Got off the 53 bus last night and saw the Ship ablaze with fun, frolics and gay abandon. There was a son et lumiere show and the Grimethorpe Colliery brass band played a rousing fanfare whilst the Duke of Edinburgh cut the red ribbon.
Actually, the windows had steamed up and I couldn't see a thing.
Did anybody go? How does it weigh up against The Star, The Woodman, The Prince Albert and The Mill?
28 comments:
I was hopeful about the Ship. BUT the new look Woodman, comfy traditional Star and oh so lovely and friendly Old Mill are ALL sooo much better! The Ship was OK last night BUT the decor is a bland (but making an effort with pics of old plumstead), the toilets basic and very cheaply done (bar soap and granny's old hand towel, yuck!), music way too loud for a pub (couldn't really speak to anyone) and the clientele was impossible to figure out on the first night. I guess it'll be worth giving it some time though. It is not the first pub I'd choose on the common, but maybe it will gain a more attractive personality and pleasant atmosphere in time?
The wife and I tried the Woodman and the Ship last night. The Woodman's decor is lovely but it was so smoky in there we could hardly see it! It was very quiet for a Saturday night, just a few locals including what appeared to be a street drinker/rough sleeper.
What with the smoke and the barmaid's 'in your face' wrinkly tattoed cleavage, we didn't last long.
On to the Ship, which was almost as bad. Alongside the old Plumstead photos we saw several 'French impressionist' style canvasses, a "moving picture" of some tropical fish [chinese takeaway style], and f course Sky Sports playin gon large flat screen tvs, giving some idea of the lack of style or theme.
They had a no smoking area - great! Only it was full of smoke! There are 2 air extractors installed in the ceiling in the middle of the room, but nowhere near the smoking/no smoking divide, and they were switched off anyway.
The place is laid out like a classic "vertical drinking" bar for trendy young folk, but has none of the style of thes type of places, and I can't see the trendy youn people upping sticks from Bexleyheath to come here for a drink.
While claiming to offer lattes,cappuchinos and espressos, we saw no coffee machines, just a plastic kettle on the back of the bar! No food or chic bar snacks were on offer, just a laminate of the drinks tarriff that was clumsily laid out, lookin gtacky and amateurish.
The drinks were not as expensive as claimed in the licence app - £2.90 for draught premium lager, compared to £2.50 at the Woodman's, and about£2.70 at the the Star?
Clientele was in 2 camps: smartly dressed young Asian men in a group round the bar [wives in the no smoking section] and about 8 young locals that were clearly too young to buy cigarettes, let alone alcohol. I assume the owner is desperate for custom as the TWO doormen not only overlooked their age, but were chatting away to them inside.
As mentioned above, the toilets are cheap and nasty, with an industrial type smell in the gents, and a dangerous step and plywood doors that don't close properly in the ladies.
It was so naff we were relieved to return to the sanity and sanctuary of the Old Mill, an infinitely superior pub. As well as a great range of of lagers and real ales [and organic wines!] and less smokey atmosphere, the staff are friendly and the customers more varied than any other pub I've visited in the area. In fact some of the Ship's customers agreed, as a few of the smart young Asian guys showed up soon after us.
The Ship's owners haven't got a clue what they are doing, as the licence application suggested, and I think it will struggle to survive as a business. An opportunity for the area missed, I think.
absolutely agree. The place lack any sort of coherent style or design and consequentky is utterly characterless. felt more like a canteen. Oh dear they do need some help. Alarm bells ring though, cos they are going to be desperate for custom I fear and may well find themselves having to contravene the licence terms? I think we need to keep an eye. Already young people, not expensive nor exclusive, and I thought the glasses had to be plastic - which did seem a bit unnecessary, but is part of the conditions nonetheless
Plastic glasses are usually required for drinking outdoors -eg Princess of Wales on Blackheath. I did spot a sign saying "absolutely no glasses to be taken outside", so I assume they will put tables outside when it's warmer, and the plastic glass rule will apply there?
Yeah I thought that but ... hmm . . . its also a condition of the license that no drinks should be taken outside. rather odd and confused, eh? Just like everything else abou the place
oh wait a minute - sorry - I've just looked at the Notice of Decision from the licensing committee. It says "plastic or toughened glass containers". I wouldn't actually know what the latter look like, would you? And it says "no alcohol purchased on the premises shall be consumed outside the premises". I guess premises could include the car park bit then?
Monday night report.
10.05pm, Ship - empty, looked like it was closed.
Star - busy.
Old Mill - Busy.
Now what does that tell you?
That you went on a pub crawl last night?
I wish, just on a bus unfortunatly
mill, star, rose's in woolwich...all quality boozers.
can't comment on the ship though and not been in the newly done-up woodman. looks ok from the outside though, i've been in most of the pubs in the area and have only had positive experiences.
off at a slight tangent... does anyone know how i'd go about trying to rent a lock-up garage in the plumstead common area? or even a space in a garage. have a motorbike i'd like to keep off the road. have looked on the web and even resorted to knocking on people's doors to ask if they own the garages in the vicinity (there seem to be quite a few).
would anyone on here happen to know of anything, or have any suggestions as to how to find one...i'm at a bit of a loss now...
may be able to help on the garage front
Send me an email to
lex@oxygen-4.com and leave me a number and name i will call back
Thanks Lex
Here's the Fancyapint verdict on the Ship:
http://fancyapint.com/pubs/pub3444.html
Have not ventured into The Ship yet as have been on my hols but I have been to the Woodman. Nice decor but clientele a bit shifty and the pub is always closed when I fancy a late drink on the way home after some beers after work.
