BITE user comments - Jay28
Comments by Jay28
I referred to the chairman of Wetherspoons PLC as the "owner" because he acts like it.... However, it appears that he sold his company on the stock exchange (presumably to make wads of cash$$), so it seems that you and I own it!!! through our pension contributions/ our private dabbles in the stock market etc.
So what gives this gobshite the right to preach his views to us? He acts like he owns the company, but he doesn't, we do.
Maybe I should be able to have a poster on the bar advocating a rise in staff wages, or free pints for refugees? etc. I could go on....
Maybe we could have a vote on what gets said in these posters... oh, we do, it's called the Company AGM, and we all get a say. How marvellous. Just what Maggie Thatcher wanted us all to have.
So why do we allow these posing twerps to pretend they own companies that they don't, and to use them as political wrecking balls for their own ends?
Might the Brexit vote, for example, have tilted a bit the other way if we had not had the "owner" of Wetherspoons spouting, what we all now know to be nonsense, in our ears, while we happened to be pissed up in the pub!
Maybe, Maybe, Maybe not.
29 Mar 2024 23:38
Hulots-hat, Thomas Paine knew a thing or too. I wonder if what riled him up so much that he crossed the Atlantic and wrote the US constitution was something like them putting up a billboard in his local pub forcing you to read the squire’s view on an issue of the day?
I was once caught reading “The Rights of Man”. In a pub not far from the one we are posting about now. It was a masonic evening and a lot of older gents in smart black suits were lingering around. I got engaged in conversation by a gaggle of them… what are you reading?…. Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man… isn’t that all a bit simplistic for the modern age?… no…. Oh, so you think you are smarter than all of us then?… no…that’s all been discredited now and it’s a bit left wing isn’t it…. I don’t think so…backs were turned and more important conversations were attended to about the relative merits of the new Jaguar, and how Fred had recently landed a contract for houses to be built etc. etc.
Your comment is pertinent.
29 Feb 2024 21:47
Forget the food, forget the drink. This pub’s primary function is as a political billboard.
It always had that in-house magazine where the owner spouted his political views on the extended op-ed pages. The mag also contained reviews of his own pubs and reviews of his own products. Guess what, the consensus was that they were pretty good. Who would have thought it?
The beauty of the mag was that you didn’t have to read it.
However, this pub has now decided to up the ante and has placed a billboard on the bar explaining how the owner triumphed over the evil gutter press who dared to print something about his policies towards staff during COVID 19.
So now when I go to order a pint I am faced with this nonsense. I can’t escape it. I asked the bar manager whether the poster reflected her views (after all, she was probably at the sharp end of the thing, and might know what the truth was about those allegations of a PLC constructively dismissing its staff because it feared for its profit?). She said “we have to put that up there”
Well, indeed.
Having brought our Country to its knees fighting fascism in 2 world wars for the principle of being able to think, do and say what ever we bloody well like, we now have to face the ugly truth of fascism from New Zealand!!!
Wow. I could see it coming from the Germans and the Russians, but the Kiwis? That one blindsided me I have to say.
Next time you swill your pint in wetherspoons, reflect upon this. The beer may turn sour in your mouth and a bilious reaction set in, building to a strong feeling of resentment. Don’t worry, this is quite natural and simply happens to any true bred Briton when he or she is taken for a fool.
George Orwell, stated in his book 1984 that the future was a boot stamping on a human face… forever. That is starting to sound like a relatively benign prediction. After all, the boot stamping thing might at least have been done in private. Nowadays, it would be on social media, and displayed on the top of the bar in your favourite watering-hole.
14 Feb 2024 18:57
Yes, The Drains, shut down. Never to be re-opened. Now a private house. No one will ever get a pint in there again.
As a teenager I remember Bradford Street had 3 pubs, a hotel, a butchers, a greengrocer, a fabric shop, a newsagent and a video rental place, a museum, also a petrol station with hardware store en suite. That was in the mid 80’s.
One might have said, a community?
And that was just one street in a small market town.
Now, it is just houses, full of London overspill dingbats who have basically moved there because they are racist UKIP morons who thought that their own communities were threatened so they were justified in migrating into ours and ruining them.
There is nothing there now but houses. The tradesmen all sold out (understandably) to the highest bidder.
So now, if we want a drink, a newspaper, a cut of meat, etc. we have to go to the big corporate concerns out of town, such as Tesco, vintage Inns, etc.
This is why I say our County is FUBR. Perhaps our country is FUBR, but I still see the odd place I visit which retains some of the original character, although mostly up North.
Anyway. The Kings Head was a decent boozer, a little set in its ways maybe, but I cut my teeth there and so did some of my chums. We were respectful of the locals, had a joke with them, and played them at darts ( we lost) and never disgraced ourselves. We would have considered that bad manners.
20 Mar 2023 22:46
As with most really good public houses in Essex, this has been turned into “housing units”.
Was a lovely little village boozer catering to all local types, workers from the Ridleys brewery about a mile away, local agricultural types, middle class villagers, and the local squirearchy with their big uncomfortable dusty half-timbered houses. Just a snapshot of old Engalnd, getting on with one another and having fun, sometimes at one another’s expense.
Gone now. More housing units squeezed into a small village.
The village has gone now. Just an extension of the suburbs.
I used to pop in here as a schoolboy. I was enrolled in a nearby institution. We used to spy on it (like MI5) and wait till the teachers had left, and then go in and blag a pint.
In those days publicans didnt really worry if you were under age, as long as you were well behaved they turned a blind eye. They took the view that you were going to drink anyway, so probably best you did so under supervision (sound logic. Done away with by Blair/Brown government int the 90’s with their draconian legislation).
Amyway. England of my youth. FUBR. My daughter’s generation suffer the consequences. Made to feel unwanted in their own communities. Sad.
25 Jan 2023 20:30
The Spread Eagle, Margaretting
No they didn’t Ingatstonian, they sold it to developers and turned it into “housing units”. Welcome to the South East of England people.
Those lovely little villages that managed to somehow have the small tradesman (like the local knife sharpener) living harmoniously alongside the millionaire businessman, which used to make the pub experience so interesting, are gone. We are now just the dormitory suburb of Northern Europe.
Expect to walk into a pub and find the same bewildered and worried middle class dingbats worrying about their house prices and nursing a half pint of £7 a glass plonk wine.
Don’t worry about the fact that your kids can’t afford a house. Yours is probably worth 50 times more than you paid for it, but that’s still not enough, and the kids are asking that question? Dad, could you help me out…
25 Jan 2023 19:41
If I get asked “anything else” in here after giving my carefully considered order I am going to blow my stack and go on a Michael Ryan style rampage.
