Uk Barblog

Sports Bar (South Terminal - Gatwick Airport)

Sports Bar

The Sports bar in the South Terminal of Gatwick Airport displays various signs of indication that its location is in some point in elevation above the rest of the departure lounge and indeed it is positioned in the crows nest of the airport. One must climb a sharp set of metal stairs in order to access the bar which opens into a sports-cafe layout with high tables seating a maximum of four and large 80's layout jigsaw televisions creating a huge screen across one wall with handspan spaces between the screens. The available arcades are in a similiar condition but the best part to notice is a lack of people under 18. And the rules here are strict as I am informed.

One can enjoy an alcopop or two in here beside the the large plastic models of american football players in mid touchdown behind the bar sitting with all the other desperate sports fans waiting for their planes. Overall 6/10. Easily the best place to wait for a flight but rather rundown and quiet.

Yates (South Terminal - Gatwick Airport)

Yates

A whole corner of this departure lounge-come-mall, seems to have set aside for this wine bar. It has an open front looking out into the duty free shopping area and inside it boasts a large bar set back from the entrance among fake plastic pillars and romanesque design throughout. On the right of the bar is a is a good olfd fashioned view of the planes taxiing to and from the runway but the venue remains busy all day long with lone passengers complaining about the delays, familys with uncontrollable children and untidy tables with the reminents of breakfast at any time of the day. Although there is a good variety of drinks at the bar it is as expessive as one would assume an airport lounge to be. There is a also a nasty side serving of music played through 1 watt speakers and I am unable to distinguish if the genre is rock music or someone is changing over thr record in a disused back room.

There is unfortunately no toilets in the actual bar so if you have one beer too many you have to take your belongings to the other side of the departure lounge to relieve yourself only to come back and find your table occupied by team over over-ethusiastic tour-bus granny's who cant imagine why you are hovering over them in what they see as an obvious attempt to flirt with them. A dissappointing 3/10.

Greedy Goblin Family Inn (Chessington - Surrey)

Greedy Goblin Family Inn

In the market square part of the chessington theme park is a traditional family pub jam packed with heavy wooden furnishings and screaming children under the age of six. Yes its the kind of pub for a well trained father and family man or the person with the most patient accord in time ever. But then when your trapesing about an enormous park in the height of summer and dying for a beer it can also be the very oasis you are looking for. The place has a very pleasent front garden with many punters opting to taking their pints to a seated position on the lawn to consume. The staff are well dressed and the drinks are quite reasonable at £2.70 a pint.

Now i will be the first to admit that although it was a welcome attraction i could not bear the headache of a thousand screaming kids in front of me awaiting attention at a bar that flew over their heads. Overall 6/10, the oasis exhibiting tidal waves.

Bar Neptune (Thorpe Park - Surrey)

Bar Neptune

A small bar on the side of the dome building in the theme park of Thorpe park in Surrey. There are two entrances- the dome entrance or an outdoor french-doors type entrance with picnic tables outside to serve as a kind of beer-garden in the middle of a very busy strip of walkway. There are quite a few free wooden tables once inside and the ones which are taken are invariabley young families. For its location-the bar i very reasonable at £2.80 a pint given the fact that Thorpe park could rip its punters off it certainly doesn't even though pints are served in plastic cups. The service is quick but the venue remains untidy with radio 1 playing throughout the establishment. There is very little park merchantise inside which is obviously good as it is an oasis in a kid-infested world.

Overall 5/10. Why you would come here to drink i don't know but it tries hard and the price of alcohol is very much respected for what it is.

The Rat and Parrot (Woking - Surrey)

The Rat and Parrot

From across the way beside the wetherspoons this pub looks like your bog standards "Sunday lunch" pub with chrome chairs and tables populating the walkway outside. However, enter and you are met with a huge staircase ascending to a bar and galley with tables and chairs upstairs. To your right you see an area dedicated to sofas and lounging and to the left a raised dining area. Ahead you find a large right-angled bar sweeping off further into the venue. Serving are slow badly- trained bar persons serving cocktails at £4 each of 2 for £5.5, not the cheapest thing around but a good deal none-the-less and at least the food it very cheap. Under the staircase you find a lot more seating, booths, pool tables and games machines which trail all the way to the back of the pub beside a rear entrance. There a re romantic spots upstairs for such events but the place gets jammed packed of an evening despite the size and quiet as a bank in the day.

Overall 7/10, it is a good all round pub and the prices reflect the atmosphere- average and it would have a rating to reflect this if it was so big!

Wetherspoons (Woking - Surrey)

Wetherspoons

Well what an interesting name for a pub this is indeed and it feels about as imaginative inside as it does by name. The place is a rather large room with a semi-circular bar at the end, set out in an open-plan style with booths accross the right hand side and non-smoking tables on the left. The bar is well stocked and although the staff are friendly it often gets overcrowded with older familys and top notch chavs. There is an odd tin sculpture of an alien poet mounted at the front by the windows but the most eye-catching feature is the compass-like stain-glass display on the ceiling. The place felt a little untidy and common with no air of character at all and with outdoor seating in the middle of a pedestrian walkway i wouldn't say this was the most thought-out layout of all time.

Ok its cheap as hell but it only deserves a 4/10.

Yates (Woking - Surrey)

Yates

Well apart from every Yates in the country being the same what elese is there to say? They serve shots from about a pound each for the corkys rubbish to about £2 each for aftershock- which i feel is a little too much. There are plenty of fruit machines- big sports screens but they will give you a neckache to watch- the chairs are frightful low things that a dwarf would have trouble finding and the place felt like a disused art gallery more than a pub- with too many pillars, windy staircases and windows which let in more than their fair shre of light! Basically aside from all this it was too small for a decent night out!

Overall better than the O neils accross the road because of lower prices so a 5/10.

O Neils (Woking - Surrey)

O Neills

I am normally quite the fan of this particular chain of bars/pubs and this one felt much like the others with big polished wooden tables and floors. This venue however had a long rounded bar which trailed off into the secluded darkended corners of the pub. The bar staff were not friendly but that may have been because i ventured here during the day and they were hard worked from the evening shift before. The wine cost about seven pounds a bottle which seemed pricey for the area and the place is set on two floors which I thought was made for more seating but since I never ventured up there I am told the toilets are located here only. The music however was depressing blues stuff but then it was the middle of the day.

Overall a 4/10, rather on the low side for an O Neils