BITE user comments - mralistair
Comments by mralistair
wow.. odd place. don't be fooled by the original looking frontage, the pub inside has been gutted and turned into something that looks more like an empty indian restaurant. I don't think they know if it's supposed to be a pub a bar or a nightclub,.
Early friday night the music was loud and rubbish, staff seemed friendly enough but a very odd atmosphere. only half the lagers were on and no ale.
Terrible, but almost worth visiting, just to see how bad it is and wonder what on earth the owners were thinking about.
1 Aug 2011 17:28
I never visited the place in it's last incarnation but i've been a couple of times recently and both times had good beer and good food.
If anything the midweek food was better than the sunday roast but no complaints. hope it does well.
9 Nov 2010 13:25
The Hemingford Arms, Barnsbury
I never thought i'd leave a bad review for this place, i've been a happy customer for almost a decade but last night was unbeleivable.
first off I got served a vinegarry pint of doom bar that they, to their credit, replaced but the Adnams explorer they replaced it with wasn't perfect either.
But the worst thing was that they were playing some commercial radio station really loudly, listening to DJs and advertisements in a pub is fecking awful.... especially when the reception is rubbish so you kept hearing loud static and hiss. I can only home there was some good reason for this, perhaps the stereo was broken... but silence would have been much better.
They did turn down the radio a bit.. but only so they could turn up the news on the TV (that was left on all the time we were in there) I'm in a pub, if i wanted to watch the news i'd have stayed at home.
I can only hope this is was some sort of freakish night and not a generall downward trend, as it is usually a great pub with a great atmosphere.
7 Jul 2010 14:43
Jolly Butchers, Stoke Newington
I gather this is run by the same people as the wrestler in highgate and the rose and crown allong the road.
I really like it, good variety of beers (though i'm not a massive fan of dark star brewery, even if it is locale, would be nice to see a harveys bitter or a tribute or ringwood) and no mainstreem lager / megacorp beer.
staff were good, tried to find us a charger for our phone, and generally seemed nice enough. Will be going back for sure.
10 May 2010 09:16
Great little boozer with a nice rear garden and a good looking menu, beer was good (bombadier, deuchars ipa, and 2 youngs bitters)
best thing is how they've refurbished it without making it look new, corporate or overly gastro
25 Apr 2010 13:46
Jolly Butchers, Stoke Newington
I hear it has been bought by the people who run the Rose and Crown at the end of church st and the wrestlers... so should be worth looking at when it opens
27 Mar 2010 11:53
The Southampton Arms, Gospel Oak
Great to see a pub of this calibre opening (well, re-opening).
Obviously great beer and cider as the other posters have noted. I thought the staff were great and friendly and obviousloy were able to suggest good beers (usefull as this place ONLY serves beer from small independent brewereries)
also although the food range isn't great and they aren't serving roast belly of pork with jus, the scotch eggs and pies were excellent. the cheese board looked pretty tempting as well.. perfect pub grub.
get there before it gets too popular
21 Feb 2010 22:29
Apparently the Hollybush has been sold to fullers. Be interesting to see if they muscle in their usual range of beer and suck the life out of the place.
The better keep the harveys on.. and the pie recipe.
10 Feb 2010 16:02
The Coach and Horses, Stoke Newington
I've been back a few times and this place has really grown on me. very warm welcoming place. only downside is that they seem to have the TV on the projector all the time.. it's a bit distracting and who wants to see sky news with the sound turned off in a pub?
but still well worth a visit.
23 Oct 2009 12:55
The Coach and Horses, Stoke Newington
Nice little pub. The busy road and chicken places around it maybe don't promise much, but this is a warm and friendly little place with a good range of beers and a welcome addition to stokies pubs.
1 Oct 2009 14:10
The King Charles I, Kings Cross
great little pub (and it is little) just off the busy road. good atmosphere.
Great place to spend an evening.
only downside is that it closes at 11... so start earlier!
2 Aug 2009 17:00
With an amazing beer garden (more of a beer park) this pub well worth looking out for on a sunny afternoon.
I had a commendable pint of brakespeare bitter inside was nicely looked after without feeling too much like it'd had a makeover.. plenty of charming features and low ceilings etc.
food looked decent though i didn't eat. the only possible critisism was the bizzare choice of celine dione music in the bar.
