Slim Jim's Liquor Store — Restaurant in London

Went to Slim Jim’s early evening last Friday (23rd May) to get a couple of beers in before going to a gig at the nearby Islington academy. At that point, good drinks, great atmosphere, friendly staff - great place. However, after the gig we decided to go back to the bar to round off the night with a couple more drinks.

By this point there were doormen, and as we walked in they asked for IDs - which I was initially flattered by since I’m 36 and look it, but I guess they just ID everyone as a policy. Anyway, I showed my drivers license, but the friend I was with, who is the same age as me, didn’t have any on him. I’ve seen this happen occasionally in London, but in each case if it’s a situation where there’s other people who can clearly prove they are well over drinking age, and one person doesn’t have ID is obviously in the same age bracket, the doorman will just wave them through, because that’s the reasonable thing to do in that instance.

However, this particular bouncer for whatever reason just wouldn’t take it, even when my friend, who had greying hair and a wedding ring, showed the passport photo of his daughter as further proof. I literally thought this doorman was just joking around, and was basically just waiting for the punchline and to be waived through, but I guess cus he was a young guy and presumably new to the job he felt he needed to throw his weight around and impose himself, though there was really no need because there was no queue.

I was also in a leg brace and clearly having trouble walking, and neither of us were being in any way disorderly. Indeed, we tried our best to handle the things in a jovial and co-operative manner, despite how ridiculous the situation was. I will say that after 5-10 minutes of this I started to get frustrated and forcefully made the point that the bouncer was clearly a lot younger than us, but even this was done in jest.

Nonetheless, the guy started getting aggressive after that, so we took our business elsewhere, to another rock bar. The whole thing was absolutely farcical. It is a pity because we had a great impression of the place when we were there earlier in the evening, and would most likely have stayed until closing under other circumstances. As it is, not sure I’ll be going back.

Advice to the owners - I suggest to put in place some more flexibility around IDs etc and generally reset some expectations with your door staff. I totally understand the need to ID young people, but what unfolded last week was frankly ludicrous. You are running a great place, but ultimately you’re the ones who will lose out on business when customers decide to spend their money elsewhere and are then motivated to write a negative review like this, just because your door staff have too much ego to climb down slightly and...

It was a great night, I was there to see the band who were doing a warm up free intimate gig before appearing at festivals. Overall definitely a five star down and dirty rock bar that is highly recommended. However one down side was the bar manager who seemed determined not to smile all night. I was sat at the bar for about three hours and had five pints of the also excellent Signature Roadie IPA, good price at £5.60. At one point after it had got busy with band playing only a few feet away a young lady asked if she could squeeze between me and the next person to get a drink, yes of course. Unfortunately the bar staff, who'd been otherwise excellent, missed her and served a couple of people either side. With her frustration creeping up I tried to attract their attention with an "excuse me", the bar manager noticed and served her and she thanked me. However the bar manager then indicated he had a problem with me and after twice failing to hear what he was saying across the bar I walked round to meet him at the end. He told me not to do what I had done, that I didn't know all that he was having to deal with, indicating his radio receiver, and basically that I had been out of order. I was very surprised as, being a bar manager myself for many many years that's the last thing I would do and felt I had been polite and courteous. No matter I apologised but I must say if I'd spoken to a customer like that is be surprised if they ever came back. He wouldn't even give me a smile as I left. Given how good the bar was, the rest of the bar staff who served me more or less the instant I needed a refill, they interaction I had with the owner (I think), and the excellent band I will probably go back but it did sour what had otherwise been an excellent evening. He may well have been having problems but you don't take them out...

Want to know the ultimate definition of small-knob syndrome ? Let me introduce Slim Jim’s security staff. With IQ of a Beckham cardboard cut-out and the memory capacity of a hamster, these clinically obese paleolithic baldies clearly struggle to count to double digits. When a tiny sweat pit reaches full capacity,1-in-1-out is understood as the norm. However, this requires door staff who can count above the number of their sausage fingers. Even though 15+ people exited, we were kept waiting. When politely asked for the reason of delay, their small-knob syndrome kicked in full-scale with a screaming tantrum, making your ugly egg-headed children seem well-behaved. As those fatsos received more instructions on how to count with their chubby fingers, we were finally let in. To our disappointment, the room was half empty with atmosphere of an elderlies’ care home. Fancy a round of drinks? don’t forget to remortgage your house. Do not even think about going outside for a cigarette break, unless you enjoy another outburst from these small-knob syndrome baldies who will not acknowledge you had been inside and force you to re-join the queue. Best part of the night was leaving this hell hole, advising the 15+ suckers in queue not to bother, and watch the fat bouncers kick off, once again displaying their small-knob syndrome and lack of literacy skills. Best night cap ever! Slim Jim’s – a bar that smells of lard, urine and...