The Institute Bar — Restaurant in London

New comment: This used to be my favourite UCL bar for a number of reasons, but I have changed my rating from 5 to 1 star for the following reasons: The regular bouncer does not have a friendly face, but he is really nice (bearded, wears glasses). He is quite efficient on keeping the place safe, which ultimately is his main job. The other bouncers (which I won't describe) are not friendly, they are rude, uneducated and abuse their position. Half of the bar staff is great (particularly women). They are quick, kind and educated. There are (at least) two guys (which I won't describe) who are terrible and ruin the collective effort of the other bar employees. The last time I visited (7/10/22 8:30pm) the two guys at the pizza end of the bar were doing everything but serving the crowds: one of them talking on the phone while ignoring customers, plus being super rude when I asked him for service. The other one was a bit off, disappeared for almost 10 mins in the kitchen only to come back with free drinks for his friends who were not queuing at all. Later, he would serve everyone around me and was actively ignoring me. When I finally was able to order (perhaps 25 mins into queuing), he was not happy that I ordered 4 jars of beer for my Society. 3.The prices are higher than in other UCL bars. I am guessing this is to keep the bars equilibrated, but still it feels like the service is too bad for these prices (in contrast with the other bars).

I understand that the bar is operated mainly by students and that finding employees is hard, but this bar is quickly decaying from the friendly and safe space for students to an aggressive environment.

Also, employees should not be allowed to work under the influence of alcohol/drugs. This is a disaster waiting to happen. This bar needs to change its working system to something that can be easily monitored: organised queues, online ordering and real managerial supervision.

Old comment: Great student pub. Probably the best...

Aggressive people trying to start fights in the line allowed in as friends with new security who was also aggressive and rude! As staff at UCL, we go to IOE often. We’ve never had issues before but it seems a new security guy has changed that. As we were waiting in line, an older man started an argument with one of our colleagues and was being rude for no reason. We told him to go infront of us with his partner as we were a big group and wanted no problems. He went to the front, told his friend (the security guy) to let him in because HE felt unsafe. He was then let in and he stood at the top, yelling down at us for no reason (again). The security did nothing. One of our colleagues was talking to another security guard about how we are happy to wait until we can all get in (there were 10/12 of us) but was rudely interrupted by the security guard (with the aggressive friend) telling our colleague not to talk, he wants to talk to the other security guard now. He was extremely unprofessional, rude and was allowing his friend to be aggressive towards us. We decided to leave because we did not want to spend money at a bar with staff like this. As a student bar, it should take extra care of students and staff to ensure we feel safe. We definitely did not...

Totally in love with this place. It's close to my office, it's very cheap, and the crowd is vibrant (mostly UCL students). They have some pizza options and they serve blue moon, which is hard to find in your average pub. I like it ok a Friday after work, where everyone is enjoying their time and the music is great.

I must admit, it can be a great place to work too, particularly if you go right after they open their doors. It's quite and they have spacious tables.

The staff is friendly but the place can get very crowded and then things get messy. They limit the number of people when it gets populated, so don't get...