please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Very sadly now closed - had the feeling with surly staff and random opening hours that Sam Smiths had been deliberately running down trade over the last couple of years. Used to be a wonderful pub in a great location (but that is the problem - it will no doubt be sold for a fortune for housing)
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Big fan of virtually all SS's London establishments, but a bad experience 3/4 years ago put this one off the radar - we (2) decided to try again on 16/01/16 fairly near the start of a SS Crawl. Pitching up at around 9pm, the lights were on inside but the doors were locked, a polite knock at the door brought a surly young lady, who when another group of 3 who had arrived behind us asked whether they were open, rudely asked if it looked like it! Well yes it sort of did, and if not then why not? Firmly off the list, for good this time!
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Big fan of virtually all SS's London establishments, but a bad experience 3/4 years ago put this one off the radar - we (2) decided to try again on 16/01/16 fairly near the start of a SS Crawl. Pitching up at around 9pm, the lights were on inside but the doors were locked, a polite knock at the door brought a surly young lady, who when another group of 3 who had arrived behind us asked whether they were open, rudely asked if it looked like it! Well yes it sort of did, and if not then why not? Firmly off the list, for good this time!
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great pub, good atmosphere
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After a pint at the beautiful Angel in the Fields I decided to visit more Sam Smith's venues in the neighbourhood to see if they matched up. The Dover Castle was not as visually striking, but had a place of its own on the podium of pub glory for its sense of serenity. There were few in at around 4pm on a Saturday, but there was just enough of a burble to remind you that it was a pub & not a church, as some Sam Smith's places strike me. A pint of OBB as usual, 2.90 as usual, and a pleasant half hour.
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Friendly enough, German lady behind the bar is nice and the food is not just standard stuff (served until 9 I just got in in time).
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Quiet and tourist free sam smiths. If you dont like sam smiths your brain is not functioning properly so i suggest you seek medical attention.
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A small and cosy pub tucked away down a quiet side street. It took me a little while to find as I hadn�t realised that Weymouth Mews is effectively an �H� shape and I was initially in the wrong half, but it was worth persevering.
The main bar area runs along the front of the pub with the curved and wood panelled bar counter on the left. To the left of this is a glass display case built in to the wall containing various items of silverware. The floor is carpeted and there are tied back curtains at the windows which create a cosy and relaxed ambience. There was a small fireplace at one end and a few pictures dotted around the wood panelled walls. The seating is mostly green leather button backed benches around the perimeter, and a few leather topped bar stools. There is a small courtyard area at the back and also a small wood panelled snug.
There was no sign of any food being offered, although the brewery�s own Chilli Nuts were pretty good. Unfortunately being a Samuel Smith�s pub, the beer choice was very limited with just their own Old Brewery Bitter, and the solitary cider was again their own Reserve Cider. A board listed a few more beers that were available by the bottle however.
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As a regular at the Dover Castle, I know the Russian mentioned in the previous post has since been barred for his behaviour. The pub has new managers and don't tolerate this behaviour. I am happy to say this pub has improved a great deal since they have taken over.
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Found this place a few weeks ago and now have a regular drinks with colleagues once a week after work. Decent pub, and the beer is good.
The staff let the place down though and do not seem to be able to control the regular drunk Russian that seems to be in there regularly. There was alot of staff drinks going on the other day and this idiot just got worse and worse, offending many people and spilling drinks all over the place. Pity as it seemed to spoil a decent night, many of the females in the bar that night wont be going back after he letched all over them.
The bargirl with the broken arm needs to pay more attention, I observed a near fight breaking out between this drunk Russion kid and some other groups, and the staff just seemed to think it was nothing.
Pull finger management, this could be a great pub, sort the staff and the drunks out and we will be back.
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Had a couple of pre-dinner drinks in here on Friday - selected the pub based on recommendations on BITE, and wasn't disappointed. Nice back-street mews pub, friendly and helpful bar staff, and good beer (although the Old Brewery Bitter was off). Need to return for a longer visit.
