BITE user comments - TS77
Comments by TS77
Just checked out the refurb - Gothic London meets Larry Grayson......god help the doomed pubs of Old London Town. Another Highgate pub bites the dust...very very soon there will be NOTHING left.
17 Jan 2016 20:20
The Garden Gate, Hampstead Heath
Men's toilets are usually stinking but yesterday they smelt like Dennis Nilson's blocked sewer pipes. The smell permeated the pub....vile.
5 Oct 2015 09:57
Extraordinarily rude and surly barman even by the standards of London - ludicrously overpriced and very average food.
27 Sep 2015 12:17
Spaniards Inn, Hampstead Heath
Last visit to the pub ever yesterday - ludicrous beer prices and probably the most thoroughly unpleasant service I have ever experienced even by the laughable standards of modern London. The past is itself - adios The Spaniards.
29 Jun 2015 09:59
Know this pub well having worked close by for years and still use it for convenience when meeting old friends. Pleasant enough but alike a posting from December 2012 the female members of the bar staff are a fairly miserable bunch.
30 May 2013 09:59
The Freemasons Arms, Hampstead
Have had several drinks in this pub over the past five years including this most recent Bank Holiday. On every occasion I have had to wait approximately ten minutes to be served at the bar - completely and utterly staggering inability to meet basic serving standards.
6 May 2013 21:49
The Prince of Wales Ale House, Highgate
Interesting to see a raft of recent negative comments here have been the recipients of a Christmas cull.
22 Dec 2011 12:10
Great pub with pleasant staff but last Sunday afternoon visit was ruined by the wall of white noise emanating from the huge amounts of young children present - interrupting both grown up adult conversation regarding matters of crucial political import of our times and beer appreciation alike.
1 Feb 2011 20:11
Alongside earlier posts I completely agree that the capitalist hell refurb is an utter disgrace alike the grim gastrofate of the Wells Tavern and some Highgate Village pubs I could mention. I feel this website should unequivocally withdraw pubs which have morphed into restaurants from these listings with immediate effect.
4 Jul 2010 12:01
On the basis of ongoing quantitative reports surely the standard of service at this pub - which otherwise has so much going for it - has without doubt pipped even the summertime Spaniards Inn for the worst in North London by miles. Does no management at this pub ever reference these continually woeful reports with regard to both very poor food and the equally dismal service of the same.
11 Jan 2010 22:35
The Lord Palmerston, Dartmouth Park
Third comment on this pub and totally agree with last poster having previouisly had to reverse my opinion following a disappointing visit. In here yesterday for a lovely afternoon with first class food, excellent service and good atmosphere.
2 Nov 2009 11:05
Revisited this pub today for the first time in three months - a potentially superb pub let down by desperately average food and staggerinlgy appalling undermanned service. May even pip the Spaniards Inn for the worst service award in North London. Congratulations to all concerned!!!
3 Oct 2009 21:25
Spaniards Inn, Hampstead Heath
Returned here by default a few Thursdays ago during a day's leave and it was marginally better in comparison to previously witnessed scenes of summer bedlam. The beer garden can be a genuinely nice place when it's not too busy and the bar staff were quite friendly in this instance. Sausage and mash was very good although totally cold. In the best case scenario the Spaniards has just fell victim to so many aspects of London life with population outpacing infrastructure and that essentially is unlikely to reverse.
20 Apr 2009 09:52
Interesting previous posts...I was in this pub over the weekend and saw other customers complain about the food as well to no satisfactory resolution....not sure if it was the posters above. This pub is fine for its proximity to Regents Park and Primrose Hill but the very average food is priced at science fiction prices - particularly ironic with financial apocalypse looming. So typical of the cowboy greed that has turned our once great capital into the seedy clip-joint it has become.
20 Apr 2009 09:43
With regard to the two previous postings ...and following upon my earlier one from last year.... I have decided to give this pub a permanently wide berth too. Last time I was in here during an early Sunday afternoon I was asked by the teenage barmaid if I wanted food immediately upon walking to the bar (of a public house!) After purchasing a pint of lager and glass of house white - at science fiction prices - I clearly recall having to reach around and take it from under the pump itself where it had been left after being poured by the same barmaid who then had proceeded on her merry way to other more urgent chores. Nice touch.
6 Mar 2009 13:50
Well located pub and utterly miraculously for the West End ... genuinely friendly staff.