Do the staff assume that:
A. I am too old to remember what I need to order
B. That I am so thick that I have got my order wrong
C. I am too pissed to remember what it was I wanted (entirely possible actually!)
Or is this some management technique from that moon faced antipodean dingbat that owns this chain to try and get people to buy more products against their better judgement?
Just pack it in.
I know what I want. I don’t need prompting to buy more stuff.
I like this pub, but if I get one more “anything else” I am voting with my feet.
It always reminds me of the barbers who used to ask “anything else”. I.e, rubber johnnies when I was a young chap and used to go for a haircut. That was at least useful, and sometimes necessary (but not as often as I would have liked!). The “something else” at Whetherspoons is just bloody annoying.
25 Jan 2023 17:46
I did a very considered review of this place some years ago which was removed by “de management” for some reason, so I am going to post it again as best I can remember it.
Thanks, Ruby for your comment about the fact that this pub is populated by upper middle class caucasians. I happen to be one of them, and I don’t think many of them would really give this place the time of day to be honest, so your review is pretty suspect from the start.
You seem to find the concept of there being a group of clever, hard working white people who contribute quite a lot to this country, a hard one to swallow. Perhaps you wish your husband was one of them? You’d probably have a nicer life if he was and wouldn’t feel the need to poke your long spindly fingers into the other ribs of other people who are eminently loveable, and have done you no harm, but just happen to have done a bit better than you in life, eh!
Now then, having fought the class war, let’s move it on to pubs shall we.
My rating for this place is a 2.
The Lord’s Tavern conjures up an image of old England, the parson, the squire and the doctor sitting round the fire over a pint of ale, a few dogs at their feet, the warmth of the fire, the rosy cheeked landlord and the common folk boisterously letting off steam at the bar.
This is decidedly not what you will find in this place.
It is the ground floor of a modern “office” type building and is basically a wine bar/restaurant style place, and not a good one.
The management will look you over with a keen eye before they let you enter. I was in jeans and combat boots when I came in and it was touch and go, (I think the fact that I was upper middle class and white may have swayed it :-).
Anyway, it wasn’t worth the agro, there is no atmosphere and the drink selection is rubbish.
Why the most sacred Cricket ground on earth has to put up with such a poncified pointless bar on its grounds is something worth considering, but not something I am willing to get to the bottom of, I am too busy watching the Cricket.
20 Jan 2023 22:31
Has to be seen to be believed. You can enter a doorway off a 21st century London street and find yourself transported back to the medieval (OK, maybe not medieval, but early modern, I’ll defend that one.) it’s hard to adequately describe it. My Dad took me in here in the 80’s and I was gobsmacked (being a history buff helped). It hasn’t changed in the intervening 40 years. It’s like a time capsule.
Anyone who hasn’t visited it should.
Owned by Sam Smiths, it serves their range of booze, so you know what to expect.
I absolutely love the wooden booths in which you can ensconce yourself. You can imagine the lawyers of the last 4 or 5 centuries holding meetings with their clients in these booths over a pint of ale before facing the King’s justice in the nearby law courts. Some of those conversations must have been worth hearing. If you shut your eyes you can hear them, they are recorded in the wood, and those who know how to listen can have them replayed in their imaginations.
This is never going to be your local boozer where you can pass many an idle hour drinking and yakking your life away, but for pure experience, even if you just visit the once, this is not to be missed.
Must be a 10/10 for the experience alone.
17 Jan 2023 17:22
This pub is a perennial favourite with Chelmsford folk as it has a picturesque aspect and a large garden overlooking the canal which some might consider to be pleasant. I do not.
You could offer me the gardens of Versailles, or the summer palace at St Petersburg, but I would not enjoy sitting there if I was surrounded by a bunch of neurotic poseurs talking loudly and in terms that would make a spaniel blush for the lack of intellectual perspective and acumen being displayed.
I don’t expect to meet a modern day Wittgenstien or Tom Paine in a pub in Chelmsford, but then again, The sort of stuff I have to put up with going in a place like this is just depressing and self defeating nonsense.
Get your head out of the Daily Mail people, it’s a wonderful planet and a wonderful life. Your petty complaints, leave them at home.
You live in the free-est and most affluent society that the planet has ever know, yet that is not good enough for you?
As you might surmise, the atmosphere here is not elevating or relaxing in any degree.
What it is that attracts nature’s pessimists to this particular pub I don’t know, but I for one am not joining in.
3 Jan 2023 19:35
Gone.
Developers have turned it into flats.
Shame, it was a decent enough boozer.
3 Jan 2023 19:14
Gastro-do to death.
Was one of the grungiest and most revolting boozers In town when I were a lad. Made you glad to be alive.
Wouldn’t touch it nowadays though. Not a single long haired geek throwing beer at you when you walk in. Where’s the fun gone?
Can’t even mark it. No longer a real pub so 1/10
3 Jan 2023 19:10
I would dearly love to get my fangs into this place and give it a proper mauling. There are so many elements there that I despise. The stripped out and pared down decor, the mood music, the muted telly sets screwed to the walls showing god knows what to god knows who, the overfed, overpaid, oversexed middle aged customers. The overpriced and pretentious drinks selection. It should be a slam dunk really.
However, to my eternal shame I have to admit …I like the place.
Now Having written the above sentence I feel like I need a bath to wash away my lack of moral integrity.
Barista is a wine bar of the worst sort, catering to those Chelmsford office employees who like to pretend they are in the city of London, not Duke Street, Chelmsford ( a grotty kebab shop and “asian grocer” ridden thoroughfare with wonky paving stones and a mega bus terminal perpetually infested with the homeless and the mentally ill)
What I have come to realise is that I identify with those people (the office workers, not the mentally ill) and working in one of those offices myself, albeit as the hard pressed and perpetually skint proprietor, rather than one of the employee, I get the need for an oasis of swank in the midst of the depressing squalor, where one can escape for a few hours and pretend to be one of the masters of the universe.
So, good on ya Barista, you have identified a niche and catered to it admirably, long may you reign.
7/10
3 Jan 2023 17:21
Brilliant concept, brilliantly executed. “Beer shop”/micropub. This is now my drinker of choice in this part of Chelmsford. Ales are served straight from the barrel and the selection is rotated regularly. Friendly customers and staff. Is this the future of the pub now that most of the street corner public houses seem to have been either gastro-ed, corporatised or closed down and turned into flats?
When meeting up with mates in town it is now always “Hop beer shop” where we meet as the first port of call and it regularly ends up being the only port of call, it’s that good.
