|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pub Quiz! Which pub is this?"When there's more than one televised match on, the various screens show different games, making this an excellent venue on Champions League nights" Review'A man in a velveteen coat,' Charles Dickens tells us, '[sits in the] parlour of a low public-house...[with]...a small glass, strongly impregnated with the smell of liquor'. The novel is Oliver Twist, the 'public-house' is The Three Cripples and the drinker is Bill Sykes. There's some debate upon which pub The Three Cripples is based; some suggest it's The Bleeding Heart Tavern becuase Dickens knew it well, although he also knew many others between Holborn and Clerkenwell. Dickens using Bleeding Heart Yard, the cobbled courtyard behind the pub, as the Plomish family home in Little Dorrit substantiates the claim. Walking into The Bleeding Heart Tavern is like entering a restaurant even though the official pub restaurant is in another building. There are lots of people eating at the tables and the bar is of the type usually seen in a restaurant: lots of wine, spirits and whiskey, bottled lager and a few beer-pumps, mostly real-ale. (The London branch of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society has its "member's rooms" above the pub.) Being met by a waitress clasping a handful of menus when entering a pub is always a disconcerting experience; fortunately, a beer-only visit is acceptable. A glance at the menu confirms it's mostly French nouveau cuisine and quite expensive. The Bleeding Heart Tavern is named in honour of a pub of that name being on this site since 1746. Until 1998 it was called the Windsor Grill, a name it acquired after the pub was demolished and rebuilt in 1845. The Windsor Grill was purchased and renamed by the owners of the restaurant that languishes in the corner of Bleeding Heart Yard. The blood-red façade obviously acknowledges the bleeding aspect of its name, and despite a modern restaurant feel, the pub is proud of its history with all the windows being covered in notable trivia about Bleeding Heart Yard, Tavern and Restaurant. Apparently, in a tale more suited to Jack the Ripper, Bleeding Heart Yard got its name Lady Elizabeth Hatton, after whose family the nearby Hatton Garden is named (the centre of the UK diamond trade). The morning after a ball at nearby Hatton House, Lady Elizabeth's disfigured body was found in the courtyard, the victim of a spurned lover, with her heart 'still pumping blood onto the cobblestones.' Outside of office hours the pub is surprisingly busy considering its location on the edge of the City, near Farringdon - an area that closes down at evenings and weekends.     Review by mr_psm Nearby:Pubs:
Public Transport:
|
User Comments:
Fast food: McDonald’s doesn’t stand a chance! I implore any person who is remotely interested in taking their time to enjoy a pleasant meal to steer well clear of The Bleeding Heart Tavern in Clerkenwell, London.
The food, while adequate, was not worth the price tag, especially the tired reheated vegetables served with the main course. I presume these recycled sides are necessitated by the ridiculously small amount of time that restaurant manager feels adequate to leave between courses. My partner and I only managed to take a sip of wine in between the starter being cleared and main course set in front of us, such was the speed of turn-around.
On being asked whether everything was OK, we mentioned this paucity of time between courses. The restaurant manager told us that we should have stated we wanted to take our time at the start of the meal (not something I ever remember having to do at any other restaurant). She then went on to dismiss our grievance by patronising us before arguing with my partner.
The whole experience left a more than bitter taste in my mouth. Don’t go, spend your money in any one of the hundreds of other restaurants in London. If you need fast food go to McDonalds, at least the staff are polite as they shove poor quality fare under your nose.