Tuesday 2 September 2008

The Queens Head

Probably the most northern pub in Kingston, The Queens Head's is a quirky, traditional style pub. Plenty of places to sit and relax, dotted with strange drawings of Frankenstein and Dracula on the walls. In the furthest corner there's a separated private area with three suspiciously stained couches. We didn't sit there for long.
I've learnt Tuesday's are training days for bar staff and today was no exception. J20? Let me check... nope. Pineapple juice? Let me check... nope. It's not a mystery that Andrew is the oldest looking one out of the three of us, so it was quite jaw dropper when he was asked for ID for his pint of cider.
I was even more perplexed that by the end of the night we'd also manage to drink the pubs supply of both orange juice and Strongbow.
I don't want to carp on about pubs toilets, but I feel this needs to be mentioned. It is obvious these WC's have never seen the likes of bleach, in fact it probably hadn't seen anyone who works here. The tiles were falling off, the floor was soaked in urine and the smell made my throat sting.
This place was a lot better than some of the other places we've been (minus the gents), I wouldn't feel put off going back again, after all they did the holy grail of snacks - Scampi Fries!
-Alex



Interestingly different is a phrase that sums this place up, I was rather late to this one and as we had a 4th member of our party the others decided they would meet me in the bar, I walked in while on the phone to Alex asking where he was and no matter what I still couldn’t see him, until I realised they were in a small living room area at the back of the pub with 4 rather large sofa’s secluded from the rest of the pub. We decided to move and found two leather sofa’s in the main public bar which seemed to have misleading padding as when you sat on them you sank in quite far, comfy but lower than needed I think. I was quite surprised when Ollie was getting his round he came back minus my drink saying the barman wanted to see my ID, the same guy who served me not 60mins previously, it took Ollie about 3 attempts to convince me that he was not taking the piss and the barman looked kinda silly when I looked at him and double checked if he really wanted me to get my driving licence out, the guy was at least 5 years younger than I am……… and for the record, I may look the oldest of our group but Alex has me beat by a good few months!
-Andrew


Drinks Price
(Strongbow, JD & Coke, Orange)

Snacks

Alex's Score

Andrew's Score

Oliver's Score

£7.00

Yes, Scampi Fries!

6.9

6.7

6.5




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi. You will pleased to note that all the above-mentioned coments were noted and rectified some time ago. New loo's and decor in 2009. 5real ales and mention in the Good Beer guide, plus the addition of a large garden and sky sports along with a marked improvement in food quality have transformed the pub. Good atmosphere with nice customers and staff. Live music every Sunday night. Sometimes on Friday and Saturdays. Worth a visit...

Anonymous said...

I went to this pub on friday 21st jan to find a great band playing excellent music. pub surroundings were very good, lovely and clean, modern, not enough selection of ales though. I was disappointed for the band as not many people turned up, Where are all the music lovers out there, dont they realise that this is a good pub, with great music on a friday night, so come on all you older music lovers (wouldnt suit people who like more modern stuff) Its an alternative from the Grey Horse just down the road.