10/10
3 Jan 2023 15:22
This place has helped me to see the error of my ways. Being of the generation X persuasion, I was as suspicious of the millennial hipsters ( my daughter’s generation) with their sinister beards, stomach churning piercings,and general “look at me, haven’t I suffered and aren’t I caring” demeanour as I was of my parents’ self-righteous hippy turned yuppie, baby boom generation.
This place has taught me that there is one thing the hipsters and I have in common… ale!
Their taste in beer tends to the experimental, but I am starting to embrace that a bit and even go so far as to sample some of the more far out brews that this establishment has on offer.
Any member of the site interested in real ale (and let’s face it you wouldn’t be looking at the site if you weren’t) ought to include this place on a “to visit” list.
You will be presented with a truly gobsmacking variety of beers to suit any taste. You will also find this one of the friendliest and most accommodating bars in town with loveable hipsters at the bar to give you the lowdown on the bewildering selection of tasty alcoholic stuff they sell.
Don’t worry about feeling out of place, practically everyone who actually drinks there is a generation x or babyboomer anyway!
I rate this as a 9.
3 Jan 2023 14:57
To any regular users of the Ivory Peg I would recommend you download George Formby's "Blackpool Prom" and then adapt the words accordingly...
I queued for lager, I queued for ale, I queued for a sandwich which was stale...
I queued for a table, I queued for a chair, I queued for a view of the barmaid's pair...
...and after 60 minutes there, I queued in a queue for the loo.
23 May 2014 17:23
The Original Plough, Chelmsford
I don't like the re-fit. It looks more like a restaurant now. The old "open-plan" Plough was much more to my liking. Agree with the chap below, they have shoved far to many tables in the place.
Since the refit they've also taken the opportunity of jacking the prices right up. Sorry, but this does it for me. I'm voting with my feet. There are other pubs in the area with a better atmosphere and more reasonable prices.
Sure, they have a good selection of beers, but this is not unusual in Chelmsford, and frankly, they're generally 50p/pint over the odds.
Hard to see much appeal for me now. mark reduced to 6/10
28 Feb 2011 12:52
It's improved a lot recently. The beer festival is excellent and fast becoming a regular callendar feature in Chelmsford. Seems to be a bit more trade during the week as well and a bit of an improved atmosphere.
Rating raised to 7
13 Sep 2010 17:31
Tried this pub again the other day, and sorry, but it's still rubbish. Why can't they provide a couple of decent real ales on tap, or even a decent lager for that matter? There was a gang of stiff necked working-class androids standing at (in fact hogging) the small bar area. I was definitely given the cold shoulder, although the barman was friendly, and well he might be having just pocketed over �3.50 for a bottled lager that would have cost about 70p in the Tescos over the road.
The place has had a bit of a ponced up re-fit, but it really is still lagging well behind many other similar pubs in Chelmsford in terms of the range of drink and the atmosphere.
I am keeping my rating at 5.
13 Sep 2010 17:27
Quite poor really. Wes_mantooth below puts it well.
I wonder how long it'll be before every pub in the centre of London is owned by Nicholsons/Fuller/Sam Smith? We'll all be have to choose from the same list of drinks, order food from the same plastic menu and give our order to the same east european bar staff? Terrific. Drinking in London is becoming like a kind of self-inflicted deja vu these days.
28 Apr 2010 16:07
Holy smoke! Phwooaaar, eh lads, Phwooaaar. You don't get many of them to the pound, eh. Oh, you do.
25 Jan 2010 16:59
Would it kill them to provide a bit of carpet or upholster the chairs? Maybe all those "solicitors and media folk" enjoy re-living the discomforts of their public school days in these barebones, arse, ear and foot-ache inducing wine bars. Is this the "nice contemporary twist" they are talking about? Seriously, check out the blurb posted in the pub description above.
It appeared to me as if someone had taken a rather promising looking London corner pub and systematically stripped out everything of interest and tradition, replacing it with an ersatz European style cafe.
Go there if you like, I am sure that it appeals to many, but I won't drink there as I can't escape from the conclusion that the owners and management are patronising vandals.
19 Jan 2010 17:01
Now re-opened after almost a year. Ever get that thing where you walk to a bar and realise that they don't serve a single thing that you enjoy drinking? Me neither, until I walked in here the other day.
11 Dec 2009 12:00
Good grief, OldBaileyHack, you really need to get out more. I like the Mitre, but this ridiculous over-reaction to any criticism of the pub by some people on this site is getting a tad creepy. I'm actually less likely to visit the pub in future as some of the regulars are coming across as complete swivel-eyed fruit loops.
I think people can judge for themselves the value they place on reviews such as that of 30th Nov by mikestokesambii, within the context of this thread, they don't need some dopey bar room lawyer like you wading in with a load of half baked PC nonsene.
11 Dec 2009 10:59
An admirable place. Comfortable pub with a great selection of beers. Great landlord and regular punters.
Isn't it ridiculous that you can wander the windswept streets of this County searching in vain for a decent boozer, and then find two crackers (Queens Head and Orange Tree) within a few doors of each other, ripping each other's throats out to attract the limited amount of punters this part of Chelmsford can supply, in order to survive.
Bloody barmy. If either pub goes under in this recession, and some corporate khazi in the town centre survives instead, it will surely demonstrate, beyond reasonable doubt, that this Country has finally gone to the dogs.
13 Nov 2009 16:33
On a raw October afternoon, with time to kill, this place proved to be a great choice for hunkering down for a few pints in front of the roaring log fire. The girls behind the bar were attentive and great fun to boot.
Isn't life grand.
26 Oct 2009 12:28
What a great place. An extensive choice of beers to suit any taste. The food is pricy but tasty. Blazing fire, staff were friendly.. Why are more pubs not like this?
26 Oct 2009 12:18
Went back to the Angel after a long hiatus and have used it a good many times this summer. Now serves Adnams plus one guest and has a good range of lagers. The beer is better than I remember.
Speaking as a Misanthropic Git, I find the interior to be too busy and full of families with kids on a sunday lunchtime (Jesus! I go to the pub to get away from my own family, not to have other people's inflicted on me) the Garden offers some escape from this intrusion, especially when it's a bit overcast as this tends to deter most Britons from venturing outside, doesn't bother me, I own a coat.
The staff seem better than I remember too, although the pub still seems to be run by a bunch shavers from the sixth form I can't really fault them for their friendliness and efficiency.
I am pleased to up my rating to a 6.