Oktup - 28 Nov 2010 18:30 |
excellent back street boozer, sams was superb, seems to have been done up recentely, still retains a nice atmosphere
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Desolate Sam Smith's museum piece hidden down a mews near Harley Street. It seems that Sam Smith's have taken over the role of the National Trust and English Heritage. They seem to have so many historical or quirky landmark pubs that are usually empty despite selling cheap beer.
The only other people in on this visit were two actors, maybe ironically, from a Yorkshire soap. Yorkshire men seeking Yorkshire ale... except they were drinking the lager. The Sam Smith's OBB (as is so often the case, the only draught bitter the SS museums sell) was it's usual cheap and cheerful self, not something to drink all night in spite of the price. Worth popping in to though, as the area is pretty poor for decent alehouses
anonymous - 6 Sep 2010 19:41 |
Is going downhill rapidly I'm afraid to say! There have been far too many unexplained closures of late, no stable managers for some months now and the tall, jester like barman has been let go too so I hear!
A recent refurb has brightened it up nicely and it should be experiencing a new lease of life but it just doesn't feel the same to me anymore. I only hope that things get back on track! Will revisit again in a month or so to see ....
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Absolultey gorgeous pub, spent a good eight minutes in here today and its lovely. Would perhaps give it more than 1/10 if I had have been able to get a drink......... and it wasn't busy, only one guy at the bar....... God only knows how long he was waiting.
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A handsome pub and nice change from the other pubs in the area, i stumbled in here last night and thought it had nice staff and had many things going for it. To be honest i did not much like the beer even at the give away prices but i probably would return and try the beers again in the hope i could be converted.
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This place is certainly up there with the best Sam Smiths pubs although I�m not their biggest fan. OBB is on hand pump and I thought that it was well served by a very friendly and polite barman.
This place is on a quiet mews so it isn�t that easy to just stumble across, but it is easy to stumble out of as I could have happily stayed for a few more beers.
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I had an appointment at Harley street. By some miricle, I stumbled across this amazing little thing. �2.35 for a pint of stout? Yes please. Friendly bar staff.
I will be going here again at some point. Couldn't believe my luck after finding this place.
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splendid.
2nd stop on the 19 pub, central london, sammy smith crawl.....and hard to leave.
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My favourite Sam Smith's pub yet, with the Yorkshire Grey second. Off the beaten track so not full of boorish suits, its a proper pub with good food which is exceptionally reasonable (�2.99 for a lovely sausage and onion sandwich and chips!) and the beer is well kept and low priced. I had a few OBB's which were lovely. Not everyone likes SS beers, but if (like me) you do, then a visit here is highly recommended for a lovely break from the chaos of London!
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A great escape from the dangers of post Christmas shopping.
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I can see why this place gets such rave reviews, its a proper pub and its very cheap and the staff where fairly friendly. I personally dont like sam smiths beers but i wont let that detract my feeling that this is a gem of place so close to the hellish oxford circus.
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A real pub serving Sam Smiths at �1.90/pint - got to be the cheapest pint outside a Weatherspoons.
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A gem of a Sam Smiths tucked away. Great pub but depends how you feel about s/s beers.
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It's nice to find a pub near Oxford Circus which isn't heaving with tourists. It's tucked away in a back street so you'd never stumble across it. Beer was well-kept and reasonably priced. However, having chosen the place by the promise of food, we were rather miffed to find that they don't do food on a Thursday as "It's too busy". Surely that would be the best time to do food as you have more people willing to spend their cash? Anyway, we'd planned to spend the evening there but didn't bother after that, so their loss.
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Nice to find a very quiet pub 5 minutes from the hell that is Oxford Circus - Enjoyed my pints of �1.90 Old Brewery.Well maintained pub,woody-in a wooden sense.
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Fabulous setting. Incredible value for money. Interesting and mixed clientele.
All depends on your views on Sam Smith's beer: I can't honestly say I'm a fan, at least for more than a pint or two, but that said I still concur it's a very good pub.
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The best secret pub North of Oxford Circus.
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What an absolute cracker this one is.
