BITE user comments - pub_aficianado
Comments by pub_aficianado
Always suspicious when there's a sudden batch of 'amazing' reviews from those who've never posted before...
14 Aug 2012 21:30
Restaurant = food; Bar = drink. I expect people expect a comment on one or the other.
26 Apr 2012 18:22
Now being demolished, with the promise of liuxury flats instead. No surprise!
9 Feb 2012 18:31
Can someone please remove this block of 'apartments' from a website devoted to pub?
14 Jan 2012 14:23
Definitely 'idiosyncratic' to say the least, but perhaps that's one of its plus points. The fact that it's still in business seems to suggest that enough punters accept (and overcome) the various challenges which have been commented upon.
30 Nov 2011 14:13
And now that facade has gone as well. And the cleared site, as predicted, is advertising the opening of a Waitrose supermarket and a Travelodge hotel.
24 Nov 2011 19:35
Closed and boarded up for some time now. Advertised as being transformed into four(?) luxury flats. RIP yet another pub.
24 Nov 2011 19:27
Heaven forbid that 'PissFlap' has anything to do with the new management, despite the remarkakable change in views. I think I'll wait for some more (evidently) independent opinions.
14 Nov 2011 16:05
Now reopened as part as the Barras chain. Well, at least it reopened...
14 Nov 2011 15:36
Quite a rarity, hillsiola, to add a review that mentions neither the beer nor the food. Do you totally abstain whilst gambling? Participants on a site like this would surely appreciate some comments relevant to the declared subject.
14 Nov 2011 15:33
Indeed, now demolished. Apart from the facade. Was it suitably historic?
14 Nov 2011 15:26
Yes, it's now re-opened. Taking bookings for Christmas, apparently. Not too sure that it's a curry house, though?
14 Nov 2011 15:19
I'll ignore the endless emphasis on the food, which seems hardly relevant to a site devoted to beer, and simply suggest that beer devotees should shift up the road to the Chequers (but definitely past the Lion!)
14 Nov 2011 15:11
Delighted, too, that it didn't add to the eternal list of pub closures. In its latest incarnation it happens not to be to my taste either. I wouldn't want to do it down on that score, but I must say that the alternatives (in all their various guises - see other reviews) still seem to be doing rather better with their custom.
14 Nov 2011 14:46
I'm told that it has changed hands yet gain. I recently had a very pleasant mid-week lunchtime interlude but past experience makes me wonder if the new managers will be experienced enough to maintain the current level of trade, especially on a Sunday when I see all local spaces crammed with parking. Experience tells me why, but will it continue?
25 Oct 2011 19:16
Currently closed with builders' vans much to the fore. Does that mean that it's going to reopen rather than be redeveloped? Only on a completely new basis, one hopes.
25 Oct 2011 19:07
And the name itself now seems to be swamped by advertisements for the cheap and cheerful menu, so perhaps we can surmise the managerial strategy. Not that's in unusual!
25 Oct 2011 19:04
But that is what I mean. You talk about 'the food' and 'the menu' and 'a lovely meal' and yet you're making use of a site called 'Beer in the Evening'.
13 Oct 2011 22:06
Amazing that a site burnt out so many years ago and now demolished and resurrected as a block of flats can still be listed when it comes to 'Beer in the Evening'!
13 Oct 2011 21:53
It seems to be totally food-orientated, although the food is definitely top-notch (and at top-notch prices). Do think twice, though, before thinking of it as somewhere simply to pop in just to have a drink, because you'll probably be very much discouraged before leaving with empty pockets.
3 Oct 2011 19:00
Yet another pub, it seems, which has degenerated into a 'Chain' restaurant.
22 Jun 2011 18:58
The Pickhurst Tavern, West Wickham
I'm afraid I can't add anything positive to any of the previous reviews. I'm just amazed at how may years they span without improvement.
22 Jun 2011 18:53
Now taken over as part of the John Barras restaurant chain. Already adding itself to the Funeral Wake scene, as witnessed by regular sightings at least of the Uden limos dropping off the mourning crowds.
Maybe better than the earlier excesses?
6 May 2011 21:07
Ah, but there we have it. "Very strongly led food pub". "Part of Chef &Brewer Group". It ain't a pub! It's a restaurant which happens to serve beer, which is regrettably why it appears on this site.
23 Mar 2011 20:08
Glad to see that my views from two years ago are largely supported. That seems to say something about the continuation of the management.
The place enjoyed some bonus trade when the neighbouring Bull was recently closed for refurbishment, and I gather that it's been rather successful in retaining the new patronage. A new record seemed to have been set one Saturday when 35 bell-ringers added themselves to the normal lunchtime crowd. And were coped with!
10 Mar 2011 17:54
No reviews yet posted?
Probably because no sensible user of this site would set foot near the place.
26 Dec 2010 21:28
Somewhat rare, perhaps, as something approaching a genuine 'pub' in this area, but it can't be denied that some of the reported shortcomings haven't been removed.
18 Dec 2010 17:00
Yes, it's a 'local' and in fact nothing more or less. It's there if that's what you want, but don't go there if you want the 'youth' scene or things of that ilk.
And for that reason I wonder about its future.
18 Dec 2010 16:57
Definitely the best in the area - but it's a genuine pub, of course, rather than a cafe or a steak house.
