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Disappointment of the week with Mobyduck
on the Pub Forum
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about Holborn Whippet
Excellent beer hole, brown tiled, good cask & keg beer range good quality. Nice pub
On 28th July 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about Holborn Whippet
Well, the previous review, reporting 15 minute queues, must have put so many people off going to the Holborn Whippet that it was actually very civilised when we were here just after chucking out time at the British Museum. This is an unusual pub, being a conversion from other uses in a most unpublike building. Once we'd got over the slight element of disbelief and actually entered the premises, it was very publike indeed, and we liked it a lot. The beer is delivered as described below, without the use of hand pumps. The beer we tried - the oddly named Sprucy Banger, a collaboration between Adnams and Northern Monk - was in very good condition and reasonably priced for a tourist area of central London (£6 for a pint and a half). We also enjoyed the pizzas.
Date of visit: 19th November 2018
On 7th February 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3734 recommendations about 3471 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about Holborn Whippet
As I approached for the first time last Friday I had trouble spotting the pub, so great was the throng standing outside. Inside it was no better, but as I was meeting friends I had little choice other than to stay. Spotting my group from afar, I decided to get a beer and then join them. So overwhelmed were the longsuffering and - in the face of adversity - polite staff, that it took me 15 minutes to get served, despite the fact that some other customers had thrown in the towel and walked off. The bar area is so narrow that the staff can't get past one another; the card reader wasn't wireless so the device's flex had to be stretched across the bar to reach customers, blocking the staff still further.
My party informed me that a 15-minute queue was indeed the going rate and all for a pint of rather lifeless - and slightly soapy - Adnam's (apparently this 'pub' uses some alternative device to deliver real ale). I've never been in such a crowded pub and despite the lack of music, the conversational cacophony was deafening, due in part to very poor acoustics. So dense was the crowd that waiting staff could hardly manoeuvre a path through to deliver food, standing still and exasperated whilst holding aloft dustbin lid-sized pizzas as if they were Excalibur.
Admittedly the place did eventually start to empty out a bit to a tolerable capacity around 9.30 but this was rather late. All this and the tiny lavatory means that I very much doubt I'll return and I'd rather be buried alive than risk coming here on a Friday night. Still, the mid-20th century County Durham mining prints by Norman Cornish provided a welcome distraction.
On 17th October 2015
- rating: 2
[User has posted 1983 recommendations about 1949 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about Holborn Whippet
A rather minimalist bar divided into two similar areas by a wired glass door and screen which has "public bar" on the door glass. This looks rather 60s-70s, I wondered if this had been reclaimed from elsewhere. Seating is pretty much exclusively on stools, either at high tables or window drinking ledges. As has been described, the bar is central and has a large square brick pier behind from which the cask and keg taps sprout. The pier effectively prevents the staff from seeing from one side to the other so on occasion you have to wander around the other side to get attention which is a bit of a design flaw. Six cask taps, five were on; three from Dark Star, Hop Head, Partridge and Sunburst, Ledbury Real Ales Ledbury Dark plus Redemption Big Chief. At one point the cask ales started to come out rather flat, from over hearing the discussion I gather they use air pressure so maybe not for the purists although I think that is commonplace in Scotland.
Food served, I saw a menu for various burgers and Ray's Pizzas plus they do snacks too. There is a bit of décor to help brighten the otherwise austere surroundings, various rather pleasing prints of old boys wearing flat caps supping pints and chatting.
I quite liked it despite the lack of traditional features, the beer was very good, reasonably priced too and the barman who served me was friendly and seemed genuinely interested in the beers.
On 12th July 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1707 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Holborn Whippet
In here the beer is dispensed from a central brick built tower behind the servery, which also had on it a board displaying the beer available. Most odd, but it seemed to work. We had the Red Sky Plateau, which at £3.40 for a 3.6% golden session ale seemed fair enough. There were condiments on all the tables, but I didn’t see a menu.