12 Oct 2009 16:32
If you're into Lager and football and you read FHM this place is definitely (or should that be "defo"?) for you.
If you are over 30 and have read a book in the last 10 years you are going to find it hard work.
12 Oct 2009 13:05
You can watch cricket in here. 1 mark
You can also pay �3.50 plus for a small bottle of poorly chilled Australian beer. take away 1 mark.
0/10
Nothing else about it really worth mentioning
12 Oct 2009 12:44
His grace Cardinal Wolsey recommended this plafe to me. Divers ales and succulent pies were on the bill of fayre which we confumed with relish under the watchful gaze of our lord and sovreign good king Hal VIII as rendered on canvas by mafter Holbein.
30 Sep 2009 16:08
Consensus seems to suggest that it ain't as bad as the Hamilton Hall. Well, that is very true, but think on... Would you rather spend your hard earned on two pints in a fetid wetherspoons beer canteen with the down and outs, or would you rather have one pint in a gutted out, stripped down and ponced up bar with the loud and preening Cityrati.
... or do you just move on to somewhere better?
23 Sep 2009 14:16
The Shakespeare's Head, Holborn
Not nice. Cavernous 'spoons beer canteen catering to the winos and low budget tourists. Leave it to the amateurs and the tightwads and go for a few pints in the Ship Tavern round the back.
18 Sep 2009 17:06
I had to laugh at elsm's review below "I was overcharged, treated like scum and even hit in the face". Welcome to Romford mate!
18 Sep 2009 16:39
The Sugar Hut Village, Brentwood
In these dark and worrying times with recession and war besetting us on all sides a little snippet of good news can appreciably brighten up the day.
Apparently The Sugar Hut Village has burned down.
15 Sep 2009 17:15
The Spread Eagle, Margaretting
I know times are hard, but expecting customers to go to the bar to ask for the light to be switched on in the gents when they need to spend a penny is a bit much.
The only ale was Spitfire and it was rancid, and on a Saturday night, too!
Carry on in either direction and try the Red Lion or the White Hart instead.
24 Apr 2009 12:14
Trying to get a drink around Sloane Square is a bloody nightmare. Yes, I know it's my own fault (what was I doing there in the first place?), but someone was offering me a lift and we had arranged to meet there. I had half an hour to kill so trudged around a bit gazing through the plate glass of various poncy-woncy bars and was beginging to despair until I stumbled across a down at heel backstreet boozer, the Rose and Crown.
There was stale spitfire on tap and a pool table, I loved it. Could have done without the lip from the drunken Oirish git propping up the bar. Get the sense there are some "local" issues in here. A thoroughly deserved 4/10.
14 Apr 2009 14:06
The Horse has recently been redecorated and my previous criticism of the standard of cleanliness is no longer valid.
Still has the bar billiards and darts and cricket on telly {although sadly, the quiz machine has disappeared :-(}. Still serves a good selection of guest ales. There is a slight question mark over beer quality, but on the odd occasion when I have been served a bad pint they do change them for you without fuss, which is good.
This is a really good little all round boozer. It's now my pub of choice for this area beating off stiff competition from the nearby Ship, Original Plough and Royal Steamer, and I am upping my rating to a 7/10.
10 Mar 2009 13:15
Snagsy has reviewed Barnes Farm 6 times in the last 4 months. He/She likes the place, OK we have got the message. Why don't you try reviewing some of the other pubs you have been to, as this would be of more use/interest to the membership than seeing you constantly "bigging up" the same one pub. This just smacks of a cheap advertising campaign by or on behalf of the management.
Personally, I rate Barnes Farm as a 3/10 as I feel that it is below average in terms of beer choice, beer is very expensive for the area, the restaurant service is shockingly slow, and generally the place has very little to recommend it. How it manages to rate an above average 6.5 is a mystery to me, probably old Snagsy giving it a 10 has distorted the rating, what a pity.
3 Feb 2009 11:46
When this was the Lloyds no.1 bar I would have crawled over broken glass and hot coals to avoid going inside, such was the repulsive, chavtastic, braindead, nature of this lager-only "venue". However, passing by the other day I noticed that the toxic brand name of Lloyds has been all but removed and an attempt has been made to turn this into something more like a standard Whetherspoons pub. I am not sure whether this is still holds true at night, or whether the place reverts back to crap pseudo-nightclub mode, and frankly, I am not willing to find out.
What I can report is that during the day the place is quite relaxed and pleasant, attracts a reaonably well behaved and sedate cleintele. I was also pleasantly surprised by how clean and tidy it was on my visit, certainly compares well with the Ivory Peg and Edwards in that respect.
There were some real ales on offer including the ubiquitous 99p Greene King IPA.
Actually, I can now recommend this place for a couple of daytime pints if you happen to be at this end of Chelmsford. whilst by no means a classic pub it certainly rates an above average mark of 6/10, although I have to qualify that mark to daytime use only.
29 Jan 2009 11:53
As a Chelmsford resident of many years standing I have been unable to avoid occasionally going into the Fleece as it seems to be one of those immutable laws of nature (Judge Tindal's Law) that, try as you might to avoid it, you always end up getting dragged in there by someone, usually at the fag end of a pub crawl, or when taking that long thirsty walk down Duke Street between visits to better pubs.
So it came to pass that Tindal's Law struck me this Christmas and I found myself in the Fleece with a group of mates.
What can you say about it. The place has no real soul at all, it tries to be all things to all men and consequently means nothing to anyone. Loud Music blares, silly shots and coctail offers festoon the garish bar area, mass market lager dominates the pumps. The obligatory sofas are dotted about on the bare wood floor. This is the sort of place where people who don't really like pubs go, it's impersonal, anonymous, grey, there's nothing there that you have to make your mind up about, so don't bother bringing it with you, it'll only get in the way.
Manly populated by the lager brigade, I noticed that they have made a stab at serving Real Ale, <shudder> Bombardier. A bland mass produced pint, but none the less, an ale. Suffice it to say that it was utter shite and I stuck to lager for the second round.
I consider that a 6.2 rating is far too high for this place, the average mark should be 5 and to my mind this place is below average.
Oh, and you can keep y'r bleedin' Jaegerbombs. 4/10
22 Jan 2009 12:49
Earl_Barrett, forgive my ignorance, but what the f*ck are you talking about.
13 Jan 2009 14:46
Closed awaiting a new tenant/buyer. The writing has been on the wall for some time as the trade has declined alarmingly over the past year, come to think of it, since the last re-furb. It will probably get another makeover now and be "relaunched" as something else.