18 Dec 2010 16:53
The Charcoal Burner, New Eltham
I can't add any positive responsives, I'm afraid, even though I would love for a such a local establishment to prosper.
18 Dec 2010 16:51
Should be waltzing it, what with the removal of so much local opposition, but perhaps they're taking things too much for granted because I can't persuade many others to join me for meals. I wonder why?
18 Dec 2010 16:48
Poor bar service, too many menu items 'Off' and then far too slow service, followed eventually by poor-quality food, burnt and yet stone cold. And an ineffective manager (amongst a definite shortage of staff which resulted in long waits) who tried to stay out of sight during the totally unpleasant process.
Where would they be without the geographical accident of being near enough to Eltham Crematorium to be booked (once only, naturally) for successive Wakes?
18 Dec 2010 16:44
Oh, and I meant to mention - not sure that 'George Staples' is anything but a spurious so-called local connection. Did the previous 'The Woodman' have a particularly unacceptable connotation?
18 Dec 2010 16:36
Anonymous premises these days, indistinguishable from so many others, coupled with equally anonymous surroundings and beer and even the food.
A cheap menu, these days, is hardly unique, but at least it's offered.
Not somewhere, I think, though, to make any special effort to patronise.
18 Dec 2010 16:34
I'm very local but I won't use it. I'm put off by the regular traces, especially at weekends, of the aftermath along the road the next morning with broken glasses and bottles and extensive vomit and whatever. It seems to be far worse than other pubs in the area, even the Metro Bar.
18 Dec 2010 16:28
Yet again an entry must be reported as hardly being a pub. This is a restaurant, part of a chain, which happens to serve drinks.
You're shown to a table but you have to go back to the bar even to get a drink, let alone to order some food. Service at table is restricted to clearance of plates and orders for desserts, and yes, maybe a repeat order for drinks.
Be aware of what you're accepting. But it may be just what you wanted!
18 Dec 2010 16:24
It's not a pub. It's a cafe-bar that serves alcohol rather indiscriminately. Hence the recent bothers. A lot of the punters are hardly out of nappies.
If you want a real pub, stroll up the road to the Alma.
18 Dec 2010 16:17
Due to be demolished. Plans instead are for a hotel and a Waitrose supermarket.
18 Dec 2010 16:11
Seems to be on its last legs. Open just 'Evenings and Sunday lunchtime - No food' and the freehold advertised for sale.
18 Dec 2010 16:08
Now simply 'The Anchor', I see. No idea when it changed. Still haven't been inside.
18 Dec 2010 16:04
The Plough and Harrow, Eynsford
I suspect that prokarter is simply being brave enough to state what others have simply muttered to themselves. Well done!
10 Dec 2010 18:05
Many changes of licensee over the years suggest that the off-the-beaten-track location has had an adverse effect, but these days the car park is crowded at all sorts of times, suggesting that the place has been 'discovered'.
A rather unusual feature is the number of wheelchair-bound regulars, no doubt from one of the three nearby nursing homes (which, as a visitor, is how I really discovered the place) but that doesn't distract from the pleasures of the service, the well-served beer (usually at least three varieties) and the garden.
Well worth searching it out.
28 May 2010 20:50
The Plough and Harrow, Eynsford
Perhaps Spicyjen's review sums up what is wrong - it goes on about the food (and even the furniture) but doesn't tell us anything about the drink. That tends to confirm my suspicion that the place can no longer be regarded as a PUB, in the traditional sense.
If you just want a drink, wander over to the Five Bells instead.
10 Feb 2009 04:25
Yes, I agree. One of the poorer ones. These days, at least. It wasn't always like that. I appreciate the economics of cheap prices, and usually I'm prepared to accept them, but certainly standard of the food, and also the quality of the beer, has dropped considerably.
I'm going elsewhere for the time being.
9 Feb 2009 04:52
Is it true that Wetherspoons wanted to move into the Old Post Office in Passey Place?
9 Feb 2009 04:41
Inherited shabbiness, if that's what it is, can be tolerated in the short term if there's someone (new licencees) trying very hard to make a go of things. And old people can be willingly accepted if they merely fill up the restaurant section at mid-day, thus providing a welcome financial turnover to subsidise other aspects , including, maybe, the prices paid for drinks by other correspondents.
And have you actually tried the full menu, lunchtime or evening?
9 Feb 2009 04:37
I suppose it depends where you're coming from.
It's a little local pub in the middle of nowhere, not surprisingly supported in quiet times mainly by the relative locals, be they carrot-crunchers or otherwise (although I've never seen much in the way of a local carrot industry), but I think it has to be admired for its energy in trying, at least, to stay open. The beer is somewhat limited (no raised eyebrows there) but does usually provide three well-kept varieties. And food takes a rather minimal position on the agenda, apart from the pre-booked Steak Club on Friday nights, when the place is bulging at around �10 per head for a remarkable portion.
No, it's not a crowded evening local during the week, struggling to survive on a rather meagre trade, but it comes alive at weekends (see Friday nghts, above) particularly with ramblers at mid-day and with visitors in the evening. And it can't be that bad, when summer ramblers regularly overcrowd the front lawn of the house opposite, thinking it's the (non-existent) garden. My aunt, who lives there, often has her safety-valves blowing...
9 Feb 2009 04:15
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The Welsh Tavern, Stone
Closed
29 Oct 2012 17:41