The Colonies, Westminster

This pub has got steadily worse for several years now. I have been there many times and eaten lunch on at least 6 separate occaisons. My office is in Buckingham gate so this is one of the local pubs for the office community in St James Park/Victoria.

It is well hidden and missed by the tourists being situated between Palace Street and Buckingham Gate. They pride themselves on serving popular quality beers. The real problem is the staff.

Sadly, for the past year any decent employees have left in favour of lazy and moody Eastern Europeans. The service is slow and tardy and the staff rude to your face. Recently, at lunch having had to wait 45 minutes for a burger i was unpleasantly surprised to find it served with an overdone fried egg on it. When i queried it with the staff i was told "well this is the Big Ben Burger - in it" by a scruffy staff member who seemed to spend much of his time 'squaring' up to customers and staring laciviously at any female present.

The food is expensive and poor. The condition of the premises was also very bad for a while with some problems with the ceiling above the door. This has improved. There is no atmosphere in the pub other than a mildly aggressive football and flags theme which is of limited interest to the locals with the exception perhaps to some of the residents at the half way house in Palace Street who should be mostly avoided after dark.

Give this pub a miss until the accept that they are in the service industry.

23 Sep 2010 14:34