Set at one end of the architecturally enticing Sicilian Avenue, this restaurant conversion is one of the newest additions to the Holborn drinking scene. Beerwise it’s pretty good, but inside it’s furnished entirely with tall tables/tall stools, and outside with some benches on the pavement. A functional but characterless bar in my opinion.
On 22nd September 2014
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about Holborn Whippet
I was looking forward to my re-visit here after a couple of years,especially after reading Mr Fastards update below, unfortunately I did not experience the same quality in beer condition, my pint of Siren Craft Undercurrent had a musty/mouldy taint to the taste not bad enough to stop me drinking it but disappointing all the same,undeterred I had a half of Moor Nor Hop it had the same taint, it would seem the whole cellar was contaminated.On this showing its downgraded for me.
On 3rd August 2014
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1871 recommendations about 1844 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about Holborn Whippet
ORIGINAL REVIEW March 2013
Much larger and less austere than it's sister pub The Euston Tap,but that's not saying a lot.The interior does split into two section with the "public bar" fronting Bloomsbury Way a more discrete area,while the larger room is more hectic and has some music playing.The pillars further split up this area.I liked the window ledge with stools ,a good solution to the obvious lack of space.
The three sided serving bar has a total of 17 taps but on my visit there were 6 cask ales and 7 kegged beers,a more limited range than at The Euston Tap.My RedWillow Wreckless at £3.60 was a little hazy but an interesting pint and keenly priced for the area and ABV.
The descent to the gents brings you past a very small openplan kitchen which produces a short menu of 6 dishes,mainly flame grilled and around £10,I enjoyed my chicken burger.The service was also spot on and polite.
I would suspect that early evening this place could get rammed which might colour your experience,but given the chances of happening across an outstanding real ale here,I would always consider popping in when around Holborn.
UPDATE
Friday evening 6pm and it was rammed but the service is swift and efficient ,and I have upgraded on the basis that the 6 real ales on during my visit were in top condition and included two outstanding ales vying for pint of the year,namely Burning Sky Aurora and unfined Moor Nor'Hop with the other selections none too shabby either.A top real ale venue as far as I am concerned.
On 30th March 2014
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Holborn Whippet
The pub was moderately busy on our visit, which was handy when choosing a beer and getting a couple of tasters here and there. The barman was a friendly very laidback Kiwi, who had a good sense of humour. There was a choice of five ales on our visit. I went for the Tiny Rebel Clutch, Siren Undercurrent and quite a dark beer Arbour Columbus, which was cloudy as the name reflects. We ordered their beefburger and chips, which I have to say were excellent. A good food and beer experience.
On 5th January 2014
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Holborn Whippet
A fairly new bar opened by the same mob behind the Euston Tap (which was one of the early movers on the ‘craft’ pub scene in London). I visited quite late on during a fairly successful Friday crawl so the place was rammed and my memory is a little sketchy. Fairly uninspiring open-plan interior, though the numerous plate-glass windows serve to give it a bright and breezy feel. There’s a sizeable exterior area out front with patio heaters which we were forced to use due to the early Friday evening crush. All beer (that I could see) came from a brick font, hard to tell which was ale and which was not at point of sale, the blackboards didn't seem fully-laden with all the choices. A friendly and cheerful barmaid (given the stress level at the bar) served us and my Saltaire was in excellent condition. I also noted some proper ciders being available. I didn’t immediately warm to the place but the range and quality of beers will certainly mark a return visit for me before the end of the year.
On 6th May 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5072 recommendations about 5055 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
paulof horsham left this review about Holborn Whippet
My experience of a post-work visit was of a busy pub, though with seats available and easy access to the bar. In that respect, the Whippet, for me, scores higher than some of London's other craft beer bars. There's slightly less choice, its true, but the beer was certainly in good nick (and how spoilt we are these days if 6 interesting micro-brews constitute 'less choice').
Overall then, a good place to go for beer, and one I intend to return to sooner rather than later.
On 17th April 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 453 recommendations about 425 pubs]