BITE user comments - M.O.G.
Comments by M.O.G.
Indeed, as Edwardx points out, there is nothing really like it in the area: for which I'm profoundly grateful.
Loud, overpriced and depressing: don't bother.
30 May 2007 16:25
Karaoke was Japan's revenge for Hiroshima and Nagasaki: a bit of an excessive reaction in my book...
On the nights when the ear-ache machines aren't there {Monday and Tuesday] the place is more or less tolerable, if you're desperate for a late pint, after everywhere nicer has shut... all the same, if you've got the energy, you'd be better of getting the bus down to Charlie Wright's...
30 May 2007 16:20
Since I made my last posting, last year, one thing has changed. There is now a very much better pub in the area: the Pembury.
If you're looking for good beer, good food, friendly, intelligent staff and general good vibes, give this dump a miss, walk round the corner and go up Amhurst Road. You won't be sorry.
30 May 2007 16:11
The Telegraph. 14-5-2007
The Telegraph has now become one of those pinnacles of the pub world: a �destination pub�, which is just as well, because it can be a bit hard to find, if you don�t know the way. Consulting the map [see above] is strongly advised: in fact I would even go as far as to print it out and put it in my pocket...
On the other hand, if the sun�s out and you like a bit of an adventure set you up for your pint, you could just wander about the Heath in the hope of finding it...
After a good walk you get a great reward for your efforts: a sundowner or two in the garden, then if it�s a Friday, you can nip upstairs to the Blues club.
As I said a while ago: to eat well, drink well, and hear some cracking blues artists in the company of your nearest and dearest has got to be the most pleasure you can have with your trousers on.
16 May 2007 14:55
As one of those old blokes, I have to admit that actually, you do occasionally see one or two "Hoxton Types" in The Wenlock, but there's a good reason for that. It's in Hoxton.
That aside, it's still the best pub I know, and I know quite a few...
9 May 2007 15:27
PS I absolutely agree with Mr Bean below, they do shut much too early, but I.m told that's not their fault, but Westminster Council being control freaks. Does anybody know the full story?
9 May 2007 15:22
Nice traditional local: good, well-kept ales, laid back friendly atmosphere, excellent music, welcoming management, and a three-minute walk from the seafront. Couldn't get much better [unless they get a piano...].
8 Apr 2007 02:13
When I last reviewed The Pembury back in September, I said it was on its way to becoming my local: that turned out to be correct. Now it is my local, and I love it. It gets gradually, incrementally, better and better: the beer continues to be excellent, the staff get nicer the more you get to know them, and they're still after that elusive late licence...
It's true it's a bit of an oddball of a place, but to me, that's all in its favour.
Also, I agree all that stripped-back bare wood and stuff might not be to everybody's taste, but really, it just needs to be lived in a bit. Give it time, no great pub ever happened overnight [not even The Wenlock!], they build up to it over a period: and that requires some commitment from the punters as well as the management.
The Pembury's already got a lot more atmosphere than when it started, [especially when it's a bit full, which sometimes it is nowadays], and its new life is still only measured in months. In spite of the bare wood, it's got a lot more atmosphere than most other pubs in the area, believe me. They've done amazingly well in such a short time, and it's still getting better.
Check it out on New years Eve: you'll need tickets, but they won't be too hard to get. [Go to their website for more info]. I'll be there.
23 Dec 2006 05:48
At the bar last night, drinking pint after pint of superb Brewers Gold, listening to the excellent Holly Roberts trio, sitting in front of eight handpumps of ale, a row of lager and Guinness taps, and a cold shelf stuffed with interesting bottles, I overheard the following, delivered in one of those whining nasal American female voices that make your ears itch:
"I'll have a red wine: that's my last choice. I really wanted a beer, but they don't have any Corona, they don't have any Stella, they don't have any Kronenbourg..."
Didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Had another pint.
Decided to laugh.
26 Nov 2006 17:13
The Globe on Morning Lane, Hackney
Since I wrote my last posting, the Wednesday night Blues sessions have been axed, but there is a new Blues & R&B Night on Fridays. I haven't tried it yet myself, but I've heard good reports of it. Worth checking out.