22 Dec 2008 17:40
Having briefly been a Green King house after the takeover of Ridleys, The Compasses is now back in the ownership of a member of the Ridley family and no longer appears to be tied to Green King. They have replaced the GK with a rotating group of guest ales and real ciders. The ale is still poured directly from the barrels kept in the cellar at the back of the bar.
On recent visits I have knocked back many pints of this perfect antidote to modern life. The whole ambience of the place, the coal fire, the benches and tables laid out around the bar, the calm and friendly locals, immediately washes away all the cares and concerns and makes you appreciate that wherever there is still good beer and a little oasis of calm to be had, there's nothing that life can't throw at you.
If only I still lived out that way I would be there more, but for now it has to be only the occasional visit. Don't go, you'll ruin it.10/10
18 Dec 2008 16:45
I ventured into this dreadful place recently, for the first time in a decade. It was 5'ish in the afternoon and I was looking for a quick snifter before a meeting I had up the road. What the hell possessed me, I don't know, one of those mischevious impulses. There I was squelching my way to the bar across the reeking beer and vomit infused carpet, the dulcet tones of Kylie and Girls Aloud winging me on my way.
Oh, the agony of choice! Which particular brand of lager should I choose? Do I go for the smouldering antipodian promise of Fosters, that charming favourite of the royal court of Copenhagen, Carlsberg or a treat from the renowned Belgian stable of beer making, Stella? But stay, what's this, Kronenberg Blanc, now that's my sort of thing, a pint of that please barmaid... oh dear, it's off. Well it looks like Stella then.
I take my ease on a 5 foot high stool swaying gently in the breeze, at a varnished wooden topped table to which both the bottom of my pint glass and the elbow of my bespoke cashmere overcoat stick. Whilst sipping the tepid yellow nectar I take in my fellow punters. A group of the leisured class of Chelmsford, teenage mothers, feed fried potatos to their buggy bound toddlers. An aggrevated looking young man clad in sports attire remonstrates loudly and profanely with the beloved object of his affections. A grizzled derelict wafts past, the reek of week old cigarettes adhereing to his crusty clothing.
I battle with the local wildlife in the form of a multitude of tiny flies who are attempting to get inside my pint glass. Where are they coming from? It's an intiguing question, but not one I feel like getting to the bottom of right now.
Having finished reading a most stimulating aritcle on pig breeding, I roll up my copy of Country Life, and bidding the serving staff a hearty good afternoon I head for the door.
Thank you for the experience Yates Wine Lodge, but not one I think shall be repeated for some time. 1/10 for entertainment purposes only.
18 Dec 2008 15:00
Hmmm, it seems that all reviews of the Green Gragon have been removed. I wonder why....
18 Dec 2008 13:14
The Compasses at Pattiswick, Pattiswick
This Pub used to be a Braintree legend. In years gone by no summer was complete without at least one afternoon trip out to the Compasses for a few pints of good ale and a cheap and cheerful scampi & chips in the beer garden.
Sadly, it has now been converted into a trendy gastro-pub complete with appalling post-modern decor, poncified waiting staff, nauseatingly precious and overpriced restaurant menu and a booze sales emphasis on bottles of plonk-wine at eye watering prices.
Beer is now just something they sell you while you are studying the menu and waiting for your table to be ready.
Goodbye England of my youth FUBR. It would be pure spite to give this pub less than 3/10, so I will give it 2/10.
18 Dec 2008 13:12
Standard Vintage Inn's chain pub situated on a picturesque roundabout on the Braintree bypass with sweeping views of the retail park, dual carriageway and Holiday Inn carpark.
I have a personal prejudice against Fowlers Farm, as every time we go there (which is admittedly not often), I end having a row with the wife. Perhaps something in the atmosphere turns me into an obnoxious git.
I don't mind this particular chain as much as some of the others but I do find them rather bland, albeit dressed up in Olde English Charme (TM), so/so, 5/10.
18 Dec 2008 11:43
The Lots Road Pub and Dining Room, Chelsea
A place where the monied and leisured classes go and pretend that they are just like the rest of us plebs. Oh Yah, it's just so down to earth, yeah? Looks a bit like a pub, but really, it's a poncy restaurant catering to the millionaire Sloanes who inhabit this bit of London. Surprisingly, it serves a good pint of Adnams and pork crackling as a bar snack. So, far from a waste of time in my book, although maybe a waste of money as cheap it ain't.
If you happen to be in the area (not that you would be) and are at a loose end, and happen to have �20 in your wallet that you are itching to see the back of, then pop in, you might like it. 6/10 seems fair to me.
17 Oct 2008 11:37
The quality of this pub suffers from it's position as it doesn't have to try very hard to get customers being just outside the tube station and law courts. Consequently it is overpriced and bland.
Almost �10 for half a cold soggy pork pie and a scoop full of chips is not what I consider to be reasonable, neither is average Fullers ale consistently priced at well over �3.
The interior is an open plan yawnfest and there is a slight poncy-ness lurking there in the background somewhere that you can't quite get your finger on. Not one I would go to again, especialy as it is within footslogging distance of the excellent Castle, Olde Mitre and Cittie of York.
Although not many particularly offensive features about it I can only summon up an average 5/10 rating for this bland pub.
2 Oct 2008 13:34
The Original Plough, Chelmsford
I have to take exception to Dr Motherfudger's review of the beer in the Plough as "borderline acceptable". I have been going in the Plough for many years and it has one of the best kept and widest selections of real ale in Chelmsford. You may have a gripe about the food and service, fair enough, but leave the beer out of it.
My rating of 8/10 refelects the fact that this pub sells good quality real ale and provides a pleasant atmosphere and surrounduings in which to drink it. Couldn't really give a monkey's about the food to be honest.
23 Sep 2008 16:14
The Railway Tavern, Chelmsford
Hornchurch John, I don't think the Railway has a bar billiards table. You may be thinking of the White Horse which is round the other side of the station.
15 Sep 2008 13:33
First impressions of this pub were good, a couple of real ales on and location on the Barbican were plus points. Imediately ruined by a member of staff. Youngish, short bloke with a furtive, chippy look about him and an earring in, stood there talking to some regulars at the bar despite having seen me standing waiting to be served and there being no other customers waiting. I tried to hail him, from about 6 feet away, but he steadfastly refused to even glance at me. After a few minutes of the "silent treatment" I was served by a young girl who was perfectly pleasant. My pint was fair and I have no complaint on that score. On going to the bar for a re-fill, bugger me if the same thing didn't happen again, the little chippy bloke just stares at me menacingly and I have to wait for the girl to be available before I can be served.
