The Dickens Inn, Tower Hill

It's nothing short of a travesty that a pub with such an amzing location is run so poorly. The staff are at best incompotent and at worst offensive. The food on the ground floor is microwaved filth at its worst and the manager couldn't seem to care about either food or service standards.

The only reason we frequent it at all is due to the proximity to our place of work and lack of other pubs in the area, an unfortunate convergance of circumstance that accounts for their entire clientelle off season.

The one saving grace is a Pizza restaurant on the 2nd floor which is excellent but under different management so cannot legitimately form part of this review.

Today was a good example of the service one can expect: we were there for 15 minutes before getting served by one surly barman who was unable to work the till, pour a pint or understand a food order. When asked by an irate patron how long she could expect to wait she was told to F off because the guys manager wasn't there and therefore it wasn't his effing fault. True perhaps but that is still no excuse for rudness and a speed of purpose that would be surpassed by my ailing 90 year old grandmother. When we were finally served the idea that we all wanted different lagers was met with obvious disdain and took a further 10 minutes to produce. The lines have not been cleaned this side of the last great war and I suspect some of the frozen food pre-dates even that. If forced to frequent this sad excuse for an establishment goto the second floor and have a wonderful pizza but by no means ever attempt the ground floor. The extortionate prices only serve to garnish this truly horrific experience.

6 Dec 2010 17:52