21 Jun 2009 21:18
Excellent village pub, if you can find it, well worth the effort. food is excellent home cooked fare.. so although the menu looked like an average pub grub, lasange, chicken pie. fish and chips. the quality was great.
landlord looked after us very well, ringwood was top notch, and i'm really just looking for an excuse to go back to wiltshire.
17 Jun 2009 21:38
really doesn't get much better than this, heard it gets busy but it was most pleasant this saturday afternoon.
18 May 2009 18:06
The Rose and Crown, Stoke Newington
I think the new owners have done a good job of freshening up the pub without turning it into gastro hell.
had an good pint (or 4) or marstons pedigree.
Good bar staff and they usually have deuchars which i'm always a fan of.
I had the roast, it was pretty decent and I'm not sure �9-odd is ' expensive' compared to plenty of places in the area. and while the spuds were a little dry. the meat was excellent and the veg was good.
5 May 2009 23:03
The Prince of Wales, Kennington
Never been there on a cricket day but enjoyed an excellent pint there in a nice atmosphere.. good local in a lovely square.
has the feel of a good country pub.
5 May 2009 22:54
Brilliant pub. Nice staff, great mix of locals. Cosy and interesting. Thai food looks decent. beer and chat both great.
Reminds me of the Hemmingford.
13 Jan 2009 23:10
The Mucky Pup, Angel, Islington
My favourite pub for late night drinks. Decent ish beer and great music. nice people.
Not a pub for a sunny saturday, but all the better for it.
13 Jan 2009 22:28
Not a pub you'd pick at random to stop at but we visited on the strength of these reviews.
I can't say we were dissapointed. It's not a classic 'olde worlde' pub but it has personality.
And the food could not be faulted one bit.
13 Jan 2009 22:24
The Masonic Arms, Kirkcudbright
there really is nothing to match the masonic for miles around. Only downside is it can be a bit quite on weeknights etc.
but then so is kirkcudbright
13 Jan 2009 22:21
The Fox and Hounds Inn, Denholm
This place is beerintheevening gold. Without knowing anything about it you'd drive straight past.. but you'd be missing out.
Nice little pub with a great front room (any pub you enter at lunchtime in decemeber that has a game of dominoes going and an open fire is a winner in my book)
service as warm as could be. Food decent and home cooked.
13 Jan 2009 22:18
The Horseshoe inn, Ebbesbourne Wake
an absolute corker of a pub. We piled in as a large group and generally made a nuisance of ourselves but were looked after brilliantly. Excellent beer (gravity poured ales), scotch eggs to die for and a great atmosphere, this place is up there with the best of them.
9 Nov 2008 17:19
cracking little pub that keeps a good beer, serves a good lunch dishes them up in a nice friendly way. can't believe i worked round the corner for 4 years and never went in.
28 Sep 2008 20:24
Seems to have re-opened. Looks good, all feels a bit new but is a proper pub once more. Decent range of beers.
Had a well looked after pint of IPA.
14 Aug 2008 16:21
This should by rights be a cracking pub. but the staff have a long way to go. The beer selection is good and my ale was in good shape. but when we we ordered food and half the people had been served we were told that we had to move tables by a sprog of a DJ, we explained that we had ordered food and they should have put a reserved note on the table (or not taken our order) but were told "you have to move.. I work here". we eventually moved and were promised a pitcher of beer by the equally rude manager that never arrived.
fair enough you'd made a mistake and wanted us to move but ffs start with an apology and ask nicely.
also the DJ was shit and emptied the bar in about 20 minutes, who are these people that want to sit around in a pub that is too loud to talk in?
12 Aug 2008 09:28
Intersting little pub. much better than it might look form the outside.
Clientele is of the older but maybe not wiser variety but the atmosphere was fun.
Inside the decor isn't the strongest feature but the place is absolutely spotless (inc the loos)
what was really great was the music, I don't know if it was a special event but they had a cracking range of early 60s tunes, not just the famous golden oldies some really nice tunes.
