BITE user comments - marklaw
Comments by marklaw
Terrific pub, helpful staff ( mid-week evening). I take US work colleagues here and tell them the pub was built in the 1400s - they suck it up with joy!
11 Mar 2013 14:20
We have been drinking in the Harwood Arms for many years and have experienced the dramatic changes over the past two. The change to a �gastro pub� was not one we particularly welcomed, but we stuck with it, and continued to come in as often as we did. (We are a party of ten most times).
We have eaten regularly on match days, and the food is excellent.
However, since the dining area has been extended from the back to include the whole area of the pub, we have been made to feel increasingly unwelcome. Tables are reserved (whether taken or not) and we cannot stand and drink anywhere without rude staff pushing past us and asking us to move. Any pub in the SW6 area will be busy on football days � staff should recognise this and tolerate it, or take up employment elsewhere.
It is obvious that the Harwood Arms would rather chase the higher margin food business (which is fine), but wants to tap the lucrative drinking-only custom at other times. Last Saturday, we were refused re-entry to the Harwood Arms (we had already spent a considerable amount of money at lunchtime) on the grounds that it was full. It wasn�t, but we were not evening diners, and so were not welcome.
Regrettably, we are now going to take our trade elsewhere. There are other �gastro pubs� in the area that are more accommodating. We are not the only local regulars that feel this way. I hope the establishment goes on to prosper as a restaurant, but do feel (as others have commented) that it needs to make its mind up about what sort of establishment it is - a pub or a restaurant. It is in danger of not satisfying the criteria for either.
16 Dec 2009 12:15
Great pub. Friendly and helpful staff. Is now our regular pre-match pub since the Duke on the Green took such a nose-dive.
5 Apr 2008 17:16
No longer a pub, but an "eaterie". A "gastro-pub".
Used to be our local, but no more.
All the regulars have been chased away by an over-zealous staff keen to get everyone eating food (and presumably earning tips). Staff now unpleasant and officious.
A real shame.
5 Apr 2008 17:09
Great pub. Locals seem to live in here, but still welcome outsiders, especially on a sporting Saturday.
5 Apr 2008 17:01
The North Star, Ealing
I've a long history with this pub! Back to the 1970s.
It was a favourite with the Lads for a Friday night when we were all at school/or first job together - convenient for the 'Monty's' curry house across the road too.
I met a couple of (serious) girlfriends in here, got very drunk more times than I can recall, and had a great time.
It was a traditional Irish pub (before those "Plastic Paddy Joints" arrived) so the crowd was always large, friendly and welcoming.
The "beer garden" was originally just an alleyway where punters could park cars and where the 11:30 punch-ups took place on Fri & Sats. Good clean fun, with plenty of betting going on on the side. Plod, when they bothered to turn up, would block the alley at the Broadway end, watch participants punch themselves out and then haul them to Ealing Police Station for a night in the cells to sleep it off.
There were no 'outdoor heaters'.
Food was MASSIVE Sunday roasts and huge stews during the week.
No music back then - the community singing would drown it out!
It's a shame that it has changed so much. The DJ was a disastrous change (too loud), the door staff a sad modern reflection on what was previously a rigourosly self-policed boozer.
They can't keep the ale and bitter either, which is a shame. It was renowned for well-kept beer before - bigger margins on fizzy keg stuff, I suppose.
The alternative "Town House" over the road catered for the other 'set'
I had a drink in here just before my Wedding. Just for old times sake. The landlord didn't say "Hello Lads - six pints as usual? I'll bring them over" Sad.
17 Feb 2015 02:52