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Disappointment of the week with Mobyduck
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Detail Pages
The Prince of Wales, Elephant & Castle, SE1
SE1
SE1 6ER
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 3 of 10) see review guidelines
Tris C left this review about The Prince of Wales
This place dates from at least the late 18th century, but I suspect that it was rebuilt around the end of the 19th, with some decent vestigial Watney’s signage clinging on for dear life to a couple of windows.
On entering, there’s nothing of any heritage value, though I wasn’t expecting any; with a modern laminate floor, it’s brightly lit, semi-modern furniture – with ugly sauce bottles to tables – shades of grey colour scheme, games machine and curtains to the lower windows, looking a bit downmarket. A pool table takes up about 80% of the front room, meaning that getting to the bar means you must wait patiently until players have taken their shot; you can easily get jabbed in the back with a cue when queuing at the bar. On high, there were two TVs showing women’s kickboxing, copious quantities of blood pouring from their noses and mouths and just the sort of thing I love to see in a pub, but never mind, because when I cast my eyes downwards, there was a multitude of little children gambolling about underfoot late evening. Customers were generally youngish, feral and a bit chavvy, with much ink on display, some women in party frocks with spray on tans and many fairly drunk. Men here were seemingly quite testosterone fuelled and I wasn’t sure if much of the banter I overheard amounted to actual threats; was something about to kick off? There’s a room to the rear which I didn’t explore as I wanted a clear line of sight to the exit, to which I made a beeline upon necking my half of Stella (£2.80) served in relay by three nice barmaids.
This is a very poor pub, probably the worst in SE1, which even the students avoid. And they’re prepared to put up with the Rockingham across the road…
On 29th June 2023
- rating: 2
[User has posted 1983 recommendations about 1949 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Prince of Wales
There was no real ale on in here, and when I was in early evening on Wednesday there were menus on all the tables offering some reasonably priced pub grub. Burger and chips, or bangers and mash are both £6.95; sandwiches are £4; and a sunday roast is £9.
This is another basic pub, but all the tables had a little candle on them, I guess in an attempt to inject a bit of classy atmosphere to the place. It worked to some extent. There are two distinct rooms here, each with their own door to the street, but joined by a very short corrider past the ladies toilet. The end room on the corner with its entrance to the main road is a very red room - a red baize pool table is in this room, plus the lower parts of the walls, the ceiling, and the wall above the bar counter are all also painted red. The other room looks a bit more subdued, the furniture (all standard issue in this pub) is a bit plusher, and I would surmise by the location of this room that it was at one time the Saloon Bar.
This is a largely unspoilt pub. It was pretty quiet when I was in (four punters plus me and the barmaid) and it strikes me as a decent place to enjoy a quiet pint - if only they did a decent real ale, but I'm sure that there must be no call for it around here.
On 14th November 2015
- rating: 4
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]