Harrild & Sons — Restaurant in London

PLEASE READ if you are planning on booking your wedding at Harrild & Sons

Our wedding took place in August 2022, and after some careful thought, we think it is right that we leave a review of our big day at Harrild & Sons so that no other couples go through the same disappointment and frustration that we experienced.

We selected H&S due to their brilliant online reviews, so when it was announced that the venue changed hands at the start of 2022, we had immediate concerns that we would not receive the amazing pub wedding we envisaged. It turned out that we were correct to have these concerns, and unfortunately for us they really showed through on our big day.

Although our initial agreement with the venue was honoured, due to staff changes and miss communication, we did not receive the same top tier management that other reviewers of this venue have reported. We were assigned a wedding manager which made us feel at ease, but it seemed that all our conversations with them leading up to the day were absolutely pointless.

The errors during our day are plentiful, with the most major listed as follows -

No experienced wedding manager present on the day. We hadn’t met the person that was assigned on the day before and they had clearly not managed many/any weddings previously.

Our welcome drinks were not served to guests, instead, a bottle of gin, bucket of ice and some tonic bottles were placed at the back of the room. We were having our couples photoshoot at the time so were not there to put things straight, guests bought their own drinks instead.

Although communicated, staff did not know about our £2k bar tab and charged drinks to guests until we realised what was happening. They also did not put out the sign we had made to alert guests on which drinks were on the tab.

Our wedding cake was not served to guests and we took it all home with us. Complete waste of money.

During our initial meeting we were told that fairy lights were wrapped around the pillars for all weddings, but these were not done. We found out after the fact that it was for us to sort ourselves but this was never communicated.

The selected wine from our tasting was not available on the day, we had to taste and select wines when we arrived at our wedding.

Food was completely different in quality than we tried at the tasting. The beef (that nearly everyone had) was tough and had not been cooked for long enough. It was hugely embarrassing as we had raved to guests about how good the beef dish was, there were many plates of uneaten food.

When we requested to see the itemised receipt against our tab, we found that many drinks had been costed wrong, it was completely inaccurate towards the charges/services agreed.

Security agreed for the night did not turn up and random punters came in several times during the night.

Doombar was ordered in specifically for the father of the groom, but it was not available even after double checking it would be two days prior to the wedding.

Camden Hells was off after 2.5hrs of us being at the venue.

The wrong table plan was used.

I hope no one experiences this level of extensive issues during their wedding.

We were expecting a couple of things to go wrong, but never anything to this scale. It honestly felt like staff hadn’t handled a wedding before, it was shocking.

Thankfully, during the day we were in such a giddy, overwhelmingly happy state of mind, we forced all of these issues away from heavily affecting our experience at the time. However, upon reflection, we feel so hurt and hugely disappointed, especially that we had to fight so hard to receive any goodwill and decent customer service from the venue.

After two months of back and forth with management we received a small amount of compensation which has helped ease a bit of bad feeling, but I hope making others aware of our experience will give some further closure.

Thank you for reading, and if you’re looking to book with H&S, please be careful to try and ensure that none of these errors...

🚇 Farringdon 🍺 £6.70 Madri

An Historical Building of London’s Printing Past.

Harrild & Sons is located just south of Holborn Viaduct where the City of London meets Holborn. The nearest Tube stations are Farringdon and Blackfriars, both are a five minute walk away.

This pub is located in The Fleet Works Building which was built in 1886. This building was the former home of Harrild & Sons printing machinery works and is Grade II listed. Robert Harrild was a famous printer of the early 19th century, his company ceased trading in 1949.

This is a spacious high ceiling pub that has a main bar and a cocktail bar on the lower floor. There decor consists of a bare boarded floor running throughout, lots of exposed brickwork and some interesting artwork. At the back of the bar is a smart dining area which has an atrium above. The servery is eye catching and had solid oak panels, beautiful pendants above and a copper counter.

The beer selection was pretty good and offered a choice from local London breweries like @twotribesbrew and @signaturebrew plus premium continental favourites. I decided on a pint of Madri, my pint was great, price point was a bit top heavy. There is a Pub Grub food menu available with an emphasis on burgers, Fish & Chips costs £16.50.

We arrived around 1pm on a Friday lunchtime on a warm September day. The pub was fairly quiet with a group of lads on a crawl plus a few catching some rays out the front. The atmosphere was chilled and relaxed before the afterwork crowd rush later that day. The service was spot on, the chap who served us was welcoming and friendly.

With the exception of the buildings around Holborn Viaduct and the currently closed Hoop & Grapes, this building is the only piece of Victorian architecture left on this street. @harrildandsons offers a relaxing haven away from all the concrete and glass that now dominates the local landscape. This maybe more Bar than Pub but either way, we really enjoyed our visit here.

ℹ️ Info correct on...

I recently visited Harrild & Sons (7th March 2024) with a group of work colleagues hoping to enjoy a pleasant evening out. However, my experience was marred by the unprofessional behavior of the staff, particularly one of the waiters behind the bar.

Upon arriving, we noticed that the music in the bar was very loud. One of the members of my group is hard-hearing and is partly disabled, so I politely asked the waiter behind the bar if it would be possible to lower the volume slightly to accommodate them. Instead of offering assistance or even considering my request, the waiter responded with blatant disrespect and insensitivity, arguing ''it's Thursday night, mate, sorry I won't''. Not only did they refuse to adjust the music level, but they also giggled in my face, making it clear that they had no intention of helping.

This type of dismissive behavior is completely unacceptable. As a customer, I expect to be treated with respect and courtesy, regardless of the circumstances. The waiter's unwillingness to accommodate a simple request demonstrated a lack of professionalism and empathy. There were plenty of solutions, like moving us downstairs to a more quiet place but nothing was done.

It's deeply disappointing to encounter such behavior in any establishment, especially one that should prioritize customer satisfaction. We later left the Harrild & Sons feeling disrespected and frustrated, with no desire to return. I urge the management of the bar to address this issue promptly and ensure that all staff members are trained to handle customer requests with professionalism and respect.

The staff that was insensitive looked very confortable owning the space at the bar so I presume he's a manager, maybe. If you're reading this, please do better. This was not inclusive, disrespectful and we urge your team to do better next time. Thank you...