please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
I drink in Ye Olde Black Horse about twice a month. Beer selection is good and reasonably priced. Was in there yesterday afternoon and bar staff kept asking customers who was next to be served. This is wrong. Good bar staff should know who is next to be served. The pub wasn't busy so it was difficult to work out who is next to be served.
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Have tried other John Barras pubs, and have always been impressed with the quality of the food and service, so we thought we would give "ye olde blacke horse " a try. What a big disappointment !!! Waited ages at the bar to order food, even though the bar staff had seen me waiting, they served about 3 lots of people that came in after me. Then I was told there would be half an hour wait for our food. Fair enough. But then we waited an hour for our food, still no sign of it, so I went to the bar to enquire when we would be served our food. I was given the lame excuse that we'd had to wait longer because we wanted our steaks well done. After 1 and a half hours, we got our food, but one of the steaks was nearly raw, so it went back and we had to wait a further 10 mins for a properly cooked steak. We got an apology, but that's all. We have not had problems like this in any other pub we've been to. Not happy!!! Not impressed!!! Needless to say we won't be going to "ye olde black horse" ever again!!!
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Massive beer garden is a plus when there's not a load of kids running around. The barstaff seem in their own world at times though, slow service every time I visit, which is depressingly often, seeing as the nearest place in walking distance is the dreaded Metro.
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Now taken over as part of the John Barras restaurant chain. Already adding itself to the Funeral Wake scene, as witnessed by regular sightings at least of the Uden limos dropping off the mourning crowds.
Maybe better than the earlier excesses?
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A straightforward local pub. The layout allows them to show different sports at the same time and still have some areas available for the non-sports fans. Always a good selection of draft beers, served with a smile!
Last time I was there (a Friday afternoon), a spontaneous accordion concert broke out with dancing & singing - bizarre but good fun.
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I'm very local but I won't use it. I'm put off by the regular traces, especially at weekends, of the aftermath along the road the next morning with broken glasses and bottles and extensive vomit and whatever. It seems to be far worse than other pubs in the area, even the Metro Bar.
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I haven't been to the Ye Olde Black Horse since the summer and was so glad that my mates and I went back. The entire pub (both inside and out) is covered with Christmas decorations and it looked great! The pub had a great, friendly, warm and welcoming atmosphere. The music was catchy and lively, happy, chatty and very friendly bar staff who served us with humour and professionalism. I will, with my mates, definitely be coming back over the festive period!!!
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Visited the pub last week - the first time in ages. Good to see that the choice of bitter has improved. There were three when I visited. Keep up the good work.
Boyne - 23 Sep 2010 20:43 |
just wish this pub would make a effort for st george's day
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great pub,and big garden for the summer and great bar staff,well worth a visit.
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Went into the pub last night to watch the England v Croatia game. Pub was very busy and the staff worked extremely hard to serve everyone; however, a couple of more people behind the pub would have helped.
Can the staff please sort out the courage best. More often than not it doesn't taste right. As the pub only does one bitter it would be good if tasted as it should.
Boyne - 11 Sep 2008 12:40 |
Would be a nice old pub if they fixed their fridges! The bar staff have to keep going down to the cellar whenever you want a bottle of something cold and inevitably it's never cold!
Nice for a relaxing, unpretentious drink and a chat. Jukebox is good too!
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Not too bad. The comments about the bar staff are pertinent enough though: The Rose Bruford drama students on the payroll have only the haziest concept of service. Perhaps they should get up an improv class about actually pouring a few pints rather than leaning on the bar chatting about student stuff to their chums.
That gripe aside, the landlady is very pleasant, as is the decor.
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Started visiting the pub a few months ago after an absence of many years. Stopped going because of cost and dodgy managers. The Landlady, Sam, has done a wonderful job in turning around the pub.
Boyne - 29 May 2008 21:07 |
Not my cup-of-tea at all.Find some of the staff to be quite rude.
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A very busy pub in a residential area, but it is not a family pub any more. Is it only me that wants to sit and chat without tv's in every corner shouting at you, the smell of food is overpowering, are there any pubs these days that do not sell food? And oh, the bar staff, if you want to stand and chat please do it elsewhere and try and serve the customers.
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This pub has potential to be a great pub. But I sadly stopped going there as it always seemed, the landlord spent more time our side of the bar drinking than serving the punters. Has car park on site, reasonable beer garden and thick beams lending itself to that old feel to it inside. I'm hoping for new management to restore some magic to this landmark boozer.
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As the founder of the Hollies children's Home reunion group. I used this place over the last two years for the reunion of ex residents of the Hollies Children's home. We were made very welcome by the Landlady, and the food was very good over 100 people turned up last September and not one person complained about the standard of the food or service, in fact most thanked me for a great day there, the beer garden was made fully available to us.
So pleased were we that we will be back again this year.
Paul
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Ian,
It is not the first time that there has been an exodus from the Olde Black to the Alma. The same happened about fifteen years ago when I and others left because prices were too high. It is a shame because the Olde Black has the potential to be a great pub.
Richard - 1 Oct 2004 17:41 |
since the arrival of new management 32 regular folk have left and gone to the alma!!!!says alot about the olde black
ian - 28 Aug 2004 13:05 |
Small but good pub, they used to have a music quiz but it has stopped now. Nice beers and a surprising large beer garden.
stuart - 12 Jan 2004 12:53 |
Smallish pub with a beer garden, quite nice surburban pub, a bit out of the way from shops or anything. Used to have a good music quiz, don't know if it still does.
Aaron - 9 Jan 2004 01:13 |
