The Old Tea Warehouse — Restaurant in London

The worst pub in London.

This place has recently had a change of management and has drastically gone downhill based on 2 recent experiences it thankfully won't be open much longer.

They used to welcome children but after buying drinks and settling a well behaved toddler at a table on a bench seat (they have no high chairs) we were asked to leave or sit in the restaurant due to there new licensing agreement. Whilst I have no problem with this they could have pointed it out before taking my money with the toddler in my arms! Or provided a high chair in the restaurant if that's where they wanted us to sit.

Made the mistake of visiting again today without the toddler which won't happen. Whilst most of the staff were fine they had a problem with one of there card machines. A female bar tender immediate acknowledged the issue on the first round of drinks and sourced another machine after it would not accept certain numbers in my pin. The device was sticky and disgusting so no wonder it didn't work it had clearly never been cleaned! Second round of drinks an argumentative male tender refused to change the card machine for a working one proceeded to ask for my pin then start entering digits and amounts without my authorisation. I took the card from the machine and kept it in my possession and politely informed him that if he wished for me to pay for the drinks MY card would need to remain in MY possession and he was not to ask for my pin try to guess it or make any other unnecessary entries into the card machine. At this point he said I was being aggressive and having a bad day which was nonsense. I had to diffuse the situation by asking him to get another member of staff to assist which he refused, so I said I would complete the transaction and he was not to touch my card. Transaction finally complete 5 minutes later he came to our table again shouting the odds interrupting the conversation I was having with my father.

Unprofessional does not even come close! It seems evident he was trying to duplicate the transaction obtain my pin and remove MY card from MY sight presumably to clone it.

Will be reporting this incident to the Police and the credit card company.

AVOID THIS PLACE THERE CLEARLY TRYING TO...

Mixed experience. Fine and bog standard for general drinks upstairs but watch out for costs for the darts and a service cost even paying at the bar. A few of the staff were super helpful, making us 12 (very expensive) Negronis and generally being friendly.

However- the general experience was marred by a feeling of being obscenely overcharged and a few rude staff. I booked the darts for a group of 18-20 people a couple of weeks before and was asked for a £50 deposit to secure the space. The space was nice, ready in time for us, and it was good to get away from the heaving upstairs on a Thursday night. However none of the dart boards worked property and would not register many of the throws. We quickly gave up on it and just enjoyed pizza and drinks. There was no mention on the website, on the phone, or on follow up emails of there being a charge for the darts and I know they have previously been free, I assumed it was a minimum number of people or minimum spend. Our party spent over £700. When I went up to pay the bill I had to pay first before getting the breakdown - I was surprised to then see the breakdown and find we had been charged a service charge and a fee for the darts. I then raised with the bar staff and was told rudely I should have told them earlier so tough. Nobody came down to check on us or ask if everything was working ok and the bar was heaving so we just cracked on, otherwise I would have flagged it up earlier. The darts cost £120 for 2 hours for dartboards that didn't work. We were also charged a £60 service charge despite having to come up to the bar for all orders - so what was the service? Maybe OK for a drink and a standard bar, but definitely don't book the darts before being aware of the costs and that you are unlikely to really get "service"...

The Old Tea Warehouse is a gem sat just around the corner from The Gherkin. Its a small pub with a traditional looking bar and some quite nice seating on the lower level.

Downstairs the pub has a couple of snooker tables if you want to avoid the hustle and bustle of the bar above it.

With limited seating inside the pub there is an outdoor seating area (more of a standing area as seats are rarely put out) which is sheltered and surrounded by topiary covered in fairy lights.

The bar is limited in what it can offer you - I once ordered a cranberry and amaretto and the barman very nicely went and bought cranberry juice. So though the selection of drinks may be limited the staff are nice enough to accommodate your requests.

A nice place to meet friends and go for...