4 Jul 2008 14:44
Lovely village pub. great range of beers good cider and even bittburger for lager drinkers. I had some nice admans. lunch was great and there was nothing to suggest the problems mentioned below.
sunday lunch was hearty to say the least. they had a lovely garden out the back with a minor menagerie of chickens, quail a goat and even guinea pigs.
Another pub that caters to the sunday lunch brigade but has managed to keep the pub feel and good local welcome.
15 Jun 2008 19:51
not to enter into an argument about this but the staff were not laid back they were a bunch of snooty arses who screwed up booking of tables and tried to kick us off the table we had booked.. and got really shirty about it.
It was truly awful place on a saturday night.. packed, shit music.. felt like it should be in bristol not London.
also some of the early reviewers write suspiciously positive reviews about this place and the other one owned by the same people. I'm sure this is entirely co-incidental.
15 Apr 2008 13:22
Usually it's best to avoid pubs close to train stations but this place breaks that rule. good ales and a friendly landlord make this worth a visit, the pies were also excellent.
If I was being super-critical I'd say that the tables could be arranged better and i personally would get rid of the fruit machines.. and maybe paint the walls a little darker. but this is nit-picking, it's a very good pub.
10 Apr 2008 12:58
Excellent pub as per everyone's comments. I had a few excellent pints of Harveys.
One thing to note is that the Google Map has the location completely wrong, I think it is a problem with the postcodes. the streetmap seems correct.
31 Mar 2008 12:31
nice place if you want a quiet drink, very cosy and pretty welcoming, the range of ales was pretty good, though the range of lagers was poor (stella and carling)
10 Mar 2008 19:49
great local pub, very welcoming and with a good range of beers. well worth a stop if you are passing through.
10 Mar 2008 19:34
Everything a good village pu should be, great food, great garden good staff, and of course great beer,
what's particularly good is that even though it obviously gets a good deal of it's trade from the roving sunday lunch brigade it has maintained the charm of a local pub. well worth a visit.
10 Mar 2008 19:27
i really like this pub, not as cool as the londesborough but loads more character. Friendly locals and pretty decent beer, I usually go for one of the fullers ales.
I didn't find it expensive, and the welcome is worth it, plus the pub quiz on a monday night is always a good one.
2 Mar 2008 18:52
now closed, due to become part of the new hotel next door.
2 Mar 2008 02:32
The worst bar i've been to for some time. pseudo trendy decor and 10 year old house music.
bar staff spend most of their time twirling bottles so you'll wait 20 minutes to get served.
might be less offensive on a saturday afternoon but i doubt it.
2 Mar 2008 02:21
rumour has it this place is closing early next year... i doubt it'll be much missed
30 Nov 2007 17:10
The Salisbury Arms Hotel, Hertford
very good food, decent little pub, not as soul-less as many hotel bars. decent ales as far as i could see.
6 Sep 2007 16:33
I can only assume th reviewers are playing this place down in order to prevent it becoming too popular.. it's one of the best.
I was back a week ago and it did not dissapoint
6 Sep 2007 16:31
a cracking pub. very friendly, great music, nice setting, good beer... worth travelling for. only shame was that it closed so early!
19 Jul 2007 23:31
just far enough from angel to avoid the cretinous masses but still be handy (if you can find it), attractive pub with a wide range of beers, mostly belgian but with 2 or 3 ales as well. the usual food bias for this kind of place but overall pretty good. I think it's run by the same people as the flask in highgate and the gate at hampstead heath station.
19 Jul 2007 23:27
have to say, this was never a fine looking pub, it was a vaguely ok 'fake old' fullers/youngs type pub fit-out. food was microwaved veg and soggy yorkshire puddings. the pub has changed for sure but definitly for the better.
plus the beer garden is looking great.
25 Mar 2007 00:19
An excellent refurbishment, with a really nice if a little up-market atmosphere. We spent an entire saturday afternoon and evening here for my birthday and we were treated fantastically well.
The food was absolutely top class and the beer certainly went down well (pride, bombadier, Kronenbourg, san miguel, addlestons cider and the usual others). Seems to be run by some people who really know what they are doing.
The rear beer garden (which used to be the only reason to visit the pub) is being refurbished and perhaps expanded. will be interesting to see how it goes in the summer, I can see this place being very popular.
19 Mar 2007 15:14
cracking little pub, friendly folk and good beer. what more do you need?