What a joke. This bloke either mistook me for someone else, or he makes a point of taking an instant dislike to certain customers, or he is just a bully who expects the poor young girl he works with to serve all the customers.
Sorry to rant (not my usual style) but sometimes an incident like this is just so preposterous that all other aspects of the pub experience are completely wiped out of ones mind.
I was prepared to give the place a try, and all I got in return was a slap in the face. Sorry Mr Chippy it's got to be 0/10.
2 Sep 2008 12:42
By comparison to the other drinking establishments in the Royal Parade/Union Street area this one is a goodie. Proper pub with upstairs and downstairs bars. Drink selection is a bit limited but the draught Bass was good. Pleasant and agro free atmosphere. The touch of class and adult feel to the place tends to deter the real muppets who have a more than ample choice of dross chain bars just down the street.
In another location I would say the place was average/mediocre, but situated where it is, it's outstandly good by comparison to it's competitors.
However, it is not top 40 material by any stretch on the imagination, so a rating of 5/10 is a fair reflection of it's relative merits.
2 Sep 2008 12:15
An offering from the Vintage Inns chain. On first impressions all is well with this charming looking pub, a pleasant and spacious car park, a large garden overlooking Watermeadows, a charming period farmhouse building, everything in the garden seems peachy right up until the point you reach the bar and are pulled up with the kind of jolt to the nervous system which normally only occurs when you slam your tallywhacker in the car door.
You have definitely entered pub-chain hell; from the overpretentious descriptions of the re-heated cardboard food, the crappy plonk being promoted with crass faux-wine buff jargon, the restricted beer selection, the permanently marked chalk boards full of "specials". Welcome 21st century England, the big corporations have our balls in a vice and we are not even yelling.
Ale is run through the chiller, swanneck and sparkler which makes you feel as if you are drinking a pint in Yorkshire, not Essex (hint; the beer in this county is usually served a cellar temperature and should be only mildly effervescent).
The place is always packed out and service is consequently slow. The service is also identikit corporate British with name badges and set greeting phrases. Soft drinks can only be ordered by the brand name, don't think of mistaking a Coke for a Pepsi or a Britvik for a J2O, this will provoke the staff into the kind of psycotic pedantry usually only exhibited by Courtroom lawyers.
The food is asembled in a factory, blast frozen, lorried over to the pub and re-heated and put on your plate. This is standard with most chain pubs. The result is much akin to chewing on a plate of pulped newspaper which has been liberally sprayed with salt.
However, despite the above mauling I can manage to sqeueeze of a few points out for the Fox and Ravens. Firstly, The place is clean and tidy and pleasant looking inside and out. Secondly, The staff do work hard. Thirdly, (and this is really a negative positive) there just ain't that many better places in Chelmsford.
3/10
26 Aug 2008 16:09
This is a large bland looking glass fronted bar on Braintree High Street, apparently supposed to have a South African theme, although you would not suspect this unless you had been told.
Inside there is plenty of comfortable table seating and also sofas, big TVs for sport watching, patio at the back for smokers. But the overall effect of the interior is nothing to get worked up about. You can easily imagine yourself to be in any cheap airport hotel bar in the Country. It has the usual uninspiring blandness of any modern chain pub.
The beer choice (or should I say "lager choice") is remarkably poor. Perhaps the citizens of Braintree have entirely given up on our native beer making tradition (i.e. cask ales)? I suppose that in fairness to Barracuda it is not really trying to attract the discerning real ale drinker, and its business model is more geared towards filling up the young and undemanding with overpriced fizzy ethanol based products.
The clientele in any establishment in central Braintree are never going to be anything other than rough around the edges, and this place certainly does not buck that trend.
How it has managed to score an average of 6.6 is beyond me, so in an effort to try and restore some sanity to this site I have to give it a mediocre 3/10.
25 Jun 2008 16:43
The Porcupine, Leicester Square
With most Porcupines the pricks are on the outside, but with this one... lets just say it attracts a "mixed bag", and leave it at that.
Olde Corner pub with a certain amount of charm. The bare stained wooden interior is attractive enough and the upstairs bar is quite snug if you can get a seat. Drinks selection varied. There were 4 handpumps in operation and the ale quality was good.
Crowded with the exact mixture you would expect; bewildered tourists, kids in from the 'burbs taking in a bit of the West End, argrieved brickies "up west" glugging lager and swearing, outraged middleaged theatre goers grabbing a quick libation before the play. From this you will garner that the atmosphere is not exactly harmonious and not always pleasant and relaxing, but what can you expect from a pub a stone's throw from Leicester Square?
Clientele and crowdedness drag this pub down to an average 5/10
24 Jun 2008 17:02
Considering its proximity to the Fatcat Lawyer Hell that is Chancery Lane this small victorian street corner pub is relatively unpretentious and relaxed. There were 8 ales on, yes 8! I only got through a couple but they were good. Sat at a stool in front of the big clear glass windows and watched office girls scuttle back and forth dressed in their summer clothes (mmmmm)whilst sipping some really decent beer. Well done The Castle, you provided excellent beverages in a pleasant atmosphere.
8/10
24 Jun 2008 11:35
Recently introduced Greene King IPA (better than nothing I suppose). And guess what... it's shite.
Why oh why do I keep going back there... like a dog returning to it's own vomit.
Still 3/10
4 Jun 2008 15:04
I try quite hard to like the Woolpack as it is fairly convenient for me but it just doesn't really have much charm.
There are elements there which are good: The real ale is well kept and they do a fair selection. They have Czech Budvar on tap, which is normally a good sign. It has preseved its pleasant Victorian corner pub layout and decor. It has a pool table and a small garden. These good elements draw me back on a regular basis, but what drives me away again is the unpleasant, dead atmosphere.
It just lacks any kind of hospitality, it is generally pretty empty and most of the customers seem to be boring, surly, young, single blokes who treat the place as if it belongs to them and feel that anyone else who might fancy popping in for a drink is trespassing on their turf. The bar staff seem to encourage this attitude, presumably because it means they have less work to do as no-one else comes in.
In the right hands it could be so much more. 5/10
4 Jun 2008 14:58
A large two bar pub in the village of Roborough on the edge of Dartmoor with beer garden, also has en-suite accomodation.
I have stayed overnight in the Lopes (but not for a few years now) and have regularly eaten and drunk there at lunchtimes and evenings on my occasional trips to Dartmoor over the years. I have a certain affection for the place and it has many good points.
Firstly, the beer, usually a couple of ales on which included excellent Doom Bar last time I was there. Beer is kept and served to a good standard.
