Greenwich – The Gate Clock
I think this is one of the few Wetherspoons in London that I haven’t previously visited, or at least I can’t remember visiting it. It’s located opposite the Cutty Sark DLR station and is a relatively sizeable pub, with seating on two floors.
I can’t be doing with change at my time of life, which is 43 years old, so I had my usual chicken wrap and chips. And, it was perfectly acceptable and good value for money, so all was well with the world.
Not the most inspirational of photos I admit, but I’m pleased to see that this is one of many Wetherspoons where they’ve made a real effort to provide plug sockets for customers to use.
The pub themselves give some information about their name:
“This Wetherspoon pub takes its name from the ‘galvano -magnetic’ clock fixed to the gate of the Greenwich Observatory in 1851. One of the first electric public clocks, it shows Greenwich Mean Time, still used as a measure for longitudes and global time zones.”
Service in the pub was fine, friendly and attentive with the environment being clean throughout. Well, other than the male toilets, I do wonder whether a staff member perhaps skipped a toilet check given the state of them. But, I don’t let such things concern me. This is one of the few Wetherspoons that I’ve visited where the disabled toilets are on the first floor, although there is a lift to get to them, which it seems from reviews was out of action for several weeks earlier in the year.
Anyway, onto TripAdvisor to amuse myself.
“We visited this pub on a cold day. We had two young children with us who are fussy eaters and wanted McDonalds. Their mother bought them their lunch and the rest of us went into the Gate Clock to eat. We found a large table and the two children and their mother sat at the table while we went to order our food. We had ordered our food and drinks and paid for them when the mother came over and told us that she had been told to leave as she could not consume other companys food in their restaurant. We have always used Wetherspoons when we have been out as we find them child friendly and have had no comment on the children eating their own type of food before.”
Some customers never cease to amaze me. They bought their children McDonald’s and then sat in Wetherspoons with it, being surprised when the manager told them not to. And then they give the pub a 1/5 rating on TripAdvisor, as seemingly they’re meant to be a food court in the eyes of some customers….
“So we are sitting having dinner and my friend is asked to leave because he is wearing his hat after 8pm. He is Finnish and elderly and they proceeded to intimidate him saying they can’t speak to me because their issue wasn’t with me. I’m 32 and speak English well so they decided to pick on him. It was because he never understood them the first time they asked. RACISTS RACISTS RACISTS!”
Not that it’s anything to do with me, but they always say that gentlemen should take off their hat when entering a pub. I always do, although that’s primarily due to me never wearing a hat in the first place. I don’t rule out that bar staff might have had some race hatred against the Finnish, but I’m not sure they’re the usual group who are targeted in south London….
“You pay upfront so they have your money and can serve you any old crap”
I quite liked this reviewer’s turn of phrase.
Anyway, I liked it here and that’s what mostly matters to me…..
