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Disappointment of the week with Gann
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Dirty Dicks, Bishopsgate, EC2
EC2
EC2M 4NR
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about Dirty Dicks
My visit was soon after opening time, and I caught them on the hop preparing for an influx of visitors on St Patrick's Day. The server was having trouble getting the Youngs Ordinary to pour, and on investigation it turned out to be right at the end of the barrel, so I went for the Special instead. (Other beers on at the time were Twickenham Naked Ladies and St Austell Proper Job.) The manager let me have the beer gratis to compensate for the long wait, but in fact this beer wasn't in very good condition (from being in the pipes overnight) and probably should have been thrown away anyway. I had plenty of time to look around and found the place not only gloomy but more like a stage set than a real pub. I don't know how much of this building is original, but the fact that it is not on Camra's inventory of heritage interiors suggests that a lot of it is just made up.
Date of visit: 17th March 2022
On 29th August 2022
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3734 recommendations about 3471 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Delboy 20 left this review about Dirty Dicks
A bit gloomy in here and quite busy being opposite the train station. Youngs Original, Special and Proper Job on offer. I went for the Original which was OK but nothing special. Worth a visit but I wouldn't spend long in here.
On 6th October 2021
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 1656 recommendations about 1556 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about Dirty Dicks
Nice enough pub but a bit dingy. Four Youngs beers and Hogsback -tea.Considering the local competition it was very busy.Always thought this pub was named after the personal hygiene of the customers.Maybe I was wrong.
On 20th April 2016
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about Dirty Dicks
I've been in here a few times but usually when it was standing room only, today I got a seat and could see around the place. The main bar on the ground floor is boarded and has atmosphere with reclaimed timber beams and dark soot stained exposed brickwork. Large wooden casks are "racked" in a corner, there is a fireplace, a recess allows a private area and there is an unusual lobby seating area by the entrance. Upstairs there is a so called "Dining Room" which has its own bar, galleried in the centre with a chandelier dropping down to the bar below.
Six handpumps, only three on on Saturday afternoon, probably all on when the City boys are in after work. Young's Bitter, seasonal Wooden Spoon plus Twickenham Champions Ale. Two marked as "Off" which were Young's beers plus a reversed clip that looked from the back like one from Sambrook's.
Food served, I wasn't interested in reading the menus which were folded up in metal buckets.
The unusual pub name dates from a nearby resident who let himself go to ruin after losing his fiancée and never washed or changed again. Possibly a good story or maybe a likely tale, who knows. Mr Faversham anyone?
All a bit transient as you may expect opposite the station and open at weekends but I found today's visit perfectly acceptable.
On 31st October 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1707 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Dirty Dicks
This is a Young’s pub now, with the usual offerings, plus Sambrook’s Pale Ale and Junction. The Young’s Bitter was £2 a half, and not in very good condition – I expect I got the first one of the day which had been in the pipes overnight. There were menus in metal buckets on the tables. Light bites (e.g. chip buttie, fish finger sandwich) range from £3.95 for a scotch egg or sausage roll, to £6.95 for various sandwiches. Main courses are from £10.95 upwards.
This place is full of dark wood, solid posts and beams, old barrels serving as tall tables, so it ticks the atmosphere boxes. Seating is solid wood settles, normal tables and chairs, plus a few tall stools accompanying the aforementioned barrels. Getting in here at early doors is perhaps the best time to enjoy this pub, as it soon gets very busy. Being so close to Liverpool St Station won’t help either. It’s certainly worth a visit.
On 18th July 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about Dirty Dicks
Back in again last night and , although it functions nowadays as a City drinking barn and the character of yesteryear has long since disappeared, I still feel comfortable in here and its always reliable for a good pint, especially as the guests last night were from the London Fields Brewery with the very good Hackney Hopster and LovenotWar on the bar.
I guess this pub is a bit like The City of London itself, you either are comfortable with the hustle and bustle and noise of all the suits or you’re not. I am, so my rating remains.
11th February 2010:
Dirty Dicks is a city institution in the heart of Bishopsgate with a wide and varied history.
I won’t replicate the history of the pub, how it got its name and the description to what the cellar bar used to be like here, but if you are not aware go to the history page on the official pub page link below.
In some way it’s unfortunate that modern health and safety regulations mean that all the dodgy disgusting things stuck on the ceiling and the relics from Nathanial Bentley such as the petrified dead cats have now all gone (although you can see a picture of the dead cat on the web site).
Suffice to say the pub is nowhere near as edgy as it was in the 70’s and early 80’s but is now a well decorated smart city drinking house on three floors opposite Liverpool Street Station.
It’s a Youngs House and the Youngs Bitter and Special they serve is usually in very good condition.
Due to its location it can get very busy with City workers, especially on an early week day evening.
Not sure if it is open on a Saturday (think not), but it is one of the few City pubs that is open on a Sunday due to the nearby Petticoat Lane and re gentrified Spitalfields markets on Sunday.
On 24th October 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2110 recommendations about 1992 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Dirty Dicks
This place is supposed to have an interesting history, but it has all the charm of a railway bar (which, in effect, it is as it is located just across the road from Liverpool Street station). Yes, it has loads of panelling and 'olde worlde' wooden furniture, but this doesn't create a proper pub atmosphere unless the staff and customers interact on more than the most basic transactional level. Given its location, the fact that it always seems to be rammed is no surprise, but then the upstairs Hobsons Bar and Dining Room and the cellar Vault Bar rarely seem to be opened to the general public. Six handpumps offering some well-kept beers on handpump, with the usual offerings from the Youngs / Wells range plus a couple of seasonal or guest ales. Also has a couple of further handpumps downstairs, but these are just duplicates. The beer's OK but otherwise pretty grim unless you go at a quieter time...
On 21st August 2014
- rating: 5
[User has posted 8092 recommendations about 8092 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about Dirty Dicks
A Young's pub with dark wooden flooring and exposed brick walls giving the pub a dark and dingy feel.
On 25th November 2013
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about Dirty Dicks
There's not much to add to that listed below; this is indeed a dingy place and is certainly reminiscent of a railway bar.
On our last trip a few months ago we all agreed that the cast of shady characters whose haunt this is weren't fun to be around and the Crown & Shuttle up the road which has just reopened is in a different league. Indeed, Woodins Shades (opposite) whilst not great is a big improvement on this place.
On 19th November 2013
- rating: 2
[User has posted 1984 recommendations about 1950 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about Dirty Dicks
Ground floor bar adjoining Liverpool Street station, but has the feel of a cellar bar. Lots of barrels and bricked alchoves. Beams & everything are nice, but here its almost like you would expect an olde British pub built in Disneyland.
Its location on Bishopsgate means its extremely expensive but there are six ales, served in the London style (no head).
Not one to go out of the way for at all.
On 4th June 2013
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]