The Bricklayers Arms, Fitzrovia

Was one of the best West End pubs - I reviewed it down below - and I've drunk there on and off for 10 years - and it may still be a decent pub during the day, but seems to have grown a cavalier attitude to anyone who dares be there around 11pm.

On my last visit, in the chilly start to January '09, the barman was happy to serve at 10.59pm, but at 11.01pm the manager (a very young looking chap who had half a beard and glasses and hadn't been seen behind the bar at all) flung the doors open to drive people out for 11.20. Not a good way to win friends when it's -1C outside, and he was grinning as he told his bar staff what to do.

When I left and shared a few choice words with my friends about his attitude (hey, I'd had a few pints and he hadn't), he suddenly pricked his ears up and hung in the pub doorway challenging me for this, as if he wanted to prove himself as a really big boss. It was just a bit sad, really - I know central London's a tough place to run a pub, and the licences aren't great, but on a really quiet night, there was no need for him to fling the doors open at 11.01, and no need for him to stand in the doorway and try to impress his staff by rowing with a customer. And sad, too, because the dark-haired guy working behind the bar was good, but let down by his rubbish boss.

Sad, because that's driven me away from this pub, and it used to be a cracker as well.

3 Jan 2009 01:03

The Prince Albert, Greenwich

Cracking "proper boozer", an antidote to the Greenwich Union and a reminder to the Richard I of how a pub should really be. Good place to watch football, too.

9 Jun 2008 13:10

The Greenwich Union, Greenwich

A few years on from my first review... this place is a few aggravating steps away from perfection. The crowd can get irritating on Friday/Saturday nights (sending you fleeing to the unpretentious Albert down the road) but it's lovely when it's quieter. Prices have gone up a fair deal over the past few years but the beer remains lovely.

But the staff can be aloof - and having overheard the bald bar manager last night bossing his staff about and refusing to move from his own position behind the bar ("go out there and clear the garden, and make sure they move"), it doesn't make you feel good about the place.

9 Jun 2008 13:06