Secondly, the Food is good honest English pub food, freshly cooked and good quality, reasonably priced.
Thirdly, the landlord and staff have always been first rate.
The only minor criticisms I have are that I prefer a wider ale choice and I sometimes think that because the pub concentrates on food so much it does have more of a restaurant feel to it, which can be a little offputting if you come in on your own. But on balance, a creditable 7/10
3 Jun 2008 17:29
In a wonderful setting in the small Dartmoor village of Clearbrook, I always enjoy my visits to the Skylark. A traditional old Devon village pub with a pleasant beer garden.
The bar serves a good pint of real ale and seems to rotate the guest ales regularly. It has to be said that the pub is very popular for food and most people go there for a meal, but don't let this discourage you drinkers as this place is well worth a visit just for a decent pint in a pleasant atmosphere.
The landlord is very proud of his food and can be heard haranguing the kitchen staff to ever greater culinary efforts at meal times. But this is no Gastropub, the food is basic honest English pub food at its best and reasonably priced too.
I love the place and give it an 8/10.
3 Jun 2008 17:15
They say the British like to queue and boy, were they right. Why is it that we Brits crowd into these kind of places until they are so full that our prospects of ever getting a drink, having a conversation or even crossing the room to spend a penny are seriously impeded? These days, entering an Edwards on a Friday night seems to me about as pleasurable as taking a crowded commuter train into London on a weekday morning.
You can say that under 25's like this kind of atmosphere, but to be frank that's a bit patronising, and I am not even sure that they really do. It wasn't that long ago that I was one of those under 25's myself and I can't recall actually enjoying Edwards style bars all that much. I know you are supposed to and everyone says they do, but I dunno.
Sure, they're OK for a bit of girl watching, but the queuing, the provocation and intimidation from the door staff, the standing, the noise, the lack of ability to get a drink, the pressure to pull a bird and the probability that you won't, the constant hovering threat that some pissed up lout will smack you in the mouth for looking at him in the wrong way, it isn't much fun being young and hip.
These comments probably apply to every Edwards I have ever been in. So, what about Edwards Chelmsford? I hear you say. Well, it's an Edwards, same wherevener you go. Loud music, bland lager, bar staff keen but worked like galley slaves, open plan, split levels, shiny surfaces, vaguely stale smell masked by a cacophony of aftershave, unlikely to get a seat, bit of a patio area at the front which is nice in the summer if you can get a seat (unlikely).
I can only really find reasons to give it a couple of marks; a) the staff work hard and b) I quite like the patio area at the front. Other than that, not my cup of tea at all.
2/10
29 May 2008 15:34
JD Wetherspoons, the pub chain equivalent of Poundland or Primark. Providing affordable food and drink to the fiancially challenged or incorigable tightwads.
This one is a particularly fetid den of iniquity, usually quite filthy, rank and dingy inside. Most notable is the group of hardcore drinkers who get in when it opens at about 9am and then proceed to drink all day save for occasional trips to the bookies nextdoor for a punt.
The ale is the usual Wetherspoons fayre. A selection of big name bitters served reasonably well and at knock-down prices.
Food is of the "hold it down if you can" variety. I once saw a Wetherspoons employee asked by a customer "if the meal had shellfish in it". The employee went away and came back out of the kitchen with a big cardboard box, which must have held about 50 of these pre-cooked meals and had the cooking instructions and ingredients list on the side, and held it in front of the customer's face so they could read the ingredients. Fresh, my arse.
So, not a pleasant place to while away the hours in my book. Having said all this, the Moon and Stars does redeem itself slighty as it is 1) The only place at that end of South Street which sells real ale. 2) The ale is really not too bad 3) It's cheap and unpretenious.
So, a solid 4/10 in my book
23 May 2008 16:57
The Lion is an oasis of old English charm in the bland desert of dreary 1960s box buildings that make up Romford's town centre. A classical 18th century coaching inn that one might walk into expecting to see a young David Copperfield nursing a pint of porter and warming himself at the fire.
The temptation is to avoid going into pubs at all in Romford unless you happen to be one of the "10 pints of strong lager/you lookin' at my bird/smack in the mouth" fraternity or the "world's shortest skirt/20 alcopops/dose of clamydia" sorority. But this is one place you can go in and be reasonably certain of an evening or afternoon without intimidation or irritation.
At the pumps they have real ale (Yes, in Romford!) and the quality of the pints is not too bad. At least, I have never had a dodgy one in there. The bar is usually pretty packed out with a mix of people encompassing market traders, shoppers and office workers. There is an overflow room upstairs with plenty of tables.
The staff are friendly, efficient and competent.
So overall, must be a high scoring pub. The only areas where it loses marks are that it is usually crowded. Not the pub's fault this, but still, a bit annoying sometimes. Also, the selection of beer was not terribly broad and the quality, whilst not bad, does not make you sit up and say "Wow, that's good".
So all in all a solid 7/10.
22 May 2008 17:25
The Kirkstone Pass Inn, Kirkstone Pass
A sight for sore eyes for those with sore feet. Descending into the Kirkstone pass after a day up on the tops we were treated to a choice of four delicious ales on handpump served by two lovely East European ladies. The setting is bleak and high at the top of the pass, and it certainly doesn't lack grandeur. The building claims to date back to the 15th Century and has a kind of run down higgledypiggldy whitewashed charm. Inside it is dingy with coal fires and cosy tables and seating. Outside you can sit and feel small and anonymous in the most imposing of lakeland scenery. Not to be missed. All somewhat spoilt by the procession of noisy motorbikes burning past at speed. Middle-aged bikers often pop in for their orange juice and sanatogen before burning off to inflict their noise on other lakeland residents elsewhere.
12 May 2008 11:07
The Brotherswater Inn, Hartsop
With the stunning backdrop of the Kirkstone pass this pub is the perfect place for a post walk pint on the terrace (if fine) or in the bar with it's big picture windows (if wet). Also has accomodation and a camp site. There are 4 handpumps in operation serving Jennings ales and 2 guests. Cumberland ale was particularly good when I visited. Evening Meals are pretty good basic fayre but the breakfast they serve is simply wonderful and worth a detour before heading off to the hills in the morning. The only thing which mars the enjoyment slightly is the constant stream of bikers racing past. The Kirkstone pass seems to have been adopted by the Babyboomer Motorcycle Prats Fraternity (BMPF) as an impromptu racecourse for their noisemaking deathtraps.