The Star and The Mill (although still the people in the Mill are a bit random) are still tops. but why is no-one serving food in Plumstead? With no restaurants except your usual takeaways you would have thought a pub serving food even if it was roast lunches, bangers n mash, lasagne etc would have made a killing. I eat out at least once a week but have to go to Blackheath or Greenwich or stay in town and then get a cab back home as the local area has nothing. Not even a local Italian I thought all places had them..!
THE SHIP IS SHIT!
Anyone know who owns the huskies regularly seen around the , being walked by the two girls with the horses?? seems one of the dogs is regularly terrorising smaller dogs. wondering if the dogs' owner knows about this?
Anyone know who owns the huskies regularly seen around the common, being walked by the two girls with the horses?? seems one of the dogs is regularly terrorising smaller dogs. wondering if the dogs' owner knows about this?
I think they might belong to the Prince Albert?
Hello people of plumstead. Still see you are all still banging on about The ship! It's open, how about giving it some support instead of Grief? We can all pick holes in other peoples attempt's at thing's, but would it not be more productive to inform and suggest? I know the owners of both The Ship and The Woodman, and i'm sure they would welcome suggestion's on how they can get more "Bum's on Seats". At the end of the day, these people have put alot of their own money into these enterprises, support and nurture them. Alternatively, how would you like a rat and parrot or two....? Or maybe another couple of derelict pubs? Dave AKA...?
Ps: Anonymous, The step in The Ships ladies loo, conform's to BS8300 which mean's it is safe and user friendly for members of the public who are blind! Been in the game for 22 Years, so i know what i'm talking about.
I'd like to give the Ship a chance, and we did go with some others on the first night. But, the owner sent an overbearing friend of his over to our table, and that person cornered a poor young couple sitting near us. The friend was clearly sent over to talk up how good Mr Patel's intentions are, but ended up being quite intimdating. Not a good way to welcome people.
Well there's so little going on around here you can't be surprised that the Ship is still news?
Mr Anonymous [common name round here I know], my wife has worked in the disabilities service industry for 10 years, and she disagrees with your opinion. For example, there is no handrail, distinguished nosing, or sign warning of the step which is within a couple of feet of the entrance door and hard to see.
Although it's a bit late I do have some positive advice for the Ship's owner - research your market properly and employ an professional interior designer!
Personally, I would rather have a Wetherspoons - the drinks are cheap and they do things properly. However I do take your point about it being better than a derelict building.
The owner of the Woodman needs to get rif of his cronies. I am not talking about banning working class people but the chap that owns it has a reputation on the other pubs he owns and the people that were in there were drunk, 50 plus age wise, and one even looked homeless. It has so much potential and could be a great funky bar. They need to serve food rather than "sandwiches" and we sat in there the other saturday night and slowly a table of loud overbearing thugs started to encroach on our table one even sat at our table without even asking if the seat was free.
I have to say I have not been in The Ship yet but I will try it. My husband likes The Star and we usually end up in the Old Mill just because it is the closest to us on The Common.
I dont feel particuarly happy in any but that is more to do with the fact that none serve wine except one choice. I wouldnt care if it came out of a box if it was something other than sweet wine or Chardonnay.
Someone in Plumstead needs to start feeding me...
I walked in to the gents in the woodman one sunday lunchtime and there were three apes snorting a white powderish substance. I'm far from a snob but the 'geezers' that were in there that day really did put me off returning to the woodman...
I am a snob (OK am not sure what I am doing in Plumstead either except size of houses) but an open minded one..
Woodman needs roast dinner, sunday papers, extractor for smoke (and i smoke), to get rid of the dodgy clientele, to show the rugby and to have a quiz
voila perhaps i should run a pub
Unless there is an upstairs that could be converted to a dining room, or the Woodman is some kind of Tardis, I don't see that there's enough room for a Sunday dinner service. I have enjoyed a couple of outings at the Woodman with friends after the remodeling, just as long as we can sit on the comfy sofas - the springy chrome bar stools always feel like they're about to fall over (at first I thought this might be my imagination, but now I'm convinced that they are truly dangerous). One was screwed together backwards (the footrest was on the back making it useless). Went with a friend today (Sunday). The piano player / singer was good but twice as loud as he should have been - we couldn't hear each other talk and left after one drink.
Does The Mill not serve food anymore? It used to be a popular summer Sunday lunchtime venue (garden) and there was a very good vegetarian selection (more veggie, than carnie, in fact).
So my recent summary (as a lifelong but younger member of Plumstead's multifaceted community);
The Star is very old school and traditional, but bags of charm to boot and they're very friendly. All my uptown and international mates passing through are taken with it.
The Old Mill is a bit drab but the staff are friendly and they have some good beers, a good second choice.
The Who'd A Thought It has been nothing but bad experiences for me and others and so we avoid it like the plague..without being melodramatic if I liked hospitals I'd start my night here
And like something out of a bad sitcom we ventured into The Ship on Weds night at around 2220 for the first time (3 young blokes, pretty ordinary in demeanour and attire); confused by the shuttering and steaming they maintain (no-one can see in or out, ever), we stepped in, there were a few ensembles of young guys in there (no women bar the barmaid), but we were amusingly told that they'd stopped serving (quarter past ten?)-we took the hint but obviously we weren't welcome.. won't be rushing back there, if it manages to stay open
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