Slug and Lettuce

In a dull, dull pub chain,
there was a dull, dull quiz.
On the dull, dull quiz,
there was a dumb, dumb quiz-master.
Over the dingy, dingy music,
The dumb, dumb quiz-master,
made spazzy disabled noises.
Over in the dull, dull restaurant,
two vegetables were served.
There was battered asparagus.
There was battered broccoli.
And then there was a depressed Andrew *snivel*.

-Alex

Okay to start off with I was not depressed, I was tired, very tired this evening, I nearly didn't turn up but thought I had better as I had missed a few recently. There was not too much going on when I arrived, the others had got there before me and already found a table. When the quiz started we decided to relocate from the seating area to the bar area so we could carry on talking. The guys ordered food which looked plentiful and nice, however I wasn't eating (again, tired, not depressed) so couldn't vouch for it personally.
we’ve been here before and will probably come again but cant see it being one at the top of the list of places to go.
-Andrew

Pub facilities / features: Food served Real Ale Quiz night (Tuesdays)
Pint of Guinness, pint of London Pride, J2O, orange & lemonade: £10.95	Alex - 4.9 Andrew - 6.5 Dave - 5.9 Oliver - 6.0

The Shakespeare

A mile out of town, next to Sainsbury's. Apparently this little pub attracts very little business apart from Fridays when they have karaoke on, woo(!)
When we arrived the barmaid was gossiping to her friend on phone and very surprised she had some customers, she kindly finished her call gave us some drinks and put on some music.
We soon learnt there was a another patron in the garden at the back. Not a regular, just some strange middle-aged business woman who had been drinking wine since work closed. It was quite clear how drunk she was when she shouted the name of the current song before ordering another drink; "Staying Alive, get me another drink!!". Twenty minutes later she said her goodbyes and proceeded to take her car keys out of her handbag. The barmaid offered her cab, but she just slurred "I'll be okay" and staggered out the pub. Never to be seen again, I don't suppose!
We spent the rest of the evening playing pool with some chipped, hexagon like balls.
-Alex

A small pub on the outskirts of Richmond, this pub is a quiet one, probably in need of some modernisation, but not massively so. We were, as Alex mentions, one of very few others but then being a Tuesday night pubs like this will only usually have their regulars/locals weekdays, however in this case, the location wouldn't suggest a booming trade on the weekends either as its location is only really set up for if you want a late night snack form the 24hr sainsburys on the way home.
Pool table always a plus in my book and we managed a few games, we all noticed a ‘merry’ lady at the bar and it wasn't till she walked out we realised she was holding a set of car keys, one guy look out the door to see if she was walking driving or what but she was long gone.
Cant see myself coming back here without having a good reason but its not somewhere I would avoid, just a bit of an awkward location.
-Andrew

Pub facilities / features: Real Ale Pool table Outside seating Karaoke (Fridays)
Pint of Fosters, pint of Guinness, J2O: £8.60	Alex - 6.2 Andrew - 6.5 Dave - 6.5

Rose of York

This place is huge, it's essentially a hotel first and a pub second. A beautiful building set over a stunning view over the Thames (if you get the right table).
We expected a rather quiet evening - being as it were a Tuesday and it not being in the best location from the centre. What we didn't expect was an atmosphere similar to a library on Christmas eve. There was only one librarian working, and he had replaced all the books with 1950's looking beverages.
I had no idea what I was ordering with their fancy calligraphy bottles, so fruit juice it was. We walked out to the garden, being the only ones out there, in the dark, with moths flying round our heads we didn't really stay out there for long. Moving inside to opposite the bar, the only sound to be heard came from the humming refrigerator. For the next two hours we sat there, bored out of our skulls.
On a side note - to all those thinking about staying at the Rose of York - please be aware breakfast is served at 11pm the night before, this includes all cutlery, cereals and orange juice (it might be a little warm if you leave it to the morning).
-Alex

Pub facilities / features: Food(?) served Real(?) ale Outside seating Carpark
Orange juice, apple juice, coke: £5.10	Alex - 3.0 Dave - 4.0 Oliver - 2.0

Roebuck

Oh my days, this is like a pub, in Richmond, it’s like on the Hill. And there’s like loads of American’s, and its soo cool right, because they’re all like under 21 and well excited because they can’t drink alchopops across the Atlantic yet.
I got fed up with their annoying accents after two minutes; they took over the whole god damn pub and we had to queue for ten minutes just to get a round in. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice pub, but that day just gave me a brain haemorrhage having to listen to the drivel of thirty kids shouting over each other.
One thing did amuse - one of the yanks pecked two girls on the cheek on the way to the toilet, randomly turned to us at the doorway, raised his eyebrow and nodded. OMG, that was so a Richmond Arms moment.
-Alex

One of the closest pubs to the park entrance right at the top of the hill i was assuming that this would be one of those ‘local’ pubs that will have a handful of regulars in on a Tuesday evening and that’d be about it. This was not the case as little did we know that this is just around the corner from a American university campus where term has just started and cue a ton of American students making the most of the drinking at 18, not 21 laws. This being the case the bar was rammed, at one point we were considering getting two rounds at once to save the wait time but every now and then a majority of the crowd went outside to the other side of the road before coming back in for their next rounds. Overall i quite liked this place, holds a good atmosphere with varying numbers of people inside however i would say they could do with the service area being a bit bigger to accommodate more customers at one time as the current setup seems to funnel people into an area that can really on comfortable hold 4 or 5 people so during busy times the crowd round the bar can come back a good few meters.
-Andrew

Pub facilities / features: Food served Bar snacks Real Ale
Pint of Guzzler, J2O, coke: £6.10	Alex - 6.6 Andrew - 7.2 Dave - 5.9 Oliver - 7.0