The Peasant

Peasantly surprised

11 Apr 08, 09:22 As expected

I met up with a bunch of friends at Peasant last night and having not been there for a few years was peasantly surprised (sorry).

It's a nice, big, airy pub with lots of charm but not overly sophisticated. They have some good beers on tap (Budvar for one) and a good wine selection. The pub has lots of space and never feels that cramped or crowded which makes it perfect for a quiet pint or for a rowdy, bigger group - you can reserve tables.

The only think that isn't great is the food. They try to pitch themselves as an eating-pub and have a decent sounding menu, however the execution lets it down. They offer a fairly standard a mix of fish, meat & vegetarian dishes but all were a little dry and the mash potato sticky enough to glue your mouth shut.

The staff also seem a little overworked and i spent a good 20 minutes at the bar watching the solitary barman hurrying & cursing his way to serve the gathered crowd. Not great for him or me!

Overall verdict - worth checking out and better than other pubs in the area but don't expect to be blown away.

A better pub than it is a restaurant

28 Sep 07, 14:02 As expected

The Peasant is a huge-ceilinged place, made up of two parts: and inviting pub and an upstairs restaurant. Decent beers are on tap downstairs (the rotation will change every so often, and they are holding their 2nd beer fest this year), and you can get bar snacks and lighter meals by sitting downstairs. The chips, in particular, are great - thin French bistro types like the kind (shh) also served by McDonald's. The bar area gets crowded in the evenings, with office workers from the area piling in. Reserving a table (even just for drinks) can be a good idea.

I have found the upstairs restaurant to be a bit stuffy for my tastes. The service is a little over the top for what's supposed to be a gastro-pub, and the food seemed to have a few too many trendy ingredient without them actually making the meal taste better for it. I'm happy to stick with the downstairs bar (which I would have given 4 stars on its own) for the drinks and the chips, which they 'don't do' upstairs.

Top-notch gastropub

04 Aug 07, 20:36 Above expectations

The word "gastropub" is overused and has almost become a dirty word, but The Peasant is one of the originals and still one of the best. On the site of a former gin palace, there's a lively bar downstairs and wonderful restaurant upstairs. The food is inventive, the look and ambience is far above the standard you expect from a regular gastropub and it's not even desperately overpriced. The one slight downside is the slightly erratic service - but for that, this would have been a five-star review