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Well unlike the previous comment, my partner and I walked out rather than being thrown out. But we shared a common experience with unhelpful staff.
I should preface this by saying I've been going to Bar Story on a semi regular basis for 2 years, and have generally enjoyed myself. However, tonight we went in and I ordered my usual cocktail (which I have had there many times before). However, this time when it came it was undrinkable. Bitter with a nasty aftertaste, rather than the delicious drink I have enjoyed there many times before.
My partner took the drink back to the bartender (not to the one who made it, as we wanted to be polite). However, she just took the drink over to the other bartender, they both tasted it, decided themselves it was fine, and said there was nothing they could do.
Now it's been quite a few years since I worked behind a bar, but I was always taught that good customer service would mean that you offer to re-make another drink, or offer the customer something else instead. Not just decide the drink is fine and tell the dissatisfied patron to stuff it.
Well, as far as we were concerned, the bartenders were essentially telling us to leave, as we weren't about to order another round of 6 quid cocktails after that. So leave we did. I don't plan on rushing back anytime soon either, even though I have enjoyed the place in the past.
In the end we walked up the road to the Rye Hotel. A lovely pub, and enjoyed a hassle free evening there. I would advise others to do the same.
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Cool and trendy but with a stupid impolite owner/bar manager who will throw you out if you dare raise a mumur of complaint, or dont enjoy waiting whilst cocktails are made up. Bottled ales only, happy hour on cocktails but get your order in early - if your still waiting for service - bad luck- you ve lost out
Try the nearby Victoria on Bellenden road - reopened June this year, or the Montpellier
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Awesome place, definately a hidden gem. Food is great - especially the sunday roasts and the cocktails. Grungy festival vibe, sometimes marred by young super-cool arty types but we still love it....
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This is a great little hidden gem in amongst the grim 'proppa boy' pubs of Peckham. 2 for 1 on cocktails during happy hour, really friendly staff, quite a cool environment (although the bangs when a train goes overhead is a shocker the first time). Free wifi, some comfy couches and a nice outdoor area for the summer. The food's pretty good and inexpensive as well, and you can see the chef preparing it all in front of you. The toilets look a bit grim at first glance, being bare walls and a bit graffitid, but they're cleaner than a lot of places, and plenty of towels/soap/etc. Nice clientele, fairly relaxed, lots of arty types and a few students, it seems.
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Excellent bar. Feels like you're at a festival. Especially when you go to the loo.
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what are the hours , it alway looks closed when we walk past
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I have been going to this bar for the best part of 2 yrs winter summer or shine and i can firmly say it is one of best kept secrets in London, over the yers the staff have changed but the moijtos are the best i have had, the DJ last week looked like a stretched Harry Potter but the tunes he played where awesome, what a great place keep up the good work.......
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Went to this place last night for the first time. The staff were great, treated you like mates as soon as you walk in, drinks were good and reasonable prices. The atmosphere was laid back, cool and unique. Sure, it's a bit basic, so it's not a place for the wine bar luvvies - that's not the point. If you don't like the bogs here, you should try some of the places in Shoreditch - this is a palace in comparison.
Anyway, will definitely go back at the weekend some time as they have DJs apparently. Wish there were more places like this with a bit of character!
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I went to this bar last night and thought it was excellent. Great for the warm summer nights and it's got an individual style which is sorely missing in most drinking establishments these days.
It's got a laid back crowd and a decent happy hour offer on cocktails. Takes a while to get served but that's a minor quibble.
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grumpy staff, ruder service and a crap menu.. Could be so good but always seems to be so wrong. Takes an age to get served.
Sometimes leave it a bit and come back, then it all dawns on you "yes it was that bad".
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Hey MarkMc1 the owner is miserable! And everyone mentions the bogs - which are a bog. Nevertheless its good place for a loose young crowd - the art student crowd who all thoroughly enjoy themselves. In one of the most unlikely streets in London this lively place has brought more variety to Peckham.
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i like bar story - yes, it might be a wee bit derelict but i dont want a plush place with no atmosphere like f-ing clapham. the cocktails are decent and take a wqee bit of time to make, the bar staff are tops and easy on the eye if i can say that .. i do think the owner looks a wee bit miserable and he could spend some money on the loos but overall, excellent times usually had there. if you cant appreciate, f of to all bar one .. we wont miss you . by the way , i genuinely dont knwo anyone there its just appreciate a place that is unique for good and bad reasons
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All the wines are from Green and blue, Lordship Lane. I wonder how they would react to having their wines described as "supermarket". Get your facts right.
