Brewhouse & Kitchen, EC1

I went to the comedy club with the wife last night and although the three acts were probably worth the £10 we each had to pay I do have to report that this is a terrible bar populated with rude staff and vacuous clientele. My first disappointment was when I tasted my decidedly iffy Guinness and then scanned the pumps at the bar to see what I would be changing my drink to when I next ordered. I was unhappy to discover that the range of draught was poor to say the least meaning that I was stuck on the inferior black stuff. My wife was next in line to discover a failing of the pub when she entered the woman's toilet and came across a grot hole that looked as though a heard of wildebeest had just stampeded through it. Later in the night I would realise that some of the women in the bar were not that far removed from the antelope family in their mannerisms, but that is another story. The missus pointed out that most of the other patrons were taking advantage of the pizzas for £5 offer that was running and we were at a loss as to how anyone could eat food prepared in an establishment with such filthy toilets. In fact the whole bar has an air of grime about it as if the staff would not belittle themselves to reach for a sponge and some soapy water, which is a shame as it wouldn't take that much effort. I did spot a sign by the entrance informing locals of the impending refurbishment that will be closing the pub from December 6th until the 14th, but I'm sure that it won't take long to fall back into disrepair with the current attitude towards cleanliness. Apart from the staff having no idea who was next to be served, youngsters thinking that it is ok to push in whilst waving notes about and me having to ask for two very shy pints to be topped up the comedy section of the night passed reasonably well and I thought that the compare and two of the three acts were good. We were sitting at a tall table near the bar and the fun and games begun again when the comedy had finished and my wife went to the bar to order another round. Whilst she was gone and I was still taking our belongings from under the table a very rude member of staff took her drink and put it on the bar where it was quickly poured away. He then denied it and said it was empty even though there was half of the £4 glass of wine left. He then proceeded to shove a coat into my wife's hands even though it wasn't hers and then push the table around to the back of the bar whilst knocking people out of the way. Heaven knows how this bloke is employed by anyone let alone let anywhere near paying customers! Just for interest I did spot lots of plasma screens and also a projector for showing Sky Sports and ESPN, but there are better pubs that show the football in the area and if there is an event on the Saturday night anyone watching the sport will not be served after seven as the bar is closed to people that do not have a dirty great ink blot on their hand from the door staff. I'll be avoiding this place in future.