Big Red — Restaurant in London

What the hell have they done to this once iconic place!! Seriously. The Big Red, famous as it was, has truly died, and dragged back above ground as some cringey student-night nightclub you'd find in any high street in any nameless town. Full of gobby kids, wrong'ens and wannabe hardmen. The staff are a mixture of miserable, rude, unnecessarily aggressive and most of the time completely unaware of customers as they sat about, chit-chatting, watching their phones or vacating the bar while people are waiting to get served. One of the ladies behind the bar screamed at us from across the room and got needlessly snappy when we spoke to her. Bizzare behaviour! Customer service score -100! Drink selection is boring. Nothing exciting to offer, standard beer taps and basic spirits. Oh and the new security team are pretty much pointless, snoozing in a corner while trouble was boiling up. They now have a fecking godawful resident DJ playing irritating pop radio tracks, grime, rap, reggae & dancehall and various Kiss club tunes with no real sense of mixing or reading the room. Heard a few songs 2 or 3 times. I mean? Come on dude!! Good luck getting on the pool tables too! They seem to be reserved for regulars or gangs of students only! We came as a group of people who would end our nights heading to the old Big Red regularly, and we all left feeling bitterly disappointed. Considering this was once a landmark rock bar in North London for those who wanted to sit and drink with good music, with good people and a have a good night. It has sadly now crumbled into some soulless nappy night! 😒 I asked the dude behind the bar about the old owners, he said they have opened up a new Big Red near Camden stables, so for those wanting the good old days of Big Red... Sorry but this place certainly ain't it! Booooooo! 👎🏼👎🏼

Adding an edit to the previous review due to a recent visit: Sadly, no positive change! Which is weird because the old management seems to have gone, along with some of the staff. The nasty, aggressive, odd girl who yells at people has rightly gone, but unfortunately the friendly, chill stocky dude has left too which is a shame. Now seems to be run by a bunch of lazy, witless kids, inexperienced and no knowledge of what The Big Red ever was. (Tbf they probably weren't even born). Since my first review the music has managed to actually somehow get even worse and the new managers are clearly trying to turn it into a dive bar themed night club with R&B and Hip-hop club nights. Still sticking with this awful resident "DJ" (if you can even call him that) who has obviously taken his inspiration from the CD 'Now That's What I Call Crap Music 2010s'. Alas as expected drink prices have shot right up, and the scummy customers still taking over. Our group have all shared the same opinion that we shall not be returning. RIP Big Red 💔 so sad, it was once such a...

Had a vey nasty experience last weekend at the Big Red. I am going to quickly explained what happened so maybe I will be saving someone a nasty trip to this UGLY pub.

Well I had a very good night overall until me and my friends decided to go to the Big Red for a last round, so everything was good and all untill me and one friend decided to go for a smoke outside. We accidentally used the wrong exit (FIRE EXIT). We were drunk at that point so we didn't realised that was a fire or emergeny exit. Well we were not allowed back in by the bouncers and they didn't even let me in to get my stuff to go home (probably suable for theft, retention of my property). Until I was able to talk some sense into the door bouncer and they allowed me in escorted (like if I am some sort of criminal) to let my friends know I've been kicked out and get my stuff to go home. My boyfriend was inside with a freshly bought beer so he decided to come outside with me, they took his beer (again some sort of theft, because that beer was alredy paid so the least they can do is let him drink it) because you're not allowed to drink outside. Yes we know you are not allowed to drink outside but you should let your customer drink their beer inside if they've already spent money on it. Overall the most ridicoulous thing that's ever happened to me, as I have never been kicked out of a pub before, let alone for a reason like that one. I'm not a troubling person, I don' get into fights or piss people off. I tried to talk sense into the bouncer that was escorting me to get my stuff but he was just following orders... so I guess if his boss tells him to jump out of a bridge everytime someone uses the wrong exit he will. NOTE FOR THE OWNER OR WHOEVER RUNS THE PUB: I am not the only one that has had a nasty experience for nonsense like that with your bouncers, if you are really behind of these stupid rules, I strongly recomend you re-think your strategy as a business owner. That is no way of treating your customers who choose to go to your pub to spend their money. I am never going back as I don't like being treated like some sort of criminal for making a mistake like that. I would have understood if I was actually causing an altercation or done that on purpose but it wasn't like that. They just ruined a very enjoyable night out with friends for practically no reason. So thank you Big Red, very kind...

My friends and I used to all be locals at this place, probably around 20 of us. It used to be a great place to go. My girlfriend and I still go occasionally to play pool on our days off, however recently the staff are so insanely rude to every single customer that walks in I feel as though I have to post it online. We've watched one man specifically, the skinny white guy with the long hair (usually tied in a bun). I have genuinely never seen someone be so rude to customers in all my life. If the owner of this pub is reading this, seriously consider firing this guy. I've worked in multiple pubs and been to plenty. I've known many bad workers and many good workers, this guy is the worst. He was whistling aggressively at people to tap their card faster on the card machine. So loudly that everyone in the pub stopped and turned around, completely humiliating this poor guy for no reason. No one was waiting to be served, nothing, the staff member was just being a dick. I've watched people request him music, change volumes etc and instead of politely declining I have literally watched him look at them and walk away without saying anything. All 20 of my friends hate this guy, I hate this guy, everyone hates this guy and I know a LOT of people who don't attend this pub anymore specifically because if this guy. Also, whenever he opens he opens the pub almost half an hour late. If you want proof of this, one day is Thursday 14th November. Pub has potential, but the guy with long hair behind the bar needs to...