BITE user comments - DaveE6
Comments by DaveE6
We'd been meaning to try The Old Nun's Head for quite a while, and finally got round to it following a visit to Nunhead Cemetery (as you do). Since it was around 2.00pm when we arrived, our experience may not be representative of what the pub is like during evenings and weekends. But I'd have to say this is one of the best pubs we've been to in a LONG time. A friendly welcome, a decent range of real ales (five or six on during our visit) and a good general atmosphere - what more could you want? Sadly, we only stayed for a couple of pints due to having to head back "north of the water" before we got bogged down in there for the rest of the day.
22 Nov 2018 13:58
Like so many others, we popped into the Beaufort following a visit to the nearby RAF Museum. Fairly typical for a modern Young's pub and none the worse for that. Only two real ales on offer during at the time - Young's "Ordinary" and Sharp's Doom Bar at around £4.30 per pint ("London prices"). The quality on the "Ordinary" was excellent, and the staff were pleasant and attentive bearing in mind the pub was busy since it was a pre-Christmas Friday lunchtime. We didn't try the food, though it looked like the standard Young's menu - someone below mentioned microwaves to which my standard reply would be "If you want a gourmet meal, go to an upmarket restaurant!". We'd intended only having a quick pint but stayed for another.
17 Nov 2018 09:10
Re-opened at the start of 2018 after a lengthy and extensive refurbishment, and has now reverted to it's original name - The Red Lion. Despite living in East Ham for 39 years, we'd never ventured into the pub in the days when it was The Hammers. No particular reason for that - not really close enough to be convenient, and nothing about it to lure us inside. However, since it's makeover, we owed it to ourselves to give it a try. Not really a gastro-pub, though there is an emphasis on food - particularly a large range of pizzas on offer. As far as real ales go, Doom Bar and a "coffee porter" (I've forgotten the name of) were on offer, as well as a hand-pumped fruit cider (not for me!) - a forth pump was waiting for another beer to be put on. They also sell an extensive range of craft beers - the two we tried were excellent. As an added bonus, the pub has a large and pleasant garden at the rear. The staff were very friendly, and highly delighted the pub had just been voted the best in East Ham - though as I cynically pointed out to them - that's as much a reflection on their competition! Obviously, The Red Lion is unashamedly geared up to appeal to the young professionals slowly moving into the area - and it's prices reflect that. But if you want cheap beer, there are three other pubs in the area that can offer you that! Personally? We've waited a long time for the area to get a decent pub - so plan to use it regularly.
2 May 2018 17:10
As I remarked in my previous review "we won't be rushing back..." I'm not sure if we have or not since I wrote it, but we popped in last Monday lunchtime, having been driven from the garden of The Old Brewery by sudden heavy cloud. As far as I could see, there was only one other customer when we walked in. We initially opted for pints of "Ordinary" which were barely that, so next went on to the "Special" - again, anything but special. The quality of both beers were not quite bad enough to complain about - but heading in that direction. A group of "yummy mummy's" plus assorted buggies then appeared - so we headed for home.
31 Mar 2018 12:43
We passed it recently and it looked closed - a victim of West Ham United moving to the Olympic Stadium. Though never a pub I choose to drink in.
5 Sep 2017 12:07
More of a bar than a pub really. On our couple of visits during weekday afternoon''s, we''ve found it friendly, comfortable and cheap. As for "real" beer, one hand-pump serving London Pride which I think was "off" - we stuck to "fizz". I suspect it gets busy at weekends if football is on TV.
5 Sep 2017 12:03
Closed for many years - though the building is still there. Probably used as flats?
5 Sep 2017 11:57
Mercifully, The White Horse was demolished earlier this year - the expression shit-hole would been praise for the place! Supposedly to be replaced by flats with shops and a bar on street level.
5 Sep 2017 11:55
Duke of Wellington, High Beech
Apparently, since early 2017 The Duke Of Wellington at High Beech is no longer a pub where you can just go into and buy drinks. Now purely a restaurant! Not to be confused with The Duke Of Wellington in Epping High Street which IS still a pub.
30 Aug 2017 14:42
As I predicted last time I commented on the Richard I two years ago, on our fairly frequent visits to Greenwich since, we have indeed mainly been drinking in The Pelton Arms. However, a few days ago since we were over on the west side of Greenwich, we decided to pop into the Richard I for a couple of pints and a sit in their garden. The Young's "Ordinary" was better than on our previous visit (though still not as good as when Mark ran the pub) - at £4.15 a pint I should hope it was! (I hate to think how much their range of "guest ales" are). As someone mentioned previously - sadly the woman behind the bar had very little idea of how to pull a pint properly - not helped by the guy standing behind what use to be the old public bar who was more concerned with messing about with his smart phone/tablet then actually helping her out or serving customers. However, the garden is still a good place to sit for an hour. But while we were doing so, we took the time to look at the pub menu and calculated that a two course meal for the two of us plus a bottle of wine (at £21?!?!) would have set us back £66 at the very least - and that's NOT including service or the temptation to drink a second bottle. For that sort of money, I'd prefer a "proper" restaurant. As it was, the restaurant was more or less empty - for a Tuesday lunchtime during the summer holidays is that normal? The sad thing being that in theory, after the big refurbishment a number of years ago, Young's managed to achieve the correct balance between a pub and restaurant. But somethings wrong with the place - too expensive for what it actually is and where it is (out of the "tourist trap" centre of Greenwich), but mainly (I suspect) poor to non existent management. We won't be rushing back...