anonymous - 1 Dec 2007 17:20 |
Oh dear, I would like to add to this bitch outpouring. Car park, hell no, the first sight as you swing into the front is of a derelicts den complete with flotsam huddled round the burning brazier. Great! Strange that, weak cocktails! Never you sad ****. Get it right - the cocktails here are insane killers, all at two for one for a whole two hours, are you mad? This is the best deal ever, never to seen anywhere in any End? See saw benches! Not even with 4 sag arses in a row on one of those railway sleepers are those benches going anywhere. Crap sound system! Show those Tannoys to a sound engineer and he will curse you for being so irreverent. Its time to be graceful and carp less and move on. Clearly you are a manic fat arsed depressive who should relocate your hours to a leatherette lined muted Muzac comfortable squat that you miss so much. There�s a vicious rumour going around that the owner is going to make dosh by selling out to a nail and hair parlour. What will you Peckhamites do then - cringe and move out? Oh yes, you were uncannily right � the makeshift sail fell apart Friday night! Bravo.
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When this place first opened a few years back, us Peckhamites thirsty for a place to have a quick drink in the evening without the sticky-carpeted, smoke-stained pleasures of the local boozers, were quite chuffed. Its make-shift, industrial-edged, skip-diving chic was quite refreshing and appropriate for us "scruffy art types", but the prices were always way too high, the cocktails too weak, the beer and wine "too supermarket" and the food just not up to scratch for its West End price tag. No matter, it was somewhere to go and watch your mates DJ. However, a few years on, that thrown-together art -quat look isn't chic, it's shite - the place is falling apart, benches are see saws (hold onto your drinks), the toilet fittings come away in your hands, the bulk head light fittings give you a headache and the crap sound system: earache - AND the garden got tarmaced so you feel like you're sitting in a car park. In fact, I know actual art squats that are more comfortable and well-appointed than this. The owner clearly needs to spend some of the dosh he's been making on at least giving us chairs with four legs, tables that don't collapse under the weight of a pint, and loos you can actually use. Or at least bring the bar prices down to compensate.
anonymous - 26 Nov 2007 17:40 |
When this place first opened a few years back, us Peckhamites thirsty for a place to have a quick drink in the evening without the sticky-carpeted, smoke-stained pleasures of the local boozers, were quite chuffed. Its make-shift, industrial-edged, skip-diving chic was quite refreshing and appropriate for us "scruffy art types", but the prices were always way too high, the cocktails too weak and the food just not up to scratch for its West End price tag. No matter, it was somewhere to go and watch your mates DJ. However, few years on, that thrown-together art squat look isn't chic, it's shite - the place is falling apart, benches are see saws (hold onto your drinks), the toilet fittings come away in your hands, the bulk head light fittings give you a headache and the crap sound system ear ache, and the garden got tarmaced so you feel like you're sitting in a car park. In fact, I know actual art squats that are more comfortable and well-appointed than this. The owner clearly needs to spend some of the dosh he's been making on at least giving us chairs with four legs, tables that don't collapse under the weight of a pint, and loos you can actually use. Or at least bring the bar prices down to compensate.
anonymous - 26 Nov 2007 17:37 |
It's okay in here. Trendy but nice crowd, and friendly barstaff - even if (especially during the cheap cocktail part of the evening) - it's an absolute mare getting served, because they're going all out on preparing one drink and the bar's five people deep with people waiting.
eelio - 18 May 2007 14:38 |
I love this place, great cocktails, big bottles of Budvar and Newcastle Brown for �3, cool music... just wish there was an easier way of getting home to colliers wood after closing..
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I think Bar Story is great. Cool tunes, cocktails, imported beers. Food I have always found to be good. Last night I had a humous plate. Thats loads of hot pitta bread, freshly made humous, and a generous dollop of olives, enough for two to share - all for �3!
Let the 'East Dulwich' types stick to East Dulwich - I think Bar Story (apart from having the word 'Bar' in its name) does a great job of getting away from the much overdone chocka-mocha-beige and dark wood gastro pub stereotype.
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A gem! Cool customised cigarette packets too.
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I love this pub. It has a fun atmosphere, good music and delicious cocktails. most of the bar staff are very friendly and make very alcoholic drinks! especially nice in summer to sit outside
anonymous - 28 Mar 2006 23:38 |
I have always been a big fan of the Bar Story despite its short comings. Yes the bar staff are not the speediest, and the food is pretty much hit and miss, but it has a amazing atmosphere that can not be beaten. There is no better place to sit, chat and listen to some great tunes in Peckham. It is totally unique and I am always made to feel most welcome by all the staff.
anonymous - 10 Feb 2006 09:57 |
I have always had a great time in bar story therefore having just read the previous comments I felt compelled to add my own in defence! I've always found the staff very friendly and chatty, drinks reasonable (especially during happy hour) and although personally have not tried the food it looks excellent. There always seems to be a nice vibe winter or summer and its just generally nicer than some of those overstyled characterless bars you get elsewhere. I'm sorry other people haven't had similar good experiences here as i think its a gem of a bar, especially considering what else peckham has to offer. i guess less moaning people makes it all the nicer for the rest of us!
anonymous - 25 Jul 2005 11:31 |
When this bar first opened I was so optimistic. I don't know if the owners have changed or not but when it first opened the staff were brilliant and the food was nice too. It now seems to have lost whatever it had at the beginning and the food is mediocre and expensive. It has so much potential but somehow fails. Go to the Gowlett or the Rye Hotel. These pubs have managed to do what Bar Story appears to be trying to do unsuccessfully!!!
