The Hawley Arms, Camden

Absolute rubbish.

Myself and two friends went in here for the first time on Friday night. Without wishing to go on about it (I'm still annoyed), I was sober, my friend had only had two pints, and my other friend was also completely sober. I stood with the friend that had drank two pints beforehand whilst she ordered her drink, perfectly politely, and said thank you to the barman when he gave her the change. Five minutes later, the same barman comes up to us and tells me that my two friends have to leave because they're "too drunk", and that my friend had somehow been rude to four (yes, four) members of staff in the time that it took her to order her drink. This is the drink that she ordered whilst I was standing next to her, and I can definitely confirm unless I've suddenly gone loopy that she only talked to the one barman, and was in no way rude. This is not to mention the fact that the other friend who was sober and hadn't even bought a drink was also apparently "too drunk" and had to leave. Ever thoughtful, they did tell me that I was fine to stay, but that my best mates had to bugger off. Totally awful, and when I pressed him to tell me how my friend had actually been rude to him he literally couldn't say, he was like "Um, she just was".

Now, I don't know what we did to offend them in such a way. Perhaps it's because none of us had silly haircuts or a desire to smoke illegal substances with Amy Winehouse. All I know is that I'm never, ever going back there again.

26 Oct 2009 15:04

The Blind Beggar, Whitechapel

The Blind Beggar is my local, so I'm bound to be a bit biased (the only other place so close to where I live is the White Hart, and some of the regulars there are, how shall I put it, vaguely terrifying).

Nevertheless, it's a decent, fairly spacious pub with friendly staff and a nice big smoking area, even if it is a little lacking in atmosphere. The music of choice appears to be "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin, every single time I go in there. Drinks are about what you'd expect, �3.20 for a pint of Fosters, �3.20 or �3.40 for a single vodka & Coke if I remember correctly. However, a pint of Peroni costs �4.20, and considering that I bought the same drink for 20p less in the Red Lion (Whitehall), I wouldn't call that particularly good value, given the location of the pub and whatnot (I do love you though, Whitechapel).

As someone else mentioned, the fact that there's only one ladies' toilet is a bit of a pain as well. All in all, if you live in the area then it is pretty much definitely your best option pub-wise, but I wouldn't put that down to the quality of the pub so much as the complete lack of anything else until you get up to the New Globe on Mile End Road. I wouldn't say it's worth going out of your way for, but it's a perfectly nice pub.

26 Oct 2009 14:14