18 Feb 2007 16:30
The Old Cross Tavern, Hertford
really nice little pub, good beer and nice atmosphere.. highly recommended
18 Feb 2007 16:25
The Goldsmith Pub and Dining Room, Borough
A bit of an update, the food (and service) seems to have gone way down hill. waiting an hour for a warm-ish burger at lunchtime isn't really on.
8 Dec 2006 11:41
one of the more distinctive establishments in london. great pilsner in proper old pint glasses. really fun and definately different. Looks like a social club/hostel from outside but don't be scared to go in, you'll enjoy it!
17 Oct 2006 13:24
I've spent many a fine time in here, dark and insulated form the hell of covent garden. feels like a real locals place but is welcoming to all.
17 Oct 2006 13:21
Nice little pub, cosy and friendly. tends to be popular amongst architects, which is good and bad.
17 Oct 2006 13:20
i've ended many a night here and always wondered why the fwuck I bothered. expensive, unpleasant and uninspired. pay the taxi fare and end up somewhere worth being!
17 Oct 2006 13:17
great new pub. small, friendly and obviously well run. the beer and cider excellent. good food (great ice cream) but just a very pleasant place to be.
15 Oct 2006 22:15
The Goldsmith Pub and Dining Room, Borough
pub has recently changed hands but the new management seem to be coping well. food is really good though maybe not up to the old standards (when i'd say it was the best eating pub in the area). nice and airy, well worth a visit.
11 Oct 2006 23:56
The Charles Dickens, Southwark
this one is a grower. at first impressions it is fairly unappealing but it's got it's good points. The food is variable, (excellent steak and ale pie, ropey fih and chips). but an excellent pint of bitburger. they could do with seperating the kitchen form the bar area, it's not helping the back room any.
11 Oct 2006 23:54
Nice place, clean and well run. Food is decent, it's not going to win any michelin stars but good standard fare.
11 Oct 2006 23:51
The Southwark Rooms, Southwark
i've had to suffer many a leaving do organised in here, slow service, overpriced, cramped upstairs. decor is 'trendy', over designed and trying too hard. the immediate area is a bit of a desert for pubs but i'd go to the goldsmiths if i had a choice.
11 Oct 2006 23:49
don't let the smoked glass scare you, inside is a friendly and excellent pub with good food and nice atmosphere. less 'suits' than the market porter.
11 Oct 2006 23:42
A great pub, no doubting it. I can't help think that the exension has made it a little less charming now and seems to have a slightly less friendly clientele. still a great pub and a credit to them that you always get served nice and quick no matter how rammed the place is.
11 Oct 2006 23:40
an excelent local pub. don't let the darkened windows scare you off this is a lovely place to spend a winters evening. great locals, good beer and cider. copper ale recomended, seem to remember it being pretty cheap as well.
11 Oct 2006 23:30
I walked into this pub in an afternon and found a table full of locals making paper mache masks on baloons with some kids. the bar staff no-where to be seen, one of the locals served us and we had a great time. maybe not as 'olde worlde' as the royal oak but a great pub none the less.
11 Oct 2006 23:28
I was there in winter and thought it was one of the best pubs ever. i suspect it gets a bit crowded in summer with tourists but lovely on a quiet afternoon. If only we had stayed close enough to walk home.
11 Oct 2006 23:26
went in here for a quick pint and stayed for a few, friendly staff and locals, a real diamond away from the tinsel on upper st. felt like you were in some tiny village somewhere not a stones throw from highbury corner.
11 Oct 2006 23:24
Great little local, different enough from the norm to be interesting, maybe not the slickest run bar on earth but all the better for it. food is good, tastes like real home cooking. music great and beer if fine. maybe not as comfy or cosy as it should be but worth a stroll to.
11 Oct 2006 23:18
The Bell, Walthamstow
great work by the new owners and a good crowd of locals seem to be keeping it nicely busy... I had feared the punters would disappear after the opening fuss but it seems to be going from strength to strength.
8 ales on whenever I'm in at the weekend. all interesting and well looked after.
once this place gets a kitchen it might be standing room only. can the site delete the old ratings this is no longer a 4/10 pub
21 Dec 2012 18:06