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Went here with some friends on saturday, and was truly appalled. The staff seemed genuinely upset at having to serve customers rather than carry on private conversations; my g&t was made with supermarket tonic water (which I'm fairly sure is illegal!) and was FLAT. Twice I had to ask for it to be remade, and the second time, the waitress responded 'I didn't make it!' - I really don't care, I just want one that isn't flat, considering it's �3.50! Peckham does need a nice, non-scungy pub, but not one that seems to think it's doing you a favour by just existing...
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This pub pretty much sums up all that is bad about peckham, and I hope the studiedly trendy generic food and beer serving owner decides to sell up to someone with some taste and innovation soon.
Rant ends.
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Good bar, food and service are truly awful. We've just waited a tad under one-and-a-half hours for some very mediocre food. The excuse - we've had a few orders. What do they expect, they offer food and people order it! The staff and manager seemed not to be particuarly bothered when we complained. It might be a bar, but there is simply no excuse for service this bad. As for the veggie choice - don't get me started on that. What a joke!!
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Just wanted to respond to some previous posts about the pricing, attitude and atmosphere in this place as I was in a couple of nights ago and had a great time. The 2 for 1 cocktails in happy hour were some of the best I've ever tasted (and I used to live with a cocktail barman) and good value even when it's not happy hour - around �5 to �6.50 each if I remember correctly. The food was superb and also extremely reasonable - for equivalent dishes round the corner in East Dulwich you would pay �2 - �3 more.
The staff were friendly and the DJ was happy to assist with our requests. Every time I say to someone "Fantastic bar in Peckham" it sounds like an oxymoron but it's true.
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this place is a strange one. not sure if i like it or not. the space is cool. there's some good ideas here but no soul. half the staff here are lovely. the other half totally insane, and not in a good way! whilst eating here i was served by a very rude waitress. i think she thought she was being funny however she was just insulting.some of the people i was with had to collect their own food when it was ready. even though the food was very nice i was shocked when i was asked for an extra 15% onthe bill! needless to say i didn't pay it. sort it out guys, this place could be great.
anonymous - 25 Jan 2005 19:20 |
This pub could be the best things to happen to Peckham this decade, It's very sparsly furnished, but has a certain charm for that, and it really is the only "new local" watering hole.. it's just a pity the beers overpriced, the wine list is out of stock 85% of the time and the manager's a nice bloke, but not exactly clued up on how to treat people with either fairness or charm. Bit of a money grabbing type. All in it's the only place to go worth going so I'll see you there again!
Chris - 20 Sep 2004 18:00 |
Great place to spend a nice time in. cooooooool staff! wide variety of drinks. nice kitchen. a little bit expensive. in a way a kind of west end in peckham.
rob - 14 Sep 2004 19:52 |
It's a lovely little bar with great music, a good range of drinks, tasty food and a nice atmosphere. The owner's a great bloke and Lord Noel's reggae selections are very fine.
The beer could be cheaper (drink wine!) but it is still a unique and fun place to be. Go to the Wishing Well round the corner if you want a more traditional pub.
Ben - 10 Sep 2004 14:35 |
We had a similar experience at Bar Story recently. We were served after time and then within seconds of sitting down at a table were asked to leave even though it was still before drinking up time. We pointed out that we had only just bought our drinks and would appreciate 10 minutes to finish them and that if they were going to serve people after last orders then they should also let people finish their drinks. The owner threatened to call the police if we did not leave immediately. We weren't barred but what was once a local drinking place for us has now unfortunately become a no go area, which is a real shame.
anonymous - 2 Sep 2004 11:57 |
This could be a great venue. Unfortunately having visited this 'bar' for a birthday bash I cannot say that it is.
Having been in residence on a table for some time on a Friday evening we were asked whether we were dining, on replying that we were only drinking(at �3 per pint),we were asked to vacate our table immediately. Somewhat perturbed we asked for 15 minutes to finish our drinks. At this point we were informed that the poor souls that had booked the table(no sign of a reserved notice) required the table immediately. Oddly enough an argument ensued, threats of Police participation followed, one of our party on leaving was then confronted by the ''chef'' and was informed he was barred (no great loss). Such a shame what could be a nice little SOUTH LONDON bar/eaterie is being run into the ground!
