The William Harvey Inn, Willesborough

Has vastly improved. Still only one real ale (London Pride) but is good quality. Manager and bar staff very friendly. I have been there several times and never encountered the problems that the other two commenters have.

Good pub. I would recommend it.

ps. I do live nearby and have never had any problems from there.

13 Oct 2011 15:10

The Lord Moon Of The Mall, Whitehall

I agree with Fritz. The new manager has vastly improved things. I have posted several times about the slowness of service but that has now changed.

The service is now as quick as you could reasonably expect for a busy pub with the staff usually eager to serve (even the laziest one appears to have pulled her socks up slightly) and I believe that the majority of this is down to Mark.

There are also a couple of new duty managers, Agnes and Kevin, who appear to be cracking the whip and keeping the others in control.

I no longer expect 15 minute waits like I used to (but if I get nostalgic I can go across the road to the Silver Cross where you are almost guaranteed to only get served once every hour and charged 50% more for the priviledge)

28 Sep 2009 11:51

The Lord Moon Of The Mall, Whitehall

STOP PRESS!!
They now do chips.

They have been doing chips for about a month now.
This backfired on them on the second/third day when a coach load of tourists ordered 47 portions of fish and chips and couldn't understand why it might take some time to complete their order.

But they do chips. I've never been so excited. They do chips. WOOHOO

23 Jun 2009 16:12

The Lord Moon Of The Mall, Whitehall

I would like to say Roger B's critique is probably the most accurate one I have seen thus far.

I was told that the chips issue was because the tenants upstairs had complained about the smell but I am happy to concede.

The explanantions given to the customers vary wildly. I have heard "we don't have a frier", "our frier is broken", "it's because we are a listed building" even "It's because we are so close to Buckingham Palace"

Albeit none of these excuses were given to a customer with a London accent. I wonder why!

11 May 2009 16:19

The Lord Moon Of The Mall, Whitehall

Alas it is true! Jenna (I have been corrected personally) is being taken up The Pyke* by the area manager.

With her up The Pyke* will we ever be served again?

* The Montagu Pyke, Charing Cross Road

2 Apr 2009 16:57

The Swan, Ashford

A couple of pints of Hobgoblin. Very good condition and well kept.

Very friendly service by very attentive staff. Would recommend this pub to anyone.

19 Mar 2009 16:38

The Lord Moon Of The Mall, Whitehall

Outside of a lunchtime this pub is great and the service is fine. Also, the barstaff are always friendly albeit a little surly.

However, between 12 and 2 the place is heaving with workshy civil servants and coffee loving tourists. They usually have 4-5 staff on but 3-4 of these are making coffee.

Apparently I have been misnaming "the American" I have been calling her Jenny where I have now been informed that her name is in fact Gemma. Apologies Gemma.

Great pub which I would recommend to anyone outside the hours of a lunchtime

19 Mar 2009 16:28

The William Harvey Inn, Willesborough

Nice friendly pub. Very friendly and attentive bar staff.

Only one small niggle.

The only real ale they serve is Harvey's and it appears that they don't serve many pints of it as it usually tastes a bit stale.

If you like lager or chemically enhanced smoothflow bitter then it is the ideal pub.

9 Jul 2008 16:37

The Lord Moon Of The Mall, Whitehall

Drunken Bore Strongers?? I resemble that comment.

Anyway. Horror of all horrors!!! Ashley is leaving. Will we ever get served again unless Jenny is on (and even she has been missing for the last 3 weeks so I don't even know if she's left).

It's a travesty. They should never have let him go.

9 Jul 2008 16:20

The Lord Moon Of The Mall, Whitehall

I'm over 6 feet tall. I weigh too much. In short (no pun intended) I am a big lad. So why do I become invisible to the bar staff as soon as I approach the bar? There are only 3 decent staff in the pub, Ashley - service with a smile, The American (Jenny?) who if she had a volume knob would be my ideal woman and the short Scots woman who is nowhere near as scary as she looks. The rest are a nightmare. There was a tall black super-smiley man on the other day who was very good but I haven't seen him since (obviously he was too efficient so they sacked him) To highlight the general ineffectiveness of the staff - one day last week I popped in after work. When I arrived, Biancaaaaaaa was wrapping cutlery. She wrapped a few, popped off to the loo, wrapped a couple more, popped off for a fag with the tattooed man, etc. etc. At one point one of the regulars came in and started talking to her. He had obviously been waiting to be served for some time. He said something to her which she couldn't hear so she went behind the bar to the beer pumps asked him what he said, answered him and then went back to the cutlery leaving him still standing there unserved. I was in there for approx 45 minutes and at the end of that time the cutlery basket held approx 30-40 items. that's less than 1 a minute!!!

6 Jun 2008 16:50

The Lord Moon Of The Mall, Whitehall

Yet again very slow service this lunchtime. Ashley was his usual attentive self but unless he or the American are in there is next to no chance of getting served. Regularly, I stand there with note in hand trying to obtain eye contact but nope. Often there will be 3 or 4 congregating around the coffee machine. And what's with the ice-cold ales? I had condensation on my glass. Real ale should be served around 12 degrees Centigrade not at (as the blue neon suggests) -0. How do you get -0 anyway? -1 maybe, -0.1 maybe but -0? Mr Celsius must be turning in his grave. But as previously mentioned, it's the only place in Whitehall that serves decent beer (albeit over-chilled) at a decent price.

28 May 2008 16:54