3 Aug 2017 13:57
Colindale isn't an area we'd normally drink in, but ventured up there to visit the excellent RAF Museum. As a bonus, we decided to try out The New Chandos, since it's fairly near the tube station and features in the 2016 Good Beer Guide. A large well kept pub with two bars and three real ales - one being Chandos Charmer - the house beer. Since I assume the pub is a oasis in an area which suffers from a lack of decent places to drink, it was fairly busy for Tuesday lunchtime? And that was the problem - only one member of staff behind the bar who was trying to take food orders, serve drinks etc. When our turn finally came, to her credit, she did apologize for the wait. My wife remarked that it was stupid to have only one person behind the bar at lunchtime, and we were told there should be another, but she'd been left on her own. We had one drink and went elsewhere...
27 Apr 2016 09:59
We hadn't been to the Richard I for a few months and decided to pop in for a lunchtime drink. There was a decent range of cask ales on offer, but we opted for the Young's "Ordinary" which used to be exceptional - now sadly ordinary would be a generous description. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, it could have been down to the time of day - 12.20pm? But what was unforgivable, was that Young's in their infinite wisdom have changed the traditional pub sign to some indescribable "creation" - perhaps their money would be better spent on improving the beer quality. As a result we just had the one before heading to The Mitre.
24 Mar 2016 10:27
We decided to use the Devereux as the starting point for a mini pub crawl. Perhaps we should have chosen The Edgar Wallace around the corner instead? But the since the Devereux features in the current CAMRA Good Beer Guide and we'd never been in there before, it was mainly an exercise in "box ticking". A range of four fairly unimaginative real ales were on offer, so we chose a pint each of Taylor Walker 1730 and Truman's Runner for which we were charged an eye watering £8.90! To make matters worse, the quality of the beer was "mediocre". There was nothing special about the pub itself - though it is situated in an interesting and largely hidden part of London devoted to legal profession - perhaps they don't mind paying £4.45 for a pint but I do!
28 Jul 2015 10:06
Sadly Sandra and Mark who were managing the Richard I have been moved by Young's to The Wood House on Sydenham Hill. A great shame since Sandra always gave such a fantastic welcome, and Mark made sure the beers (the "Ordinary" in particular) were always served on top form. I hope that Sandra and Mark are both happy and successful with this change - but I can't help thinking The Pelton Arms will be getting more of my custom in the future?
11 Jul 2015 08:54
Apparently now under new ownership and imaginatively called "The Beer House". Since we had half an hour to kill before meeting friends to catch a train, we popped in for a quick pint. No surprise that at 11.15am it wasn't particularly busy and as the only other customer at the bar was just picking up his beer and change, I was expecting to be served next. I was rather curtly told by the only person behind the bar that she was "doing coffees" and we'd have to wait. After watching her messing about at the coffee machine for five minutes, we decided we weren't THAT desperate for a couple of expensive pints from their (not particularly imaginative) selection of ales and walked out. Who's fault? The "punters" who don't grasp what the name "The Beer House" means? It's not as if Waterloo Station suffers from a shortage of places specifically serving coffee - Costa for instance? Greedy organisations who run a bar in a prime site at a busy station with only one staff member? Or me, who perhaps unreasonably expects to get served as soon as the only other guy standing at the bar has picked up his drink and change and sat down?
4 Jun 2015 10:22
We'd been meaning to try this pub for ages, but reading some reviews on this site, didn't have high expectations so only intended popping in for a "pit-stop" early lunchtime before heading elsewhere . Of the five hand-pumps on the bar, only three were in use and we both opted for pints of Windsor & Eton Guardsman. However, after the first pint was pulled, the woman behind the bar told me the barrel had run out - no problem - I went for a pint of excellent Butcombe Bitter instead. We were about half way through our pints (walking is thirsty work!) when the pubs landlord suddenly appeared at our table - he asked who had had the pint of Guardsman and when my wife said it was her, he almost insisted that he replace it with a pint from the new barrel he'd just put on. He said he personally never liked drinking the last pint from a barrel and took some convincing that it wasn't necessary (my wife being the first person to complain about beer if it's "off"). He then took the trouble to stop for a quick chat with us. It goes without saying that following that, it would have been mean spirited not to stay and have another!