13 Nov 2006 17:15
Highly recommended.
A big surprise, and a nice one for once. After having been closed for years, I was sure The Pembury was destined to become another boring block of yuppie flats. I didn�t think I�d ever see it open again as a pub: but now here it is, and blow me down, it�s a very good one too.
The new management are nice people, with a lot of the right ideas on how to make a pub into an inviting place to go. The beer and the food are excellent, and not over-priced, the staff are welcoming, and THERE IS NO PIPED MUSIC!
There are all sorts of proper pub games: pool, bar-billiards[!], cards, a chess club, etc. etc. [no dart board yet] Although it has only been open for a few months, it�s beginning to build up and to get a bit of an atmosphere. I�m starting to see familiar faces from other pubs in the area drifting in, and more to the point, coming back [including a number of refugees from the vile and hugely over-rated Prince George].
This place is the real thing, and on its way to becoming my local: I�ll give it 8/10. When they get a piano, and the late licence they�re after, I�ll give them the full 10: a distinction they will share only with The Wenlock.
22 Sep 2006 14:09
Third visit yesterday. This place is definitely growing on me, in spite of being on the wrong side of London. Nice laid back atmosphere, friendly locals, welcoming staff and absolutely superb beer.They have a full range of Tim Taylors Beers, but the Best was so good I stuck with it.
If I lived nearer, I'd be in there every day, so maybe it's a good job I don't...
1 Sep 2006 17:46
Third visit yesterday. This place is definitely growing on me, in spite of being on the wrong side of London. Nice laid back atmosphere, friendly locals, welcoming staff and absolutely superb beer.They have a full range of Tim Taylors Beers, but the Best was so good I stuck with it.
If I lived nearer, I'd be in there every day, so maybe it's a good job I don't...
1 Sep 2006 17:46
No longer a Wetherspoons, and this is definitely not an improvement: more of a disaster.
From the time Wetherspoons opened it, until the time they dumped it and got out [WHY???], it became the meeting place and base of operations for a whole crowd of us: freelance veterans and victims of the British Film �Industry�. Of course it was usually dreadful on a Friday night, [that applied to the whole of the West End and still does], but between Monday and Thursday, it was OK.
Poverty and lack of work had driven us out of our older hangouts, but the Sixpence enabled us still to keep a foot in the door of Soho. We were well aware of its limitations, but we were also aware that in there a drink cost about half as much as anywhere else in the area. We used to refer to it affectionately as �The Shithouse�, or more politely, �The Works Canteen, or �The Labour Exchange�. I actually did get one or two jobs while drinking in there.
Ironically, over the years, it began to take on more of the atmosphere of the old Soho we loved than our original hangouts: The George, The Ship, The Blue Posts, The Star and Garter, The Dog and Duck, etc. etc. [all decent pubs, but SO expensive now, and full of young rich arseholes]. The old farts often turned out to be very interesting people if you could overcome your prejudices long enough to talk to them. Rather amazingly, it became a real local.
It was one of the last bastions of the old Soho scene: and now it has fallen.
I�ve been there a couple of times since the change, and felt very upset. None of the old crowd goes there now. We�ve all tried to give it the benefit of the doubt, and been driven away. The new management seem not to have the slightest idea. The beer is rank, the service slow and rude, and they�ve put in the usual imbecile loud crap piped music. The atmosphere has gone.
Heartbreaking. Don�t go there.
24 Aug 2006 16:53
This was once a pleasantly scruffy local, selling one or two decently kept ales, then it got a rather regrettable make-over, and became one of the very first "Modern" [ie Yuppie] bars in the area. The people were quite ok, however, and it was open a bit later, so I still went, now and again, faute de mieux.
Then there was a fire, under extraordinarily suspicious circumstances, which burnt down almost the entire block in which it stood. Could be something to do with it being Listed? Anyway, what was left of the pub was demolished about two years ago.
Now it's just an empty site with a fence round it, but in a very desirable location, as the estate agents say: and if the Pembury can open again, anything is possible. Who knows what the future may hold?