Sam Smiths pubs can be a bit hit and miss in central London (think Glasshouse Stores, Duke of York, etc) but this is a real gem. With its ales still from the cask, itself becoming a rarity is London's Sam Smiths pubs, the pub itself is cosy and welcoming, with a friendly landlord and those low prices to match.
If you can find this place, then go.
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Why can't they transport this pub to Surbtion? Then it would be my local for absolute sure. This is a magnificent pub tucked down a lovely mews and well away from the hurly burly of Oxford Street. Even better in Winter as this is a very cosy pub with a wood pannelled interior and good seating. Still great in the summer tho.
I like the Cittie of York and the Princess Louise but this is my favourite Sams pub of all.
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Yep can concur with the postings below. Excellent period pub hidden away in a cobbled mews between Oxford Circus and Regents Park with period features as described by Mr Bonser below.
Full range of SS bottle beers, lagers and ciders available and OBB on handpump. Which , at the price level described below , meant we managed to squeeze an extra round out of our �10 whip.
Overall experience was very good beer, very good service and therefore overall very good pub.
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A tip top pub, hidden away between Oxford Circus and Regents Park. A very happy beer find!
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Used to pop in here for a quick pint before company shindigs (when times were more lucrative) in the Royal Institute of British Architects which is just round the corner on Portland Place. Recently spent a whole evening here and what a lovely pub. Friendly barman, good beer (Sam Smith's bitter was very palatable) and 5 pints of beer for �10.02 excellent value. Food is traditional pub grub and again good value but our order of 5 mains plus a couple of side dishes seemed to overwhelm the kitchen as one of our bowls of chips failed to appear and we got garlic bread instead, still it was very nice. Pub decor is traditional old style like a pub ought to be.
Dan65 - 14 Jul 2009 19:20 |
One of the best kept pub addresses in London; highly recommended. Good quality, cheap beer! A must!
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Splendid Sam Smiths pub in a quiet well hidden cobbled mews about 5 minutes walk from Oxford Circus. It feels a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of Central London.
Etched windows denoting "Bottle Entrance" and "Retail Entrance" tell us that this was once a multi-roomed pub. It's now been opened out into a single bar, but still with a very traditional feel. There's a separate room at the back, which is accessed through a sliding wooden door. Here there's a fine Worthingtons Pale Ale mirror.
The main bar has sporting prints on the walls, settles and wood pannelling. This, combined with Victorian light fittings and etched windows, help create a fine traditional atmosphere in true Sam's style. Note in particular, a fine small photograph of people in uniform outside the pub in 1944 on the day before D -day.
An interesting feature is small mirrors underneath a beam which enabled coachmen to see when their passengers were ready to leave the pub in the days when it was still divide up. The pub is carpeted throughout.
It's listed on CAMRA's London Regional Inventory.
Food is served between 12 and 2.30, also 6 to 8.30pm.
Sam Smith's OBB is on handpump here - � 1.90p.
I'm not a big fan of Sam Smiths beers, but they do have some fine London pubs and this is undoubtedly one of the best, and one of my favourites.
It's well worth finding, but I think it's closed on Sundays, so you check this if necessary.
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Chaps & Chapessess! This place is wonderful and a real find, hidden a short trot between Great Portland Street/Oxford Circus/Marylebone High Street. Whisper it amongst we drinkers true; far too good to ruin by allowing the massess in. Enjoy!
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Sat in the Dover Castle right now, stumbled across it on a shortcut from Oxford Circus to Paddington. This is a pub as pubs were before chains intervened - its like my village local yet I'm less than quarter of a mile from Oxford Circus. I have just been served an excellent pint of Sam Smith's for the gobsmacking sum of �1.89. I will be back. Often!
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Wonderfully maintained Sam Smith's pub - all polished wood and shiny glasses. Just the place to bed down for afternoon drinks in Winter. Very cosy and has the 'proper pub' feel.
chick - 19 Feb 2009 16:45 |
What a shame the old managers have left. Standard of food and beer has definately gone downhill. I heard they left cause of illness does anyone know why. Note to the new managers employ a chef or learn 2 cook
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i love this place ..
