As I had a couple of hours spare in London before my train from Farringdon, I thought I’d pop into the JD Wetherspoon operated Sir John Oldcastle which is at the end of the street. It’s not been one of my favourite pubs as it’s often very busy, but matters are more sedate on a Sunday early afternoon.
As usual, I’ll use the pub chain’s own history of the pub name:
“Named after The Sir John Oldcastle Tavern, which stood in the former grounds of Sir John’s nearby mansion, this was already long established by 1680. Oldcastle is thought to have been the model for Shakespeare’s character ‘Falstaff’.”
Not a vast amount has changed with the street layout here in the last 150 years, the pub is located just above the “EET” of Charles Street. The ward of Saffron Hill has now gone, which originally took its name as saffron grew around here. It’s also where Fagin’s den was located in Oliver Twist.
The bar area and coffee machines and today it was the £1.81 unlimited hot drinks that tempted me in here rather than beer. It all seems functional enough and it felt well managed.
Carpets in every JD Wetherspoon venue are unique, although this one isn’t necessarily the most decadent in terms of its styling.
The online reviews are pretty decent for a JD Wetherspoon venue, despite the challenges they must have here with having a small site and limited space in terms of facilities.
“I was so surprised when the staff said to me I can not paid by 50 in cash. No explanation why. The answer was “not because not”. This is absolutely disgusting and ridiculous. I asked about manager to explanation me this situation. He didn’t show up to speak with me. I will never back to this place. Higley not recommended.”
Disgusting that a venue won’t accept a £50 note? Hmmmm. Seems quite reasonable to me given the number of forgeries.
“I’ve just been kicked out of here, because I had the audacity to bring a Costa Coffee in; even though I’d just ordered and paid for breakfast. They’d rather refund my breakfast purchase; than let me have a Costa with it. If their machine coffee was better; I wouldn’t have had to in the first place.”
Why not just bring in your own food as well?
“Good interior. Ordered porridge. I went to the toilet and when I came back some waiter had taken it away. I hadn’t eaten any of it. I found it was thrown away! Another diner’s beer was also taken away by the same waiter undrunk.”
Very efficient service, it’s good to keep the tables clean.
“If you want to sit and read a paper or a book, this is the place for you. If however, you want to have a laugh and giggle with friends, go to the castle pub instead.”
I’m with the pub, this group sounds needlessly frivolous.
“Leffe. £3.49 a pint in most Wetherspoons. John Oldcastle £5.49 some might say different location BUT McDonalds do not have this issue.”
It feels inevitable to me that a pub in central London will be more expensive than one in Swindon.
“Asked to leave when we were causing no trouble…”
I suspect another side to this story….
Anyway, once again I digress. I thought the pub looked relatively clean, although the toilets probably need more rebuilding than cleaning, with the team members seeming friendly enough. And the coffees and other assorted hot drinks tasted as expected, so a rather peaceful couple of hours.