34 Park Street,
Southwark,
London,
SE1 9EF
0872 148 1712
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Anchor Bankside
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Dreadful place. It looks good but it's just tourist trap rubbish. There were queues coming out from both bars and, by the look of it, you could have waited 30 minutes to be served. A pub's staffing should ainm at customer welfare and not just fast bucks: and your customers should not have to queue for the best part of 20 minutes just to get their first drink!
During my last visit on a Sunday during what seemed to be a peak period, patrons were crammed into a tiny bar off to the side like cattle lining up to be slaughtered. There were 3 staff on regular cigarette breaks resulting in effectively 2 staff to a 30 strong queue. To further the pain, the staff had no sense of urgency or the growing number of people becoming increasingly impatient in front of them, it ended up taking 45 minutes to get a drink. I frequently visit the Market and make sure to poke my head in to see if this was a one off experience every time is the same. I am boycotting the Anchor and telling everyone I know to do the same until management take their head out of their A** and do something about the obvious problem. There are plenty of other places to buy drinks nearby and one of the best markets in the world behind it if you want quick and cheap food!
I have visited Anchor restaurant on the top floor with my friends (total of 10 people), although we didn\'t book a table in advance, waiters helped us straight away and prepared table for us.
Service was very good and food recommended by waitress was excellent!
After dinner we had a drink at the bar downstairs. bartenders were moving very fast and we were served within 3 minutes.
Very nice, young people and laid back, relaxing atmosphere combined with amazing view makes Anchor worth visiting.
I am glad to see I am not the only person that found the service here to be astonishingly bad. I vowed never to return after standing at the bar like an idiot for hours last year but this is one of few bars right on the river in Central London worth a visit in decent weather and I always find myself going back, against my better judgement. People are always going to come here because of the location, so I don't suppose the owners will ever feel the need to improve service and I can't see the situation ever changing. I always have a good time here but only when I buy 2 or 3 pints at a time and spill half my drinks on the way back from the bar.
Staff that do not understand or speak good English; Chef's that shout 5 minutes to everything they are asked; Fish that is all batter and little fish; a jumble of bars that provide different levels of service and a huge waterfront patio area to which you cannot get any food service. Absolutely diabolical! This is the worst pub I have frequented for many a year and yet it used to be exceptional. What went wrong?
Dreadful pub. I'll make a point of never coming here agan - worse than one star - best avoided.
If I could give this pub no stars I would have. I have worked next to it for 6 years and it has gone from bad to dire to frankly disgusting.
First and foremost, the toilets are an absolute health hazard. One of them has been broken for about 4 years they are always dirty and lacking in toilet paper.
You can actually smell the carpet that sinks of urine from the bar and you are faced by a huge waft of it when you open the door to the toilets.
The staff usually are very slow and give the impression that for most of them it is their first bar job.
Ridiculous when this should be one of the busiest pubs in London. I suspect the management pay such poor wages that they can't get or keep experienced staff.
Having seen the manky food they've been serving up for years I've fortunately never touched it. It does beg the question, why have I been going back?
Well it's within spitting distance of my office and is so bad you can always get a seat.
The pub looks nice from the outside and does half decent fish and chips that are OK to eat outside on the patio by the river if it's sunny.
Other than that, the Anchor doesn't have much going for it. The place trades on it's passing tourist appeal and historic location. Sadly, it's busy enough that it doesn't have to worry too much about keeping people coming back for more. The food is distinctly average.
I work nearby and I've been in a couple of times for lunch, each time giving it the benefit of the doubt. . .On one occasion my friend asked for a cheese ploughman's baguette that arrived without any pickle or cheese. Effectively, just a lettuce sandwich!
When he complained, the staff behind the bar claimed the till didn't list that there was supposed to be any cheese in the dish at all and refused to replace it because he had already taken a bite. Only when he demanded that they take the sandwich back did the "chef" in the kitchen admit his mistake.
A shame, because it had the potential to be a decent enough pub. The place is let down by average food, a non-existent waiter service ("unable" to bring food outside) and some rude and poorly trained staff.
Disgusting pub. Toilets stink and are really dirty.
We went for Sunday roast and because we were sitting upstairs had to pay more for our food even though we ordered the same thing that was on the downstairs menu.
The food was really really poor for the price. Nasty dry, overcooked beef, boring vegetables and yorkshire puddings were from frozen. Will Never Ever go back.
The service in the Anchor Bankside is appalling - the staff have no idea or training and the management are mediocre to disastrous.
On a visit last weekend we were told to leave even though no 'last orders' bell was heard (they said it was broken) and then stood over us until we downed the drinks we had just purchased!
A totally rude and unpleasant pub - avoid at all costs!
Great pub with a cool atmosphere and chill out vibe
This is an historic pub (part of the building, anyway), which should be a bit of a treasure.
We have been going there for years, but I have to say that the current state of the toilets is beyond belief: they look clean, but the smell knocks your socks off!
Also, the last time we went (on Sunday 22nd Feb 2009) the end bar was being used by a group who were barring the entrance from the street by putting their chairs in front of it and being abusive to people who tried to enter:
we told the staff but they did nothing to stop this. They need better management here!
The lovely bankside setting of the Anchor Bankside does not compensate for poor service and very average food.
We waited nearly two hours on Saturday, for 6 easy to prepare meals (i.e. melt the cheese on the nachos). The staff told us the kitchen was too small to cope, a poor and unacceptable excuse I believe. Anchor Bankside was not impressive.
I had Sunday roast at Anchor Bankside last year and it was the best of the many I've had throughout England. We had the pork and the lamb. Both were superb and the roast potatoes and the fresh vegetables were perfect. It was also great value.
We ordered drinks downstairs, carried them upstairs and got a meal on a tray which we took outdoors for the mild autumn day. Anchor Bankside is highly recommended for a roast and a much better price than the items off the menu.
Took a walk down to Anchor Bankside for lunch. Nice location next to the river. Was a mission getting food and drink though as I had to order the drinks downstairs and then go upstairs to order food.
Also no-one brings your food out to you so I had to wait 20 minutes for fish and chips that looked like a frozen ready meal. Even the chips tasted like frozen oven chips, all dry and stale. And the service was non-existent.
The Anchor Bankside would be better off closing their kitchen and allowing patrons to bring food from the Nando's or Waggamama next door!
The Anchor Bankside is rather labyrinthine, so if you want to meet friends there it is best to specify exactly where. Nevertheless, if you like a good discussion the Samuel Johnson room at Anchor Bankside makes an excellent debating chamber, and the FT is just around the corner.
It can be good to sit next to the river in summer months; as we are now in the depths of winter, it can get very cosy indeed inside. Season's greetings!
I went to Anchor Bankside after work with my girlfriend for a meal. The menu at Anchor Bankside was small but the service was good and the table staff didn't bother us every five minutes to make sure that the food was ok.
Nice location next to the river, pleasant on summer evenings but it always seems to take ages to get a drink. Even when there is hardly anyone there! The inside is too big, rather dull and unimaginative. Definitely not one of the better pubs in the area!
We had a meal for 4 at Anchor Bankside on a Friday night - the atmosphere in the bars was fantastic. The restaurant was well separated but kept the atmosphere. The food was reasonably priced and there was loads of it. It all tasted great - I would definitely recommend it.
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