Have been impressing friends for years when taking them to this small but perfectly formed oasis so close to the general central chaos
Excellent prices too!!!!
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Without a doubt one of the best Samuel Smiths pubs I've ever visited. Cask OBB plus the full range of the brewery's products in the fridge, all served by a very welcoming barman. The food here is supposed to be excellent and it was all we could do to resist ordering a very appealing steak & ale pie. Sadly we had to move on, but undoubtedly I'll pop back in when in the area again.
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Excellent Sam Smiths pub, tucked away in a mews near Harley Street. OBB on handpump. Recommended.
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Went in on a Friday evening, so relatively busy and one or two rowdy punters. More than made up for it by the friendly barmaid, cheap prices (cheaper than many in Birmingham, nevermind London) and beautiful interior. Is the very essence of what a pub should be like.
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A special place to know between Great Portland Street and Marylebone. Former stable block pub. Very cosy and pleasant. Especially on a Winter's night. Highly recommended.
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Tucked away down Weymouth Mews, you are unlikely to stumble on this pub unless you are very lucky. A Sam Smith�s pub, so it has been looked after pretty well, and contains lots of original dark wood. Undoubtedly originally a servants� pub serving the many large houses in the area. It has not been �gastrocised� so still has the feel of a real pub. They have not installed seating on high stools, or massive sofas, so seating is for normal people. Only Sam Smith�s beers of course, but they do have the handpump version of OBB - and at Sam Smith�s excellent prices of course. This is a very comfortable and welcoming pub that is highly recommended.
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Reasonable pub in a pretty mews location close to Great Portland Street. Reasonable Sam Smiths OBB. Could do with some tables outside at the front. Nothing out of the ordinary inside. Overall I can't see what all the fuss is about.
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Lovely Sam Smiths pub, wide range of SS beers, great location. A few too many meeja types, but its still good here.
Zagreb is right though - landlord has a face like a smacked arse: really awful, swearing and muttering under his breath when someone (customer and/or staff) doesn't meet his apparently very high standards.
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A nice Sam Smith's pub tucked away in Marylebone. I've enjoyed a decent pint and a friendly crowd every time I've popped in on the way home from work.
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Nice Interior, beer was lousy last night, one pint of bitter & I cleared off to find somewhere else, shame really coz I usually like Sam Smiths, & I have had better here.
We should keep this a secret, because if it gets too busy, too often the locals might get a petition up to close it as it is in a very quiet Mews.
Landlord looked such a miserable F*** that it made me feel much better being on call and only able to have the one.
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Brilliant pub, well off the beaten track but worth finding as it's in a mews.
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Nice pub with well kept and served beers. The beer is cheap and the location central. Inside of pub is not remarkable but plenty of room and a traffic less street outside. Beer is served at its best even if the �1.78 bitter is not my cup of tea.
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Having moved into the area a few months ago have tried most of the local pubs and decided this is the favourite. Well kept pint of Old Brewery - and as for all the Sam Smiths pubs at an amazing price (�1.78 at present) for London. Same 2 barmen always seem to be working when we go in which is great as so many of the pubs turnover barstaff so quickly. Shame they are not allowed seating outside - I wonder if the smoking ban will hit them?
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A great pub to go on a saturday night, an iteresting group at the bar especially a fab eastender with a walking stick , think he was called bob . An excellant barman good service, wonderful to find taddy porter and imperial stout.
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cracking pub - get's packed on a friday night - get down early to get a seat. Price of a pint is fab and you can easily afford a kebab on the way home after a night out here. Bar staff good - bit of a small bar bearing in mind how busy it can get. Toilets are ok. Location is a little bit funny to find - but once you have found it - it's worth remembering it.
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Beer: Good, well kept - Sam Smiths, which I guess is OK if you like their offerings.
Food: Hearty, old school and reasonably priced - no overpriced gastro-style nonsense in evidence.
Ambiance: Safe and reasonably friendly - decent mix of clientele.
Bogs: clean and well equipped.
A decent and genuine local boozer. Very definitely a pub that serves food rather than a restaurant that serves beer, which is becoming all too prevalent.