4 Mar 2009 09:20
Marginally passable West End pub should you be in the neighbourhood early Midday with a good book to pass the time. Otherwise, and alike the broader atrocity exhibition of London West End pubs, consider emigration.
9 Feb 2009 00:48
The Marquis of Granby, Fitzrovia
Grim identikit London West End misery experience on all fronts - absolutely inexcusable in light of its geographic location amid so many London media companies. Pathetic and utterly laughable - a definitive one visit, never- return-to-London-again sour-beer clip joint.
9 Feb 2009 00:39
Absolutely first class pub.....one of the best in London by far.
11 Jan 2009 00:34
The Lord Palmerston, Dartmouth Park
Back here over Christmas for the first time since the summer - still a great pub but food has gone seriously downhill. Ridiculous prices for at best seriously average food. Portions laughably small. Such a typically greedy turn of events. Shame.
5 Jan 2009 10:56
Earlier reviews are mixed in general but I found this pub very pleasant at the weekend and certainly enjoyed my few hours here..quiet, very traditional and a world away from the greed and misery of Oxford Street. Would go back.....one of a mere handful of West End pubs worth the time of day.
4 Jan 2009 12:48
Here a few weeks back and decent enough pub in pleasant location.....evening marred however by my colleague's bag being stolen by some lifestyle interface scumbag.
5 Dec 2008 11:19
Decent enough pub to meet up in if you are in the general area....food looked great but too expensive to actually try....draught lager was dreadful. So pretty good all round for London then!!!
25 Nov 2008 09:36
Another soul destroying entry into the London West End Hall of Shame...alike nearly Oxford Street itself it is enveloped in a shroud of melancholy, cheapness and hopelessness. A desperate pub in the
ruined capital city of a finished country.
2 Nov 2008 15:21
The Crown and Sceptre, Fitzrovia
One of the very but very few West End public houses worth consideration ...generally decent clientele and pleasant staff.
19 Oct 2008 23:24
The Lord Palmerston, Dartmouth Park
Yes this ones a good one...friendly staff, relaxed unpretentious atmosphere and genuinely excellent food. A shame a few more other London pubs couldn't raise themselves out of the pit of laughable mediocrity and aspire to something decent like this.
31 Aug 2008 23:23
In general a good local pub - however service is not the best and ...as always with rip-off Britain..seriously let down by average to very poor food.
3 Aug 2008 21:16
Nice enough pub for a drink outside but food is very poor and overpriced.
28 Jul 2008 12:39
The Garden Gate, Hampstead Heath
Strange one this...a lot going for it with the garden etc but seems to attract a very rowdy clientele on occassion. Also service at the bar can be extremely slow.
22 Jul 2008 16:00
The definitive venue for any Norwegian or Belgian teenager in search of Cool Brittannia - the greatest oxymoron of the modern age.
20 Jun 2008 16:35
Perfect location for a summer drink outside. However
the food is average to poor and queues are extraordinarily long at weekends. Can somebody phone the council to remove the refridgerator from the defunct middle bar since the management are obviously selectively blind to it?
20 Jun 2008 13:44
Paradise By Way Of Kensal Green, Kensal Green
A fine point made by the last poster....I have actually been working in London media for 20 years and can't afford a bare tenth of the gastro-fayre on offer in our capital - if the British Class War has now descended down to the level of Bangers and Mash then god help us all. The trite public-school wordplay in the pub name too speaks volumes for the kind of clientele this pub no doubt wishes to attract amidst the jarring and hopeless "transformation" of another North West London grief hole.
3 Apr 2008 10:16
Spaniards Inn, Hampstead Heath
The Spaniards Inn truly sounds like the utter embodiment of the Death of the Nation by the evidence of these postings - our country has now reached such a state of mouldering decay and laughable incompetence we can't even do history right. Last person out of England blow out ye olde candle.....
27 Mar 2008 13:58
The Whittington Stone, Highgate
The juxtapostion of a pub of this foul nature with such a worthy symbol of London history and tradition as the nearby Whittington Stone takes the breath away. The only thing "right" about this place is its location in such a soul destroying quagmire as Archway.
18 Mar 2008 09:23
Such a wearyingly typical London pub experience..pleasant enough exterior afront the usual charmless jigsaw of condiments on every table, flashing gambling machines, blaring television and production line soul music. A suitable venue nonetheless for any prospective British emigrant to have a last drink to the memory of our dear lost country prior to departure at Victoria station for the coast and a better future.
