Duke of Wellington, Notting Hill  

This pub is a real underachiever; it really should score more highly (perhaps even far more highly) than the paltry two pints we're awarding it. For one thing, it's a Young's pub, so there's a good range of fine beers, both on the hand pumps and in bottles. Moreover, the overall appearance is, for the most part, smart - polished, varnished wood, some cosy seats (and, a plus point, they aren't 'we're so trendy' sofas, too), some charming bits of engraved glass, all very nice, actually. There are a few things that are a bit iffy, though: a few elements of the decorations don't really fit in with the semi-traditional appearance: the less said about the 'fake blackboard menus' on the walls the better. Another downer, around one half of the total area is reserved for diners. Where the pub goes, badly, wrong, however, is the quality of customer service, which, when we visited, went beyond being merely inefficient and incompetent to being utterly comical and hopeless. The pub seemed to be slightly understaffed, and, without going into details, the food service, from start to finish, was an abject lesson in how not to delight your customers. So, until we have evidence that the management have pulled their fingers out and kicked this place into gear, we won't be recommending it.

reviewed:
29/01/2006

pub features:(click on an icon to see an explanation)

disabled facilities

ATM on premises

late opening

Link to your pub's web site