Being off the beaten track saves it from a lot of the ills that befalls other pubs in the area.
I enjoyed my recent evening there and would return without hesitation.
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A deservedly popular pub in a Mews just off Cavendish Street. Always decent bar staff.
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Great little pub hidden away down a side mews, but only a stone's throw from Oxford Circus. Manages to get packed on weekday evenings, particularly around the time workers are leaving offices, but quietens down later, and is quite peaceful on Saturday evenings. A Sam Smith's pub, with all their usual beer. Not a massive fan of OBB, but the stout is spot on, and they have a great selection of bottled beers. Nice atmosphere, with two rooms, so the pub is bigger than it looks from the outside. Conclusion: an excellent pub, unforgiveable to miss it.
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Nice pub, attentive staff and a good mix of clientele - fortunately on my visit the braying media types were coming and going on a regular basis so the more mellow longer-staying visitors like myself weren't subject to over the top mobile phone calls for long.
Big enough to get a group of friends together in and not as difficult to find as some people have suggested.
Probably the pick of the Sam Smiths pubs in the area, if that's not damning it with faint praise.
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Not been in for a while, but a definite gem if it's not changed radically over the last year or so since I last drank here. Even enjoying a standing pint outside, you feel well away from the hordes, so hidden is the place.
Now having been reminded of its existence from its addition to BITE, I've promised myself another visit soon. You should do the same!
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One of my favourite boozers and always pop in for a pint on rare excursions into town. How can somewhere this good be in the middle of such a terrible city for pubs? Mystical forces must be at play. Even the beer is cheap.
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Lovely little backwater on cobbled Mews. Cheap Sam Smiths and hearty pub grub. Great on a Friday lunchtime. Lot of suits come in here, but only to be expected. Nice to sit outside on "road" and not be run over.
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Loved this pub. I totally agree about the country feel, tucked away from the main chaos. The barman was charming and really quite witty (and he was only 18!). We couldn't have had a better starting point for our Sam Smiths crawl. It did however set a very high standard to which some 'Smith's' in the area fell short.
It was pretty quiet being a saturday in an area that is soooooo busy in the week but the atmosphere was still welcoming and you couldn't help noticing how lovely and clean it was. A well looked after pub.
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Occassionally I go out of my way to visit this pub on the way home, I just feel drawn to it, I liken it to a country pub, lovely atmosphere, charming local characters, a nice pint of Old Brewery Bitter and relax after a hard day at work.
It is quite small and tucked away definitely worth a visit, but beware I think you will find it packed to the rafters at 6pm on a Friday evening.
Ginja - 17 May 2005 18:10 |
A Sam Smith's pub.
I love finding hidden pubs and the Castle is definitely tucked away. A quiet, quality little place. If I didn't have a job I would spend every afternoon there with a pint and a book.
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*note Nigger should be bigger - keyboard it broken*
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Nigger than it looks from the outside, a lovely pub, medium sized but maintains a small pub atmosphere - really nice - a good sam smiths pub but with no sovreign best on tap unfortunatly - the backroom is particularly nice and it is quite enough to sit in on a week day afternoon and get some work done at the same time - the steak sandwichs are particularly good. not the best kind of a pub for the whole night but very good for a first drink a swift half or a good lunch.
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Love it one of the best kept secrets in London. Food is wonderfull, beer is great.
Jimmy the K - 24 Sep 2004 13:48 |
You wouldn't know this pub was here - Down a little backstreet.
A nice surprise, Sam Smiths so is great beer, out of the way so no dodgy punters.
TheGP - 21 Sep 2004 13:56 |
A hidden gem - medium sized pub in a back street - I think I would kill to live a stumbling distance from a pub like this.
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Approaching from the north the road looks like a back lane, you would not guess that there is a pub down there. Good beer.
Bob - 25 Feb 2004 20:03 |
Well-hidden little Sam Smith's pub - apparently very busy weekday evenings, quiet on Saturdays, closed on Sundays!
Giles - 19 Jan 2004 10:13 |