17 Mar 2008 22:42
The only thing animated about this pub is the bar staff's aggressive attitude to its customers. Interesting history as a mainstay of Fitrovian culture but - alike modern day England one could say -it has a certain stranded feel of melancholy and hopelessness about it.
29 Feb 2008 15:12
The Northumberland Arms, Fitzrovia
Mildly above average pub in light of its otherwise ghastly location. Major drawback is the barladies' choice of eardrum-bursting teenage muzak which tends to drown out 75% of any intelligent conversation between Enlightenment Fitrovians in attendance.
29 Feb 2008 15:06
A refreshingly traditional and friendly alternative to the otherwise identikit North West London gastropub experience. The occasional prescence of a council estate habitue - avec chien - adding a delightful ingredient of authenticity.
29 Feb 2008 14:30
Great pub for afficianados of post-modern London -
disgruntled Notting Hill exiles and wailing gastro-children aplenty.
29 Feb 2008 14:26
The King William IV, Hampstead
This pub is thoroughly ok....I went in here with my beautiful Swedish girlfriend , didn't feel the slightest bit intimidated as open heterosexualists and had two lovely pints of beer.
29 Feb 2008 14:13
I have had a few nice evenings in here with my delightful girlfriend though the clientele seems to consist mainly of financial sector workers - thus terminally negating any aspirations it obviously has towards achieving bohemian style.
29 Feb 2008 12:47
Crassly decorated interior but friendly enough staff, passably good food on occasion and fair enough mix of clientele. Unlike most pubs in the area this is pleasantly free of whinnying bankers and other such spam-faced dullards.
29 Feb 2008 12:39
I tend to frequent public houses for the pleasure of drinking.....not being made to feel like a working class slave begging at my lordship's table for his scraps of gristle.
6 Feb 2008 13:30
Ye Olde Swiss Cottage, Swiss Cottage
This pub is the place where Hitler would spend purgatory.....apart from that its great.
6 Feb 2008 13:26
A fat badger, or indeed any form of indigenous British wildlife, would not be seen dead in such a self-aware and derivative environment as a modern day Notting Hill pub.
6 Feb 2008 13:01
The Defector's Weld, Shepherds Bush
An oasis of calm in a swamp of common vulgarity.....
good beer, decent BBC-type clientele and smashing views of Shepherds Bush Green urban hell outside the window...
6 Feb 2008 12:55
First class pub and indeed one of the very best in Chiswick - great food and beer and friendly mixed clientele. If only the council estate next door could be moved a mile north towards Acton this would be quite perfect.
6 Feb 2008 12:47
Quality gastropub par excellence - quite perfect for for a relaxing summer drink after a walk upon the heath.....surrounded by merchant bankers, trust fund enfants and the ghosts of Bohemian London......
6 Feb 2008 12:41
Nice enough pub but seating arrangements need serious reconsideration.....likewise a more ergonomic rebalancing of beautiful young Belsize Park bohemians with the council estate contingent from across the road who appear to have been in the majority during my two visits.
6 Feb 2008 12:30
The Old Bull and Bush, North Hampstead
This place has to be seen to believed.....only England can lead the Western world in doing something so profoundly and utterly WRONG as this.
22 May 2007 09:26
The Sir Richard Steele, Belsize Park
Interesting interior and clientele though the sea of urine in the Gentlemen's toilets is somewhat passe. Anybody who enjoys this kind of faux-jollity is highly advised to investigate any public house on the island of Ireland for the real thing.
22 May 2007 09:25
Stella was good but otherwise a study in mediocrity...my beautiful girlfriend didn't much appreicate having her arse oogled by uncouth punters at the cigarette machine either.
21 May 2007 14:41
Spaniards Inn, Hampstead Heath
Crowds on Sunday have to be seen to be believed....approximately 80 punters and four barstaff!!! Very authentic but food disappointing.....my Swedish eating companions found the squid salad to be a highly unpleasant life experience.
21 May 2007 14:37
The Haverstock Arms, Belsize Park
Charmless staff and the smell of disinfectant in the drinking area itself that emanated from the toilets was overpowering.....hilarously bad.
21 May 2007 14:00
The Prince of Wales Ale House, Highgate
Interesting to read GerryL's Feb 2018 post - this was one of my favorite local pubs for many years while resident in Highgate. However for a good year and a half prior to leaving the area in 2017 it had went seriously but seriously downhill.
20 Mar 2018 20:14