please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
I am a fan of Wetherspoon's but this place was one of the worst I have been to. The design is open-plan with a long bar at the back, which makes it rather un-pub-like and lacking in atmosphere. To my eyes, the interior appeared a bit dowdy and unappealing. The decor was rather frayed at the edges and, unlike, for example, the Toll Gate at Turnpike Lane, which is quite cosy and always seems to have a fairly lively but relaxed atmosphere, this place seemed miserable.
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attended the current beer festival here , great staff and good service .one of the better spoons.
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This pub is set over 2 floors. Ground floor is a bit dark and dingy due to lack of natural light and mainly consist of your regular Wetherspoon types. Upstairs bar has got a outside terrace and the clientelle is more younger and office workers from the nearby council buildings.
There was a good selection of ales when I was there. The staff were very friendly, though like other Wetherspoons could have had more staff on duty. Not a bad pub would go in there again.
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Standard Wetherspoon. Nothing remarkable, and nothing offensive. One beer was off, and it took a moment for the staff to accept this ("can't be off as it was fresh on last night"), but when they smelled the beer it was exchanged, and the cask was removed from sale.
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Typical JDW pub. It is cleaner than some, but a bit lacking in atmosphere.
Service was swift on a Sunday morning.
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Called in to use up the last of our 50p vouchers, and had O'Hanlons Red Ale and Moorhouses Black Panther. We really did try to drink them, one was exchanged and was no better, and it was one of the very few occasions where I left a glass with ale in on the bar beside the pump so that customers could see the beer was being served looking like cider, much to the amusement of a local being served.
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Clientelle seem a bit better than most Wetherspoons, and it's got a good location on Mare Street. A good inclusion on a Hackney pub crawl.
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Bog standard Wetherspoons with the usual clientele and a fairly tired interior. Good value for money, as in all Spoons outlets.
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Visited late morning whilst waiting for the Pembury to open. Much better than I had been led to believe. Festival beers were fine, staff were friendly, usual inoffensive JDW-type customers. My first visit but not the last.
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one of the few weatherspoons pubs where the staff seem to enjoy there work,other than that an average weatherspoonsdoes have disabled toilet
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I have a complex relationship to this pub -- I absolutely love it but it depresses me massively. I usually go here on Sundays, after a big big Saturday night when my emotions are tender to say the least. When you're so sick you can't drink water somehow a few bottles of Koppenburg cider and mushroom doppiaza make you realise being alive isn't quite as lonely and rubbish as you though it was. Sky sports news on loop can be cathartic after a while. I once spent 11 hours in the upstairs, I had 2 meals and a snack and lots to drink, it was great in the end but depressing at points. It has a nice balcony. I take my parents here for dinner when they visit me in London, they claim to like it but refuse to complain when the food is served cold, or when one time the vegetables came in the sealed plastic bag they were microwaved in. I think Weatherspoons are the new old man pubs as old men can't afford to go to places like The George (Parkholme Road) anymore. Would it be so bad to be old and be able to get the community mobility bus to pick you up from home, drop you at Weatherspoons, drink a bottle of wine for �6 all day, then get the community bus home again? Sounds OK to me.
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Whilst it is undeniable that the Pembury Tavern is in a different league altogether, this really isn't too bad a Wetherspoons. Had a perfectly respectable pint of Wexford "Irish-style ale" (wherever that actually comes from). Only complaint is that you have to walk through the smoking area on the way in.
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I think this pub has a policy of employing local people. This is a terrible mistake. As a lifelong Hackney resident, educated in the borough, I can vouch for the fact that the alumni of Hackney schools are often not equipped for working in the service industry. The staff here are nice, often witty and quite sharp, however they have little or no knowledge of beer, pubs, or drinking. They also dislike having the piss taken out of them, this Wetherspoon�s system of employing the bare minimum of staff doesn�t fit well with this.
On two separate occasions in the upstairs bar I have seen the lone barmen leave to find their colleague who suggested to us that we go upstairs to be served, rather than be served downstairs at their bar. On another occasion I saw a member of staff have a fight with a rude, drunken customer.
Although this place is cheap it is far from cheerful. Up-on-their-luck alcoholics sit alongside the seemingly deranged, while gaggles of local girls and boys loudly get drunk on cheap cocktails. If you want decent food and drink in a pleasant environment go to the Pembury. If you�re feeling a bit down and want to be cheered by the fact that there are others worse off than you go to Baxter�s Court.
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Agree with Mog 100%. Whilst there was no alternative in the vicinity this pub was a convenient stop for a bite to eat and a pint of cask-conditioned ale.
With the addition of the Pembury to Hackney 18 months ago I have not had the reason or the occasion to revisit Baxters Court. I hasten to add that the pub has not deteriorated in any way - there simply emerged a better one nearby.
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Since I made my last posting, last year, one thing has changed. There is now a very much better pub in the area: the Pembury.
If you're looking for good beer, good food, friendly, intelligent staff and general good vibes, give this dump a miss, walk round the corner and go up Amhurst Road. You won't be sorry.
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I despise wetherspoons pubs.
But this one isnt too bad.
one of the better pubs in area
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Best 'spoons I've ever been too. Amazing range of clientele and well-kept cheap beer. Interesting decor and superlative loos. Well worth a look!
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Not been there very recently but its possibly the nicest wetherspoons i've ever been in.. food wasn't bad, drinks not badly priced either
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The pub that lost its personality. Like most chain owned pubs, this "branch" of Wetherspoons on Mare Street has the design potential to be great place.
Unfortunatley, it all stops at the architechture, because this place is about as exciting, welcoming and comfortable as a dentist waiting room.
The staff are freindly enough (sometimes) - but they lack the love of the job of their independent counterparts.
The food is lousy and plastic tasting - but does that surprise you? The range of drinks is quite good and reasonably priced, but I would rather pay 20p extra for a pint served in a pub where I feel relaxed than here where I just feel like I need to clock watch.
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A functional and convenient Wetherspoons in the centre of Hackney. I found the pub highly convenient as I was in the area last night needing a quick bite, bbut ended up having a pint of well kept Thwaite's Thoroughbred.
The pub welcomes all sections of the local community, and my visit, although rare in a Wetherspoon's pub, was a pleasant one.
Lee Newton - 6 Nov 2003 16:29 |
