Blackbirds, Hertfordback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Has had a major refurb and though it has lost some of its "punk" character it now works as a family-orientated food-let place in the day and a dance around the handbags outing on a Friday or Saturday night.
I was in there on Friday and although I enjoyed the stream of 1980s disco music I did wonder what the under 25s made of it - they made up just over half the clientele, whereas the rest ran the gamut from 30-somethings to the Saga crowd.
A decent selection of ales, including the omnipresent Doom Bar, and they've still got the Brains SA from the old days. Behind the bar are a load of taps for trendy overpriced flowery craft ales, but each to their own.
I went back on Sunday for Sunday lunch and it was decent, clocking in at just under a tenner for roast beef etc.
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Used to be a sports pub, known for all the friday and saturday night fights outside, but they've changed their image. A pub where you have to be very drunk to enjoy. Good drink deals you get large j bombs for 2.50, and fishbowls for a fiver. They have a small dance floor which plays pop music and cheesy classics. When you're smashed it's pretty good fun as everyone starts singing when the classics come on such as whitney houston and cyndi lauper. They have a lounge which has odd mismatched slight gothic decoration and furniture which you can have a chat with your mates. Outside they have a large smoking area which attracts the alternative crowd. People dress from towie style to casual and a few heavy metal types. The toilets are notorious; girls go in the cubicle together for safety! For some reason there seems to be mosquito netting above the toilets (decoration?); and the toilet floor always seems to be damp with god knows what and the toilets don't flush.
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Oops. Just checked their Facebook site. "All 5 plasmas ready for the big game ," it screams. Looks like I was wrong about most of the TV screens having gone (see my earlier review).
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This is not a pub I normally go into, as last time I went in - back in about 2007 - it was full of TV screens, had no real ale, and seemed to be catering for people half ... make that one third ... my age. However, I was intrigued by a blackboard outside advertising real ales and a cask marque sticker on the door, so I ventured in at about 5pm on a drab April Thursday. Most of the TV screens have gone, so it no longer comes across as catering for the Sky Sports fans. There are lots of sofas, none of which match (as is the modern fashion), some vaguely Addams Family-style netting scattered around to give the place a bit of edgy ambiance, plus there are some tables and chairs for people who want to eat. There are a couple of quiz machines, and some heavily advertised evening events so it is probably not a place for a quiet pint in the evening, but off peak it is worth the occasional visit for a change of pace. I saw the barman from the White Horse in there, and seeing as the ale is about a pound a pint cheaper than the White Horse, who can blame him? They offer two real ales. When I visited it was Brentwood Brewery's Easter seasonal special, Hot XXX Buns, and Brain's Rev James. The former cost �2.30, plus they are operating a loyalty scheme during April and May: buy five ales, get the sixth one free (as per CoffeeSucks and JDW, you get a little loyalty booklet on which the pub keeps track of how many pints you have bought). Barman was friendly and informative. Locals were ... er ... local, and seemed to know each other. I asked about the retro music night and it is mainly 80s and 90s stuff, apparently. I regard that as modern ...
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I popped in here on Tuesday evening and thankfully there were no events on as it was pretty quiet apart from the courtyard being packed with student types. The barmaid was very friendly, but there is no real ale as only a standard draught selection is available along with Amstel. There are plasma screens throughout which were showing music videos on my visit. There is also a small room at the rear of the pub which houses a pool table.
The �floor fillers� and �R&B� nights advertised are the sort of things I run a mile from these days, so although I wouldn�t return now I may have done ten or so years ago.
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The place has really improved a lot over the last six months so credit where credit is due. Pub is clean and friendly and the bouncers are doing an excellent job there, loved by Police and dont letch all over you like the last lot there. Keep up the good work to all.
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very cheap, very loud and very full. expect queues in the rain for hours to be waiting at the bar for ages and disappointed with the drink u finally put your hands on.
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Noisy pub with bouncers at the door at weekends and beer not worth talking about.
Avoid.
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Haha, totally agree with 'scottjediknight'. I worked in Hertford for a few years, and this pub is simply awful.
I complained about the food, and was sent a letter with a voucher to go back there, but I threw it into the bin, even though it meant a free meal.
Nothing about this place is worth going back for!
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AN ABSOLOUTE SHIT PIT ,BEER ALWAYS WARM,SERVICE IS ALWAYS CRAP AND ITS ALWAYS FULL OF TEENY CHAVS !!!,AVOID AT ALL COSTS PLENTY OF OTHER GOOD BARS IN TOWN
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Limited choice of poor quality beers.
A mecca for the young and stupid.
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Better now they've done it up but still shit pub. Bar staff are losers. was ok pub on weekends when I was 15 and didnt know any better
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looks like needs another refurb ! 7pm and giving fosters (yuk) away at �1.50 a pint but place still empty ,,, perhaps too dire even for ?? opted for bottle of becks at same price -- no bitter at all -- not even john smiths. drank me bottle and left -- enough said
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Has a certain Weatherspoons feel to it. Cheap drinks'n'food. Clientelle a fairly mixed bunch, but is was ok, not amazing but not dire either.
Abit - 13 Sep 2004 13:22 |
Very good pub! Recent refurb has improved the place, it is no longer the dirty scummy rockers pub now. Is a nice trendy looking pub with cheap drinks and lots of entertainment. Open till midnight on Thurs, Fri, Sat! Disco on Friday nights and still has rock night on Sats! Live music 1 sunday a month and quiz on monday. Topped off with Curry Club on Wednesday and Karaoke on Thursday! Is now possiblly Hertford's busiest pub, well it was by a million miles last night! Lastly, it offers the cheapest drink in Hertford with Carlsburg �1.68 a pint!!!!
Anthony - 20 Aug 2004 11:38 |
Trying to be what the old Blackbirds was...never will be!!Ok for a late drink at the weekends, thats about it.
stan - 5 Aug 2004 09:20 |
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