BITE user comments - Bronxrichie
Comments by Bronxrichie
The Town Hall Tavern, Manchester
Nothing wrong with this pub - straightforward, clean, businesslike, has clearly had the few bob spent on it that earlier commenter was asking for. A nice little bolt hole if on business in Manchester city centre. 2x real ales on tap on my visit (Thwaites, Theakston's).
18 May 2012 11:55
The Timothy Taylor's Landlord served up here was the freshest, tastiest pint I have had in a long time. The pub is part of a hotel in an interesting historic building and is an upmarket kind of environment.
16 Apr 2012 04:05
This establishment is called the Betsy Smith now. They wanted �3 to get in at 10pm on a Friday night, when I stopped by. So I didn't go in. I call that a fail for a pub, maybe it's OK for a club.
19 Jan 2012 23:10
Royal Ettrick Hotel, Edinburgh
Decent bar in a hotel, in an area without too many other options pretty much sums it up. But it does have McEwans Export and Deuchars IPA as well as Carlsberg. Tartan carpets, naturally!
13 Jan 2012 01:54
OK people scrap my two previous comments. I was getting mixed up with The Union at Sheldon Square W2, an entirely different (or possibly just slightly different) canalside affair
5 Dec 2011 01:48
Maybe what's happened is that it's been taken over in May and re-themed. Your intrepid reporter will go & investigate.
5 Dec 2011 01:41
This place is OK if you're in the Paddington Basin development. It's a fairly standard issue chain bar, perhaps fractionally better than par for that format. I would say it's been open for a year or two, certainly longer than since May 2011.
5 Dec 2011 01:37
The quintessence of an Edinburgh boozer of the old school. Fantastic location - yards from the station but virtually unfindable to the uninitiated in the geography of Edinburgh's Old Town. Tons of history but worn very lightly. Plain and simple, you might even say spartan.
So behave yourself if you're English, and you'll probably be just fine.
24 Jan 2011 01:33
Good independent pub, large garden, very handy for the Grand Union Canal. A few rough edges give it a bit of soul you just don't get in the chains. A real bonus for the area. Just the job if with kids - no change from 2005 in that respect!
24 Jan 2011 01:15
Lively mock Tudor pub. I was disappointed that you couldn't order a Navy Rum in a pub named after Admiral Anson, who basically founded the Royal Navy as we know it (introduced the first navy uniform, for example). Was told that Greene King, the proprietors wouldn't allow any drink to be sold which they hadn't supplied, and navy rum wasn't on their list.
Sort it out Greene King, you useless Bury St Edmunds landlubbers. This is not the spirit that built an empire. Rule the waves? Couldn't run a piss up in a navy pub.
24 Jan 2011 00:58
Existing reviews far too harsh. As at Xmas 2010 nice friendly local (daytime visit!), staff fine, the London Pride fine, the largest steak & kidney pudding I have ever seen on the menu at a reasonable price - altogether not a bad pitstop if waiting for a coach from Portsmouth's "Hard Interchange" or train for adjacent Harbour station. Pompey stand up!
24 Jan 2011 00:30
The Marine, Saltburn by the Sea
Good pub with real ales available. A real period piece, almost a time capsule (flock wallpaper to die for).
Great view out to sea, yards from the top of the cliff lift.
1 Jul 2010 23:01
The Duke of Devonshire, Southsea
A very nice locals' local, the way they ought to be.
Decent real ales on tap.
6 Mar 2010 02:35
Closest pub to the Manx Electric Railway terminus. If the locals get over-friendly, you can escape by tram!
18 Aug 2009 16:04
Pretty good neighbourhood local in studenty East Oxford, aimed at a younger clientele. Real ale available. No complaints.
23 Mar 2009 01:14
To describe the place as "a pretentious eaterie which has lost all its former character" is completely overegging it, as people are wont to do with such a classic. The Perch as I recall it was never exactly the perfect pub itself but it has a great garden and a great location, being the target of a classic walk out from Oxford across Port Meadow and the Thames/Isis to the hamlet of Binsey. On a warm March weekend resembling a summer's day, never mind spring, all the classic elements remain there - the beer was fine (Hook Norton Bitter), the garden was lovely, with nice little Glastonbury-style new age touches, and the hamlet is unspoiled. The interior has had a somewhat strange refit, but if the management have had to build the business model around dining, then that's hardly a surprise in this location in this day & age. If you didn't know the old Perch, don't fret, you can enjoy the new one pretty much as well as ever.
23 Mar 2009 00:23
The Junction Tavern, Kentish Town
The three Cornish Ales Month Woodenhand bitters (Buccaneer, Cornish Mutiny, and another one) are of the very highest quality and in tip-top condition. And a very fine pub interior. If you can find fault in this place, then you are spoilt indeed!