6 Mar 2015 17:07
We have been going to the Richard I on and off for about 25 years and despite having to travel over from East London currently try to visit the pub once or twice a month. We did have misgivings when told that Young's were extensively refurbishing the premises, that the result would be yet another ruined pub.As I think I've commented previously - we were wrong. I fail to understand why certain customers now have a problem with the place. Yes, they've effectively built a restaurant at the back which has reduced the size of the garden, but as far as I can see the bar areas are the same size as they always were. Personally I don't much like the "battleship grey" colour scheme but what do I know? What I DO know is that the quality and choice of the five (?) real ales is always excellent - you'd have to look very hard to find a better pint of "Ordinary". If you prefer keg beers they always have an imaginative range. And finally, the service is always friendly and efficient. Still, there's no pleasing some people...
3 Mar 2015 13:02
The Triple Crown Inn, Richmond
Since we hadn't visited Richmond for a while, we took the precaution of checking out the pubs in advance and decided The Triple Crown looked interesting - both from it's beer choice and the impression it was a "proper" pub. We'd looked at it's website but couldn't see any details of opening times, so weren't completely surprised to find when we arrived at about 2.00pm on Tuesday that it didn't open for another hour. A waste of time! We headed back to The Princes Head instead...
11 Feb 2015 10:01
We hadn't visited The Wenlock since it was refurbished a year or so back. Prior to that I'd become somewhat fed up with the place, and had fallen out with the "Save The Wenlock" crowd for describing the old place as a "sh*thole" on their Facebook site. The much need refurbishment hadn't in any way changed the basic character of the place - a "proper" pub with an excellent and imaginative range of real ales. Yes, it was quiet in there since it was a Thursday afternoon - would we return? Certainly!
16 Jan 2015 11:31
Since we were in the area we decided to try out this 2015 CAMRA Good Beer Guide pub. A decent range of real ales on offer and friendly service. But at £8.40 for a pint each of Dark Star Hophead and London Beer Factory Chelsea Blonde and served in mugs (why?) we had one drink and decided to leave The New Rose to it's target clientele...
16 Jan 2015 11:22
Since we were in the Islington area following a walk along the Regents Canal, we decided to visit this addition to the 2015 CAMRA Good Beer Guide. An impressive range of hand-pumps on the bar, but nothing on offer under 5% alcohol - one beer was 6.5%. Not ideal lunchtime drinking so we headed elsewhere without buying anything...
16 Jan 2015 11:13
Not really a proper pub and a place I'd normally avoid. But passing through the Borough Market area at lunchtime, we were looking for a place for a quick drink and The Brew Wharf was the only place that wasn't packed. Truman's Swift on draft at £4.60 per pint and tiny bowls of "nibbles" at £3 a pop? I also noted they were selling a range of European bottled beers at £8.50 a go. We had one round and went elsewhere - I won't be returning...
11 Dec 2014 15:44
With reference to the previous review by "Uncle Dunkle", he states that hand pulled real ale is not available in The Captain Kidd - strange because Sam Smiths Old Brewery Bitter certainly was on sale in there (on two hand-pumps) when I was in there two days ago. As a fairly regular visitor to the pub, it's been many years since keg beer was all that was available in there. As to the price of the Sam Smiths bottled beers - yes, some are expensive though I don't remember seeing one for than £12. Regarding price lists - last time I looked there was one on almost every table inside the pub. I fear - as we say in the East End - "Uncle Dunkle" is talking "bollocks". Yes, The Captain Kidd is a bit of a tourist trap - it would be because it's slap bang on Thames with stunning views. But the one thing it's not is expensive (just over £3 per pint) unless you want you sample some of their more "exotic" bottled beers - check first!
12 Jun 2014 13:38
The Golden Fleece has been part of the John Barras pub chain for quite a while now and seems to go from strength to strength. We tend to go in there on weekday afternoon's, and have recently been pleased to see how busy it can get during what you'd expect to be a pubs "quiet" time. Being on the southern edge of Wanstead Flats gives it a great location, and the large garden at the rear is an added bonus in fine weather. They usually have a range of four well kept real ales on, plus another two "settling". Prices for both food and beer are very reasonable. The big question to ask about The Golden Fleece is why haven't CAMRA yet included it in The Good Beer Guide?
