The Open Guide to London: the free London guide - Differences between Version 15 and Version 4 of Pillars Of Hercules, W1D 4DJ

Version 15 Version 4
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Many guest beers and regular beer festivals. [[DrHyde]]
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Quite a wide choice on the menu — snacks like nachos, “Mexican samosas”, chips with cheese and bacon. They also do full meals. Food is served all day. It seems quite cheap overall, and competent without being anything that you'd come here specially for. Just what you need for soaking up the beer though.
 Quite a wide choice on the menu — snacks like nachos, “Mexican samosas”, chips with cheese and bacon, or the “snack platters” for 2 or 4 people (the 4-person snack platter included chicken satay, sausage pieces, garlic bread, pizza, and tortilla chips). They also do full meals. Food is served all day. It seems quite cheap overall, and competent without being anything that you'd come here specially for. Just what you need for soaking up the beer though.
== Line 17 ==
Tried the chilli last time we were here (July 2003). It was pretty nice, but slightly misdescribed in the menu. It was advertised as coming with sour cream and a large order of nachos — the “nachos” turned out to be just plain tortilla chips. Those are not nachos. Nachos have stuff on. They'd also run out of sour cream and didn't bother to mention this or apologise until we enquired why the chilli had come without it, but they did them substitute it with some (reasonable, possibly instant) guacamole. --[[Kake]]

Had a Bean Burder Last Time I was in here. Quite nice.
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It's quite a small pub, so it can get pretty crowded, but cosy rather than stuffy. Maybe one to avoid on Friday and Saturday nights though, given its location. The landlord is very friendly.
 It's quite a small pub, so it can get pretty crowded, but cosy rather than stuffy. Maybe one to avoid on Friday and Saturday nights though, given its location. The landlord is very friendly. Alex notes below that it's often very smoky.
== Line 25 ==
Alex notes below that it's often very smoky. On my last visit here, January 2005, I discovered that the raised bit at the back now has non-smoking signs, but these were ignored and the staff made no efforts to enforce them. --[[Kake]]
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The pub consists of just the one room, quite long and narrow, with the bar running maybe a third of its length and two alcoves at the front. There's also a cluster of tables at the back, some on a small raised platform and others not. We colonised three of these, but it wasn't very easy to circulate between them.
 The pub consists of just the one room, quite long and narrow, with the bar running maybe a third of its length and alcoves opposite. There's also a cluster of tables at the back, some on a small raised platform and others not. We colonised three of these, but it wasn't very easy to circulate between them.
== Line 33 == == Line 25 ==
The toilets are downstairs in the basement, but there is a handrail all the way down. Ladies' and gents' are acceptable, if not sparkling clean.
 The toilets are downstairs in the basement, but there is a handrail all the way down. The ladies' at least was acceptable, if not sparkling clean.
== Line 37 ==
The pub has a sign on the bar showing their current Euro exchange rate. We didn't actually test what reaction tendering Euros provokes,
but it would seem that they are happy (even keen) to accept them.

The pub has two televisions in it, which are used to show sporting
events and are turned off the rest of the time. Not a bad place to watch sports.
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== Line 58 == == Line 45 ==
category='Euro,Pub Food,Pubs'
easting='699181'
edit_type='Normal edit'
 category='Pub Food,Pubs'
edit_type='Minor tidying'
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host='80.168.159.82'
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major_change='1'
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northing='5710881'
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os_x='529791'
os_y='181153'
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summary='Pub in Soho'

Drinks

London Pride £2.46/pint (January 2003), also Broadside, possibly still Directors and Theakstons too. There was another one called something like England's Ale (maybe this? although Nick says it was a Wychwood one); it tasted kind of funny though. We weren't entirely sure whether it was supposed to taste like that.

Before Christmas they had some quite nice beers with comedy names like Rockin' Rudolph.

They also have Strongbow and Guinness. Nick noted that they were out of at least one ingredient for Bloody Marys.

Food

Quite a wide choice on the menu — snacks like nachos, “Mexican samosas”, chips with cheese and bacon, or the “snack platters” for 2 or 4 people (the 4-person snack platter included chicken satay, sausage pieces, garlic bread, pizza, and tortilla chips). They also do full meals. Food is served all day. It seems quite cheap overall, and competent without being anything that you'd come here specially for. Just what you need for soaking up the beer though.

Service and Ambience

It's quite a small pub, so it can get pretty crowded, but cosy rather than stuffy. Maybe one to avoid on Friday and Saturday nights though, given its location. The landlord is very friendly. Alex notes below that it's often very smoky.

Layout, Disabled Access and Other Facilities

The pub consists of just the one room, quite long and narrow, with the bar running maybe a third of its length and alcoves opposite. There's also a cluster of tables at the back, some on a small raised platform and others not. We colonised three of these, but it wasn't very easy to circulate between them.

As Alex notes below, the disabled access is pretty much non-existent, at least for those in a wheelchair.

The toilets are downstairs in the basement, but there is a handrail all the way down. The ladies' at least was acceptable, if not sparkling clean.

There's no function room, but it might be possible to book out part or all of the main pub bit.

Other Reviews

Drinkers Comments

AlexMcLintock : I go to this pub quite frequently as it is the local haunt of Foyle's staff round the corner. They smoke a lot and so I find this pub not terribly good for a non-smoker like myself. The toilets are downstairs and pretty much the whole pub is not accessible in a wheelchair. There are quite a few alcoves but the seats fill up at busy times leaving standing room only. The food is ok - but not brilliant. Their burgers are decently sized and priced when compared to the usual high street chains. I usually drink their guinness which is usually ok.

As of May 2002 all the staff were sacked and new ones employed. I don't know what caused this or how it has affected service.

Roger : tried the place in January 2003 and was pretty unimpressed; the staff seemed more interested in cramming people in than in leaving room for anyone to move around at all. Would be a major disaster in case of fire. It's a Scottish and Newcastle pub, which means short measure unless you ask for a top-up every time and badly-kept beer. With the DJ babbling in the background it definitely felt like a Vertical Drinking establishment.

Kake : I wouldn't come here on my own, and it did fill up with generic night-out Bacardi Breezer drinkers last time I was here on a Saturday night, but at non-peak times with a group of friends it's fine. I'm not sure what the staff can really do about it getting crowded, since it is a small pub and doesn't employ a bouncer.


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