18 Mar 2009 01:07
I agree with Mobey, this place is OK. No problems for me with the service or availability of beer, on what was a quiet weekday night. It is a bit nondescript and something of an underachiever given that the ingredients are there for this to be a great pub in a special location, but actually I think we'll miss this kind of bog standard old-fashioned Westminster pub offering if & when it goes.
1 Mar 2009 01:53
I thought this was a pretty good place, they've done a good job on the interior, and no problems with the speed of service on a busy Friday evening.
But it's very definitely not in a "beautiful village setting great for walkers"! However, you can walk there from Guildford station in about 10-15 mins along the busy road.
1 Mar 2009 01:38
A fine pub, the best place for a drink on Salusbury Road.
To echo Travis from 2004: "what mustn't go uncomplimented if the complete lack of hassle you get at closing time". That's the difference actual Irish management of an Irish theme pub makes!
26 Jan 2009 22:51
The Mad Bishop and Bear, Paddington
As at Dec 2008 doing Fullers London Porter, a historic London ale in excellent condition.
14 Dec 2008 22:41
Amazing location in the New Forest.
At this time of year you can see free-range pigs trotting past along the road outside.
8 Nov 2008 23:47
Manningtree Station Buffet, Lawford
By the way, Manningtree Station and this buffet are in Manningtree, Essex, not in Lawford, Essex. That is an error.
8 Nov 2008 23:42
Manningtree Station Buffet, Lawford
Agreed! In the same league as Stalybridge.
Tip - if you're travelling between London or Essex and Ipswich or Norwich, you can alight from one train, get one or two in, check the place out, and catch the next train 30 or 60 minutes later. You don't need to sup up until you see your train coming in.
8 Nov 2008 23:40
You can watch comings and goings in the harbour from the upstairs bar, out of the rain & with a pint in your hand. Good place.
8 Nov 2008 01:10
The Skinners Arms, Kings Cross
I agree with "not bad". There's something about it that doesn't engage enough enthusiasm to call it "good".
8 Nov 2008 00:57
Very nice pub, plain & simple, an almost miraculous survival from the good old days given this location. �1.80 a pint for decent hand-drawn real bitter - in WC2 in 2008? Never mind almost, a genuine miracle. Rejoice and praise the Lord, Sam Smith.
5 Nov 2008 01:27
It has its own waterfall, amphitheatre and brass band festival.
A real classic.
The spiritual home of God's own county!
4 Nov 2008 00:24
This place is one of the last great Irish pubs of the Kilburn High Road as it was in the days of yore. Sure it's not for everyone & is capable of being hostile to someone coming in and not observing the etiquette, that's what it's all about.
Packed on a Saturday night, amazing regulars, all ages, live music, impromptu dancing, very friendly, a guy right next to me got decked, out cold on the floor - his own fault. It's like living in an episode of Father Ted.
31 Oct 2008 01:19
Probably the best pub in the north of the island, superb view of the TT/MGP Races, very popular with German visitors to the TT.
23 Oct 2008 01:25
Worth mentioning that it's yards away from the platforms of Lime St station, whilst architecturally head & shoulders above the average station chain bar. Possibly the bar of the long-defunct British Rail station hotel?? Very Liverpool.
23 Oct 2008 01:20
It's also a hotel with high quality (reassuringly expensive) accommodation in a pretty special place. You can view A. Wainwright's signature in the guest book for 1947, which says it all really - as a base for fellwalking, unparalleled.
23 Oct 2008 01:11
I don't blame the Muldoons for getting out. A madhouse with friendly-scary regulars. But that's what Kilburn High Road has always been all about.
23 Oct 2008 01:03
Goose At The Station, Bracknell
Not too bad if you're waiting for a train. Outside seats, the bitter is OK and you can get from the bar to the train platform in <1 minute.
23 Oct 2008 00:47
Very fair & accurate review by Roger B. It remains amazingly busy , so they must be doing something right, and I put my finger on the quality of the service, a busy bar but plenty of keen staff to keep things moving.
23 Oct 2008 00:27
I'm sorry to hear if the pub is having difficulties, and would be interested to hear the latest news.
I visited the pub on August 2008, I thought it was pretty well preserved and entirely recognisable as the special place (you could call it a miraculous place) it was 20 years ago when I was a more frequent visitor. It had one real ale on, Bank Top, a Bolton-brewed ale, so what's wrong with that, better than the Walkers of old. The bowling green looked like it was still looked after, again a remarkable survival.
A pub like this ought to be preserved by the National Trust or someone, but in the absence of that I hope the freeholder does the right thing by the place. I thought the landlord was doing OK and entirely undeserving of too much over-the-top vitriol from real ale fundamentalists.
23 Oct 2008 00:18
The Royal George Hotel, Ramsey
This pub has been done up, quite a good job, particularly good bit of upholstery work on the seats. Got different areas for your differing needs, not a bad bet for new visitors to Ramsey.
3 Apr 2013 23:02