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Imagine a french cafe, with light conversation and good conversation set in a garden centre and you have bar storey. Set in central Peckham, walking in is abreath of fresh air. The extensive drinks menu and exquisite food is gently offset by the friendly and personable service, which establishes this bar as an excellent venue for a quiet drink or a great start to a night out on the town. Within 30 seconds of Peckham Rye train station Bar Storey is convieniently placed for locals, lost travellers or those in search of a 'touch of class' in Peckham. A suprise to find and a pleasure to enjoy!
Charlie - 13 Jul 2004 22:17 |
bar story has the best sweet potato pie evah! one of the chefs looks like patrick kielty too (tasty)
everything here is done with a friendly laid-back charm that makes you want to move in for the summer
2 for 1 cocktails between 6-7 as well - this place iis the best in peckham!
laura - 13 Jul 2004 17:07 |
this is a great drinking place! Haven't tried the food yet, but, I loved it when i went for a quick drink before going to see a �2.99 film in Peckham. It has Wireless technology too...now that really is something! Great atmosphere. Dan...you're a moron!
Janine - 1 Jul 2004 18:13 |
Great venue, the reggae night on a Tuesday was great fun and we're looking forward to a chilled out Saturday on June 12 with a club called Steroid Abuse where you can bring kids. A winner in SE15!
steve - 9 Jun 2004 15:12 |
Great vibe, quirky and interesting, but surly service not with a smile. However compared to the rest of Peckham it is wonderful and ideal for a drink before (and after) the cinema. Sofa's outside are a lovely touch.
Cassius - 5 Jun 2004 16:40 |
A good place with a nice vibe - just a litle chaotic in terms of organisation!
The food is good (at times I have felt it is over priced but at other times I think it is reasonable value) but it sometimes takes ages to arrive!
I recommend the place but not if you are in a hurry!
John - 1 Jun 2004 11:14 |
I agree with the comment about the menu - I am quite a regular here, but went recently and was very surprised at how small (and not very tempting) the menu was compared to usual.
One other comment is that nearly every time I have eaten I have gotten at least one course free - because the order has been messed up in some way. Food was still good though (haven't tried the new menu yet) - it is pricey though.
It is the only bar like it in Peckham but needs to sort a few things out to keep the customers I would say.
Dom - 12 May 2004 15:21 |
I used to really like Bar Story but think the food has gone a bit down hill recently since the chef departed and particularly since The Rye Hotel reopened with better, cheaper food. Also think they need to tidy it up a bit as it's been open a while now and there are no excuses for having boxes of loo roll piled at the back of the bar. They could do with some more seating outside too because otherwise everyone takes all the chairs from inside leaving the bar looking a bit destitute. Otherwise though I still think it's a good place to have a drink.
Anon - 11 May 2004 14:10 |
The Bar Story has good food (if in my opinion a couple of pounds over-priced). The atmosphere is cool and the jazz on Mondays laid back. I am a frequent visitor and hope they succeed. Need to sort out the boxes above the toilet area though as they are unsightly.
Jonathan - 11 Apr 2004 19:30 |
Great to see Peckham getting another nice place to eat and drink. Good food (can't comment on the drink as I've only eaten there), friendly staff. Best use of a railway arch I have seen! I'll be going there a plenty! :D
Doug - 5 Apr 2004 16:15 |
Really really good, friendly staff, massive bottles of Budvar for �3 and a very gorgeous chef/club promoter guy as well. What more could you want? Officially the loveliest place in Peckham.
Claudia - 18 Mar 2004 13:47 |
Think Dan needs to wake up to the fact this is the *only* nice venue in Peckham if you fancy a chilled drink and good food. The only alternative in the area is (a) a rip-off (b) not that great. Give Bar Story a try, you'll be pleasantly surprised...
Rob - 15 Feb 2004 12:52 |
Very friendly staff, good food and selection of beers, wines . Interesting venue, great for special events, all year round. Oh, and the toilets are nice!
Ella, pleasantly surprised - 14 Feb 2004 20:08 |
nice bar. chilled. great food. interesting venue, has great potential for development overall. :0)
Lisa - 11 Feb 2004 15:33 |
good food, friendly staff, children friendly,value for money, good beer selection, I like it! Tim Peckham
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I thought Bar Story was excellent when I went last Saturday. The food was good and the staff friendly, especially the chef who made an effort to come over and see how our food was.
Toni - 30 Jan 2004 12:35 |
Weird little rat hole with a sliding door and a gruff French barmaid. Looks like a closing down garden centre from the front. Service needs improving rapidly. If you're passing have a look but don't get excited
Dan - 8 Jan 2004 17:21 |