7 Mar 2014 15:59
The Old Ale Emporium, Harringay
We’d intended visiting The Old Ale Emporium since it’s first appearance in the 2011 CAMRA Good Beer Guide, and since we were in the Green Lane’s area, finally had
the chance to give it a try. My first impression wasn’t promising since it has the look of a Wetherspoon pub but we weren’t put off and went inside. There were two pairs of hand pumps on the bar almost buried by the large range of keg fonts. Only two real ales seemed to be available this lunchtime – Courage Best and Wyncwood Hobgoblin – neither particular favourites. At this point, I think we decided we’d probably just have a quick drink before heading elsewhere and opted for two pints of Best which we were told was “off” as (I think?) was the Hobgoblin. The bar staff said they were in the process of pulling through two fresh un-named real ales, but at this point we decided life is too short to hang about and left for another pub (the fine Golden Fleece in Manor Park). For all I know, The Old Ale Emporium might be a good pub – but as the previous reviewer remarked – why it is still in The Good Beer Guide (2014) is a mystery only CAMRA could explain…
6 Mar 2014 11:04
Formally The Railway Tavern re-opened within the last year by Antic. As with their other pubs we've visited, the interior has been stripped right back and filled with "shabby-chic" finishings. The bar area in the front is mainly used for drinking while the area at the back is mainly for eating which seems to be an arrangement which works well. There are six hand-pumps serving a range of well kept and mainly unusual real ales at £3.80 per pint. The music is played at a non-intrusive level and the pub also hosts a regular comedy evening. It's main clientele during the couple of Sunday afternoons when we've been in there, consists of the twenty and thirty something professional types you'd expect to find in what is a supposedly "up and coming" area of East London. One word of warning - The Forest Tavern doesn't open until 4.00pm Monday to Friday! Highly recommended!
17 Feb 2014 13:32
As has already been mentioned - the Wheatsheaf in Stoney St. should not be mixed up with The Sheaf in Southwark St. We hadn't visited the former since it has returned to it's original site - so popped in for a quick pint. At about 12.30 pm it was more or less empty, though I'd expect it to be busy in evenings and at weekends. The Young's "Ordinary" was OK. They seem to have managed to expand the place without ruining it.
We then made the mistake of popping into the latter (the laughably named Sheaf) since we were walking past the door. A large soulless subterranean bar that boasted a range
of ten real ales. More or less empty apart from a couple of guys sitting on their own at the bar - one waiting to be served waving a fiver while the barmaid p*ssed about. Another group walked
in, at which point a second barmaid appeared and went to serve the new arrivals – this caused the guy who’s been waiting to point out that my wife and myself were still unserved - he was told “It doesn’t matter” by one of the duo behind the bar.
It did because we turned on our heels and walked out, deciding to take our money elsewhere (The Charles Dickens) – f*ck ‘em!
11 Sep 2013 13:39
We have been regular visitors to Greenwich for many years and every trip seems to finish in the Richard I. Apart from it's great location, garden, service, food etc. - the quality of their Young's "Ordinary" is consistently perfect - one of the reasons being that they simply sell so much of it!
29 Aug 2013 09:21
The Grape and Grain, Crystal Palace
Since the opening of the Overground, The Grape & Grain is now in easy reach for those of us who travel from "North of the River". With a range of 11 well kept and varied real ales, friendly and knowledgeable staff, comfortable seating, good music, excellent food plus a discount for CAMRA members - what can I say? - possibly the finest real ale pub in London!
24 Aug 2013 15:40
A fine pub with a good range of (8 or 9) well kept real ales within easy walking distance of Southwark tube station. However, during a recent visit we were charged £4.20 for a pint of average strength beer - another customer who must have visiting from "up North" remarked on the costs to the guy behind the bar, who replied that they were "London prices". We left and walked five minutes or so to the Charles Dickens where the same type and quality of beer was £3.00 per pint including their discount for CAMRA members - so much for "London prices" - The Kings Arms has lost two customers.
24 Aug 2013 15:25
Since re-opening under it's original name a few years ago, the Red Lion has steadily improved. Perhaps because I'm now able to visit it on weekday afternoons, it doesn't seem to be quite the gastro pub it was a year or so back. You can't fault it's range of 10 well kept and imaginative real ales or the craft and bottled beers which rightly made it CAMRA's top local pub in 2012! Also, not to forget the discount on real ales on presenting your CAMRA membership card which makes it very good value! Plus the bar staff are usually excellent. The only downside to the Red Lion is that during weekend afternoons it tends to attract the "30 something professional couples" crowd with their giant buggies, who seem to allow their small children to run riot while they concentrate on putting the world to rights...
24 Aug 2013 15:08
We should have realized our mistake when we were asked "Will you be dining with us today?" by the bar-person while she was serving us. Two pints of decidedly "flat" Thwaites Wainwright for £8.80 - we drank up and took our custom elsewhere!
22 Aug 2013 10:31
The Ruskin Arms, Manor Park
Sadly closed down a couple of months ago and currently boarded up! Whether or not it will reopen in the future remains to be seen? I don't think they could pull it down, so I suspect it will be turned into flats with a possible retail unit or two at street level. Another part of East London's rich rock music history bites the dust!
3 Dec 2018 12:50