who goes out wants to drink bitter (fairly apt name that).
Emma - 18 Oct 2004 12:29 |
This pub was a complete dive and there is no mistaking it. Obviusly the "woodsie" guy equates a real pub with damp, smelly carpets and bad ale. And yes it has drove out some of the idiots who used to drink in the old pub and I as aa local resident am grateful.
GreenWitch - 21 Sep 2004 11:50 |
Woodsie! There are enough pubs in south london that match the description you are after! Hooray for the Guildford i say, by far the best pub in SE London, and lets hope there are many more to follow in its footsteps. Please let Hither Green be next!
Phillipa - 17 Sep 2004 15:31 |
.....Hail the gift of free speech! While I can't comment on the Guildford in it's previous life and though it presently appears a tad too wine orientated for the lager lovers of this world it's pleasant enough. Cheerful staff, good food and a highly selective list of wines. Summer barbeques also planned for the beer garden. Give it a whirl.
Spudster - 19 May 2004 12:07 |
How can you say this pub is improved! It's not even a pub any more, it's a snooty brasserie cum winebar. It's nolonger called The Guildford Arms it's "The Guildford".
It used to be a friendly local, yes, and they did have Spitfire & London Pride at normal prices, seem the new buisnessmen that own the place, (along with several other investments) have put the price up to drive out the "smelly" working class real people and attract the "oooh ha ha! mines a glass of red" herberts whom are so thick they can easily be fleeced with mediocre over priced food and tacky decor - Thr Real Gulldford Arms RIP
woodsie - 2 May 2004 17:16 |
A huge improvement on its previous incarnation - it used to be a smelly, grubby dive where the bitter was undrinkable. It emerged from renovation as a friendly and comfortable pub, stylish without being too painfully hip, and with excellent beers (Spitfire is a regular), a huge selection of good wine, and delicious food. In the summer, the garden provides a quiet and relaxing spot for an evening bevvy.
Helena Russell - 11 Dec 2003 15:48 |
Quiz me up. Thursday nights, the best quiz in Greenwich. Come and be spanked.
I Ate The Clangers - 26 Nov 2003 13:21 |