12 May 2008 10:54
Is this the perfect pub? The nearest you�re going to get to it in Chelmsford anyway. Delightful selection of real ales served in peak condition and at reasonable price. Interesting lager and draft cider selection (definitely no Carling or Strongbow in here!) No music/TV on and genuine, friendly conversation at the bar. The new landlord is a great character and makes every visit a pleasure, and boy does he knows how to serve a great pint. Staff always make you welcome and service is quick and efficient. Real fires, pub dog, newspapers provided. If you like a wide choice of delicious beverages, an open fire, a relaxing atmosphere and good company this is the place for you. If not, stick to the Fleece or Chicagos where you belong.
Previous poster should try again as the atmosphere was not at all as he described the last few times I have visited.
23 Apr 2008 15:38
I have been in to Bar Me during the day and have never seen more than a handful of customers in there. On occasion there has been literally just the barmaid and myself. Odd, as Edwards nextdoor usually does a roaring trade at Lunchtimes and the set up/food/beer is pretty similar. Perhaps it's the daft name that puts people off.
16 Apr 2008 11:29
The Hamilton Hall, Liverpool Street
Too big, too busy, too grotty. Clientele of drunken loudmouthed idiots, suits, brickies, down-and-outs, dregs. Atmosphere crackles with the incipient threat of drunken violence at any time of day or night. Getting served at the bar is a nightmare of Wagnerian proportion. Even having to pass by the place when you reach the top of the Liverpool Street escalator sends a shiver down the spine of any honest drinker. The walking pace and heart rate slacken appreciably once you have turned the corner and are out of sight of the place and the mind relaxes and directs one towards the more civilised drinking establishments that the Capital can offer.
15 Apr 2008 12:29
The Square and Compasses, Fairstead
Shalford ale from the the barrel was pretty good, although there was no other choice of ale when I visited.
Food is unpretentious, reasonably priced and well cooked. Service was brilliant and the place seemed to be run by a chap and a lady I took to be the owners who made the visit a pleasure.
The main bar is really just a restaurant which seems to get very busy so you need to book. The smaller bar is more for drinkers and was full of locals when I visited. I will be returning, but on first impressions I would recommend this place highly.
10 Apr 2008 11:54
This is one wetherspoons where you will not get a good pint of ale. The beer is usually stale and badly kept. I suspect this is because it is mainly a lager drinkers' pub. The staff are a bunch of useless spiky haired wombats and there has been no obvious sign of an adult there to manage them whenever I have visited.
General atmosphere of squalor and barely supressed violence.
10 Apr 2008 11:00
As an occasional visitor to Plymouth I used to go in the Notte Inn in the early 90's and it was a real spit and sawdust back street boozer packed out with local characters and serving a good pint of ale.
Went back recently and was disappointed to see it had been totally refurbed in a kind of "wine bar" style. However, I was quite pleasantly surprised by the nice ale straight from the cask served by the drop-dead gorgeous girls behind the bar. Fell into conversation with a group of blokes drinking at the bar and had a thoroughly good evening.
4 Apr 2008 12:59
The Garrick Arms, Trafalgar Square
Big open fronted bar serving Green King. One of the better ones around Leicester Square, but still not up to much.
4 Apr 2008 12:44
Good friendly local pub with beer garden. Serves a fine pint of GK IPA.
1 Apr 2008 15:19
This is my favourite bar/pub in this end of Romford, which sounds like faint praise, and it is.
The atmosphere is at least friendly and you are unlikely to get into a drunken scene(fight) with the local pondlife in here. Not much else to actually recommend it other than that.
Standard lagerpub with no proper ale, decorated in a style which is a cross between a modernist loft appartment and an Edwardian Gentleman's club (go figure!), I would never eat there(or anywhere else in South Street, Romford, anyone who does deserves all they get.
1 Apr 2008 13:11
Not a bad pint, but I found the staff and management are not particularly warm and welcoming.
26 Mar 2008 17:35
Friendly place, good selection of ales, but they are a bit hit and miss and I have had the occasional bad pint in the Horse.
You do feel like you need a bath after you leave the place as it is pretty filthy, especially the toilets.
26 Mar 2008 17:33
I go in there regularly and the staff are always friendly. The ale is always good. Don't understand the last comment about the beer being flat, this is Essex mate, it's supposed to be flat!
They do a good bit of grub in there too.
26 Mar 2008 17:29
The Railway Tavern, Chelmsford
Popped in recently and was really put off by the fetid atmosphere in there. Also, my pint was disgustingly off. Not recommended.
26 Mar 2008 17:24
Recently refurbed, and they have now made it even worse! (if that was possible). The beer is now ridiculously overpriced. Over �3 for a pint of Stella. No proper ale whatsoever. Always full of badly behaved kids running around the bar. Cheap, nasty food. Typical "chain pub" really.
26 Mar 2008 17:21
The Original Plough, Chelmsford
Always serves a decent pint and has a good selection of real ale.
26 Mar 2008 17:15
The Jolly Sailor, Heybridge Basin
Good, friendly local pub serves a tidy pint of ale.
26 Mar 2008 17:11
Good choice of well kept real ales and ludicrously cheap. I have spent many a happy hour in there sampling their selection.
Service can be very slow at busy times.
There is a clientele of hard-core drinkers who are a bit unsightly at times but mostly harmless.
But don't eat there unless you're not fussy and have a strong stomach.
26 Mar 2008 17:09
Terrific. Proper unspoilt picturesque pub serving ale straight from the cask. Ale quaffers should definitely make a detour to visit this place.
26 Mar 2008 16:59
Overpriced, trendy, lagerpub devoid of any real character . Run by muppets for muppets.
26 Mar 2008 16:48
I have to agree with the previous poster. We waited almost an hour for our meals on bank holiday Friday lunchtime, and it wasn't as if the place was exactly teeming with people or short on staff. The waitresses are very nice, but the kitchen seems far too slow at turning the food out.
26 Mar 2008 16:43
The IPA and other cask ales are served too cold so they don't taste right. The pub is staffed by surly teenagers which totally spoils the atmosphere.
26 Mar 2008 16:38
Ivory Peg, Chelmsford
By the way, as a member of the ruling class, yes, I went to a public school, and qualified in the professions, (much bloody good it did me!)
I would just like to make the point that these guys you all like i.e. Farage, Martin, Sunak et al, were the dropouts from that system. They may have Plummy voices, and a nice taste in suits, but they were /are despised by us.
They were the sort of bods who got a good wedgie or a bogwash periodically at school to try and teach them their place, but they just didn't listen.
Rather than take those lessons onboard they became bitter and decided to to curry favour with you by advocating Brexit and various other muscle flexing bullshit.
Don't trust em.
30 Mar 2024 01:56