22 Aug 2006 15:06
The Globe on Morning Lane, Hackney
Nice friendly, comfy old-school local. Real ale. Darts taken very seriously.
Live music [and late licence] some evenings: Monday[Loud Blues], Wednesday[Cool Blues], Thursday and Saturday [Old Crooners] and Sunday lunchtime [Vintage Jazz]
The Wednesday Blues session is the best for me: the TJ Johnson Band- very polished but full of soul. Go there, you won't be sorry
21 Aug 2006 03:06
The Students' Union Bar At The University Of Life.
Still my favourite pub in the whole world, after god-knows how long. OK, so it's true, some of the regulars are a bit weird [all right, very weird], but Life is weird, and there's no better place to contemplate it than sitting on one of Will and Steve's ricketty barstools getting your elbows wet. There's live Jazz and Blues at the weekends to oil the wheels of your inspiration. The beer's bloody good too, that goes without saying. Go there: and if you get there before I do, please save me a seat.
18 Aug 2006 15:05
The Globe on Morning Lane, Hackney
Stuck on the end of a nondescript row of shops dating from the early sixties, it doesn't look like much from the outside, but go in and enjoy one of the last of the old school East End boozers: friendly and unpretentious and full of atmosphere. Live music on Mondays- a [very loud] Blues Jam;
Wednesdays- a much more urbane form of Rhythm and Blues by the TJ Johnson band [highly recommended]; Thursdays and Saturdays- Old Crooners [some very very old] and Sunday lunchtime-Jazz. Recommended
18 Aug 2006 14:48
Recently reopened and much changed. The pub has had a very chequered history. It was a thriving live music venue back in the 80's and early 90's, then it went through several changes of ownership, getting rougher every time, until it finally closed. I never thought I'd see it open again, but the new people have very bravely invested a lot of money and effort into making it the first gastro-pub in the area. I haven't tried the grub yet, [I intend to sometime soon] but I can say that the staff are friendly, the beer is good and not too dear, [likewise the wine] and there are games, including bar-billiards. It all seems a bit new and antiseptic at the moment, but no doubt it will acquire an atmosphere of its own as time goes on. Recommended
18 Aug 2006 14:31
Greatly improved since last visit, about three years ago. A good old-fashioned boozer, not too badly knocked-about [a bit like me really] Nice friendly helpful governor and staff, and good range of real ales, very well-kept. Some interesting Victorian features inside. A bit of an oasis in an area not over-supplied with good pubs. Recommended.
18 Aug 2006 13:57
The Brook Green Hotel, Hammersmith
You will perhaps have noticed that all the good reviews for this pub were posted a while ago: before the recent change of management. There have not been any good notices since then. This new regime has demonstrated the disastrous effects of Youngs new policy of corporate managerialism. Apparantly now, all you need to run a Youngs pub is a lot of bullshit, backed up by an MBA. Intelligence, sensitivity, local experience, or even common sense are considered entirely dispensible. They have sabotaged a very popular, thriving live music venue, unique in the whole of London, and driven away at least a hundred loyal regulars: and for what? "Corporate Policy?" Does anybody know what they are doing? Rumour has it that the new Brucksfuhrer wants to put in a disco... Oh swipe me, what a managerial masterstroke! If there's one thing that Hammersmith is really in need of, it's more discos. Why, I only passed about seven or eight of them on my Friday night walk up Shepherd's bush Road from the tube station... Well, I won't be passing that way any more on a Friday night: I'll be going to wherever the Blues Club has moved on to, like all the rest of us regulars... So Long Suckers!
10 Aug 2006 01:27
The Wenlock Arms, Hoxton
Currently, I have 67 pubs on my BITE list, and The Wenlock is the only one that I rate at the full ten out of ten. [Even the splendid Pembury Tavern only gets nine, though that will surely change when they get their new licence...]
I won�t bother to go into all the reasons why I think a pub with such iffy toilets, dodgy decor, scruffy punters and general overcrowding is such a good place to be.
If you get it, there�s no need to explain, and if you don�t, you don�t , and possibly never will...
Cheers.
17 Jun 2007 01:19