O'Neills, SW4

Tris C left this review about O'Neills

As the Plough, this dates back to at least the mid-19th century, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this were a far older coaching inn; the current brewers’ Tudor incarnation probably arrived in the 1930s, the place having run the gamut of naff chain bar names and O’Neill’s since at least 2009, having briefly been something called Stane St. Syndicate before reverting back.
Their website describes the place as ‘An original Irish pub’; yeah, right. The interior is strikingly large with many areas, all going back a long way, essentially without a trace of anything original: a bare brick and scaffold bar back, modern wood floor, dark wainscoting with pale blue walls or bare brick, mixed modern furniture styles, hanging filament things, bulkhead lamps, flashing games machines, sport on a multitude of unwatched silent TVs, further TVs advertising ‘shots’ on loop, presumably to appeal to studenty types, conspicuous by their absence, just four middle-aged men in attendance aside from me.
Now cask-less, a half of Oil came in at £3.50, served by an utterly uninterested barman.
Whereas many branches of O’Neill’s revolve around competitive drinking, this place was deathly when I departed at 9.20 on a Wednesday evening; the lone minstrel who was setting up as I left gave me an imploring look as he gazed out over a sea of empty tables and chairs. And this is what the pub’s website describes as ‘…where the good times flow as freely as the drinks’, though clearly the customers have freely flown elsewhere, to the Belle Vue and Alexandra which flank this pit of despair.

Rated 2.5.

On 23^rd March 2024 - rating: 3
[User has posted 1983 recommendations about 1949 pubs]